Configuring consensus

For the Quorum consensus details, see Quorum.

Use GoQuorum or JSON-RPC API tools to interact with the nodes.

Raft

By default, the very first node you deploy with Chainstack as part of your Quorum Raft network assumes the minter role.

Each subsequent node that you deploy as part of the same network assumes the learner role. For Quorum Raft details, see Raft.

You can always remove the existing minter, verifier, or learner nodes from the network. You can also always add verifier nodes or learner nodes to the network.

Get the list of current nodes and roles

raft.cluster
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_cluster","params":[],"id":1}'

Example of a 3 node Quorum Raft:

> raft.cluster
[{
    hostname: "12.345.678.912",
    nodeId: "aa41b2c83ea797d1aae60a3059d2693038aaef44aeaf14d1afaa06c5d6a55d6741c134befee9d5859f424054fb131bf3c65c11d184defe9c35e6d69fccc8c156",
    p2pPort: 12345,
    raftId: 1,
    raftPort: 50400,
    role: "minter"
}, {
    hostname: "34.567.891.234",
    nodeId: "12aabb9dcc145fce63c737a454f8bf49f4439cad32e1f96e6c752e05ca5443921f6aebcb25b7392c6508eeb72efb4ffe1cd0f67812610d12473da8b73f3336cb",
    p2pPort: 12345,
    raftId: 2,
    raftPort: 50400,
    role: "verifier"
}, {
    hostname: "56.789.123.45",
    nodeId: "1aabc26c96b5443ca87209816356b32018d198df124252bdc78c9f9ece5e44a8684fad54e36563b0b2fea0e21090b5eeae0be667bfa9a2bc24b4f12ddacd98d4",
    p2pPort: 12345,
    raftId: 3,
    raftPort: 50400,
    role: "verifier"
}]

where

  • hostname — the IP address of the node
  • nodeId — the node ID in the network
  • p2pPort — the node to node connection port
  • raftId — the Quorum Raft node ID in the network
  • raftPort — the Quorum Raft transport layer port
  • role — the node role in the consensus

Get the node ID of the minter node

raft.leader
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_leader","params":[],"id":1}'

Example:

> raft.leader
"aa41b2c83ea797d1aae60a3059d2693038aaef44aeaf14d1afaa06c5d6a55d6741c134befee9d5859f424054fb131bf3c65c11d184defe9c35e6d69fccc8c156"

Get the role of the node you are connected to

raft.role
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_role","params":[],"id":1}'

Example:

> raft.role
"minter"

Add a verifier node

raft.addPeer('enode://NODE_ID@NODE_IP:P2P_PORT?raftport=RAFT_PORT')
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_addPeer","params":["enode://NODE_ID@NODE_IP:P2P_PORT?raftport=RAFT_PORT"],"id":1}'

where

  • NODE_ID — the hexadecimal node ID
  • NODE_IP — the IP address of the node
  • P2P_PORT — the port of the node
  • RAFT_PORT — the Raft port of the node

Example:

> raft.addPeer('enode://12345f021112a110487689706b984ffe81b1584aa44f5ece7a57b9929091c43aefa892a30e082795e109a5c22f531d313e78b7e90caf8f6da53dc027f1d90976@56.789.123.45:12345?raftport=50400')
4

You can get all of the node information by running raft.cluster.

Add a learner node

raft.addLearner('enode://NODE_ID@NODE_IP:P2P_PORT?raftport=RAFT_PORT')
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_addLearner","params":["enode://NODE_ID@NODE_IP:P2P_PORT?raftport=RAFT_PORT"],"id":1}'

where

  • NODE_ID — the hexadecimal node ID
  • NODE_IP — the IP address of the node
  • P2P_PORT — the port of the node
  • RAFT_PORT — the Raft port of the node

Example:

> raft.addLearner('enode://12345f021112a110487689706b984ffe81b1584aa44f5ece7a57b9929091c43aefa892a30e082795e109a5c22f531d313e78b7e90caf8f6da53dc027f1d90976@56.789.123.45:12345?raftport=50400')
4

Promote a learner node to the verifier role

raft.promoteToPeer(RAFT_ID)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"promoteToPeer","params":[RAFT_ID],"id":1}'

where

  • RAFT_ID — the Raft node ID of the learner node. You can get all node IDs by running raft.cluster.

