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Linux VPS (as a Service)

Running a node on a server and allowing inbound connections on port 9001 will ensure your node acts as a relay node.

Relay nodes are the backbone of the Minima peer-to-peer network that faciliate the transmission of transactions and blocks across the network and support the network to scale.

Installing Minima as a background process with SystemD is an alternative to using Docker. SystemD is a daemon server that enables applications to run as background processes.

The following instructions assume your server is using Debian OS with no existing installations.

For more information, see System Requirements.

Initial firewall setup​

Before starting, please ensure your server firewall rules:

  • do not allow any inbound (Ingress) traffic from anywhere (we will change this later)
  • allow ssh connections (inbound on port 22)

You may use the default Firewall manager for your server or alternatively use Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW).

If you wish to use UFW, expand the instructions below.

After installing Minima, you must finish setting up the Firewall rules to ensure your node runs as expected.

UFW initial setup instructions

As a user with sudo privileges:

  1. Install Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw)
sudo apt install ufw
  1. Run the following commands individually:

This will disable the firewall, deny incoming connections, accept outgoing connections, allow ssh and enable the firewall.

sudo ufw disable
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw enable
y

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NOT SKIPPED THE ufw allow ssh STEP, OR YOU WILL BE LOCKED OUT OF YOUR SERVER!

For more information see here

Setup Minima as a background process​

  1. As a user with sudo priviledges, install the following:
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install git -y
sudo apt install jq -y
sudo apt install default-jdk -y
sudo apt install wget -y
  1. Create a minima user
sudo adduser minima

  1. Set a password for the user and confirm it, leave all other settings blank by pressing enter, then y to confirm:

  2. Still as your user, set up the journal logs service:

sudo tee <<EOF >/dev/null /etc/systemd/journald.conf
Storage=persistent
EOF
  1. Restart the service 
sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald
  1. Create the Minima systemd file:
sudo tee <<EOF >/dev/null /etc/systemd/system/minima.service
[Unit]
Description=minima
[Service]
User=minima
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -jar /home/minima/minima.jar -mdsenable -mdspassword yourpasswordhere -daemon -basefolder /home/minima -data /home/minima/.minima
Restart=always
RestartSec=100
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
  1. Edit the file to change the password, use the arrow keys to go to yourpasswordhere and set a secure password of at least 12 characters using a-z, A-Z and 0-9 characters only. 
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minima.service

  1. Press ctrl-X then Y then press enter to save

  2. Switch to the minima user and go to the home directory

sudo su minima
cd /home/minima
  1. Download the minima jar file from Github
wget https://github.com/minima-global/Minima/raw/master/jar/minima.jar
  1. Exit back to your user
exit
  1. Reload the services
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  1. Enable and start the minima service
sudo systemctl enable minima
sudo systemctl start minima
  1. View the logs to see your node starting up
sudo journalctl -u minima -f

(Ctrl+C will exit the log stream)

Congratulations, your node is now running!

note

Your node will not auto-update so you will need to update your node when a new version becomes available.

You must now finish setting up your firewall rules to ensure your node runs as expected.

Finish firewall setup​

By default, Minima uses ports 9001-9005. Please refer to the recommended firewall settings

If using Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW), expand the instructions below.

UFW final setup instructions

As a user with sudo privileges:

  1. Allow inbound connections to 9001 from anywhere
sudo ufw allow in 9001
  1. Allow inbound connections to your MiniDapp system only from your home IP address (replace xx.xx.xx.xx with your home ip) Note that most home IP addresses are not fixed and if your router is reset, this IP address can change, so you may have to redo this rule at a later date.

You can find your home IP address by going to ipchicken when connected to your home wifi network.

sudo ufw allow from xx.xx.xx.xx to any port 9003

or to allow connections to your MiniDapp system from anywhere. This will expose your login screen publicly.

sudo ufw allow in 9003
  1. Enable the firewall
sudo ufw enable
y

You are now ready to use Minima!

Login to your node​

The first time accessing your MiniDapp hub, you may need to pass through the security warning as the MiniDapp system uses self-signed certificates. Learn how here.