Example:

> raft.promoteToPeer(4)
true

Remove a node

raft.removePeer(RAFT_ID)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"raft_removePeer","params":[RAFT_ID],"id":1}'

where

  • RAFT_ID — the Raft node ID. You can get all node IDs by running raft.cluster.

Example:

> raft.removePeer(2)
null

IBFT

By default, the very first node you deploy with Chainstack as part of your IBFT Quorum network assumes the validator role.

Each subsequent node that you deploy will need to be proposed for the validator role by the majority of validators. For Quorum IBFT details, see IBFT.

The group of validator nodes can always be changed on the network to ensure that only valid nodes are present and the faulty nodes can be removed.

Get the list of current validator nodes

istanbul.getValidators()
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"istanbul_getValidators","params":[],"id":1}'

Example:

> istanbul.getValidators()
["0x12345ca36ba875d7dd157ff9177a5b86eab0c5bd"]

Add a new validator node

To add a new validator node, you must run a validator proposal command from the majority of nodes in your network. For Quorum IBFT details, see IBFT.

Run the following command from a number of nodes in your network to make it a majority proposal.

istanbul.propose("VALIDATOR_ADDRESS", true)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"istanbul_propose","params":["VALIDATOR_ADDRESS", true],"id":1}'

where

  • VALIDATOR_ADDRESS — the address of the node that you are proposing as a validator. Available under Access and credentials > Validator address. See also View node access details.
  • true — the parameter to add the node to the validator group

Example:

> istanbul.propose("0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62", true)
null

You can also see the node's validator address when you connect to the node with GoQuorum:

$ ./geth attach https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d
WARNING: call to admin.getNodeInfo() failed, unable to determine consensus mechanism
Welcome to the Geth JavaScript console!

instance: Geth/v1.8.18-stable-c894c2d7(quorum-v2.2.5)/linux-amd64/go1.11.12
coinbase: 0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62
at block: 14291 (Thu, 12 Sep 2019 15:30:47 UTC)
 modules: debug:1.0 eth:1.0 istanbul:1.0 net:1.0 personal:1.0 rpc:1.0 txpool:1.0 web3:1.0

The coinbase parameter output is the validator address; coinbase has been repurposed as a validator address in Quorum IBFT implementation.

Remove a validator node

istanbul.propose("VALIDATOR_ADDRESS", false)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"istanbul_propose","params":["VALIDATOR_ADDRESS", true],"id":1}'

where

  • VALIDATOR_ADDRESS — the address of the node that you are proposing as a validator. Available under Access and credentials > Validator address. See also View node access details.
  • false — the parameter to remove the node from the validator group

Example:

>  istanbul.propose("0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62", false)
null

Get the list of the latest validator candidate proposals

istanbul.candidates
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"istanbul_candidates","params":[],"id":1}'

Example:

> istanbul.candidates
{
  0x1234be669c541e92f64d6c133ca497d61fc87d4a6: true,
  0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62: false
}

In the example, node 0x1234be669c541e92f64d6c133ca497d61fc87d4a6 is proposed to become a validator, and node 0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62 is proposed to be removed from validators.

Remove a validator candidate from running for the validator role

istanbul.discard("VALIDATOR_ADDRESS")
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://nd-123-456-789.p2pify.com/3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d -d '{"method":"istanbul_discard","params":["VALIDATOR_ADDRESS"],"id":1}'

where

  • VALIDATOR_ADDRESS — the address of the node that you are proposing as a validator. Available under Access and credentials > Validator address. See also View node access details.

Example:

> istanbul.discard("0x1234be669c541e92f64d6c133ca497d61fc87d4a6")
null
> istanbul.candidates
{
  0xc67891237df114b9b3953c211a9b220b045a4d62: false
}