  1. Go to https://YourServerIP:9003/ in your web browser, you will see your login screen.

mds_login

  1. Enter your password to login, if you don't remember, you can check here.

Please see the first steps to complete now your node is running.

First steps​

The first time you install Minima, you will need to

  1. Connect to the network
  2. Write down your seed phrase

Please refer to the user guides to learn how.

How to check your login password​

If you forgot the password you set in step 7 above, you can check the password you set in the minima.service file.

  1. Log on to your server
  2. Run
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minima.service

The -mdspassword parameter is your login password.

Updating your node​

Your node will not update to new versions of Minima automatically.

You can check the version of your node by running the status command from the RPC Client. (See how to check the status of your node.)

To create a script that you can run everytime you wish to update your node:

  1. Login as your user with sudo privileges

  2. Create the update script

nano updateminimajar.sh
  1. Paste in the script:
#!/bin/sh

#stop and disable service
sudo systemctl stop minima
sudo systemctl disable minima

#remove old minima.jar from your home folder (if it exists)

rm minima.jar

#get latest jar

wget https://github.com/minima-global/Minima/raw/master/jar/minima.jar 

#change name minima.jar in minima user to minima.jar_old

sudo mv /home/minima/minima.jar /home/minima/minima.jar_old

#move the new jar to minima folder

sudo mv minima.jar /home/minima/minima.jar

#reenable and start minima service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable minima
sudo systemctl start minima

sudo journalctl -u minima -f
  1. Save the script:

ctrl-x then y then press Enter

  1. Give permissions to the script
sudo chmod +x ./updateminimajar.sh
  1. Run the script
./updateminimajar.sh

You will see the logs showing using the updated version.

  1. To exit the logs, use ctrl-c

For future updates, you simply need to run the script (steps 6 and 7).

Setup the RPC client (Advanced users)​

If you wish to interact with your node using RPC, you must enable RPC for your node:

  1. Log on to your server
  2. Stop and disable Minima
sudo systemctl stop minima
sudo systemctl disable minima
  1. Run
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minima.service
  1. Edit the start up line to include the following parameters
-rpcenable -rpcpassword yourrpcpassword -rpcssl

set a long password of at least 12 character using a-z, A-Z and 0-9 characters only.

Example

...
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -jar /home/minima/minima.jar -rpcenable -rpcpassword yourrpcpassword -rpcssl -mdsenable -mdspassword yourpasswordhere -daemon -basefolder /home/minima -data /home/minima/.minima
...

  1. Press ctrl+x, then y then Enter to save and exit

  2. Reload the daemon and start Minima

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable minima
sudo systemctl start minima
  1. Check the logs to ensure it has started up
sudo journalctl -u minima -f

then ctrl+c to exit the logs

  1. Create a file
nano minima
  1. Paste in this text and change the password to your password
#!/bin/sh

#Start the Minima RPC Client 
java -cp /home/minima/minima.jar org.minima.utils.MinimaRPCClient -password yourrpcpassword -host https://127.0.0.1:9005

  1. Write the file using ctrl-x then confirm with y

  2. Give the right permissions

sudo chmod +x ./minima
  1. Run the script to start the RPC Client Terminal
./minima

RPCClient

You can run any Minima commands here.

Type block then enter to return your top block. status will return details about your node.

Type help to see a list of all commands

Type help command: to see detailed help for any command.

  1. To exit the Terminal, type exit

Do not type quit as this will shutdown your node.

Useful Commands​

Server commands​

sudo journalctl -u minima -f : Show the Minima logs
ctrl-c : Exits the Minima logs (Minima will continue to run in the background)
sudo ps -fC java : Shows all running Java processes
sudo systemctl status minima - Check the status of the Minima background service
sudo systemctl stop minima - Stop the Minima service
sudo systemctl disable minima - Disable the Minima service
sudo systemctl enable minima - Enable the Minima service
sudo systemctl start minima - Start the Minima service

Optional start up parameters​

Expand to see full list of start up parameters

The parameters used in this script:

-mdsenable : (Optional) Enables the MiniDapp System (MDS)

-mdspassword yourpasswordhere : (Optional) The password to access your MiniDapp System at https://yourserverip:9003
You must only use a-z, A-Z and 0-9 for this password, no symbols.

-daemon : Runs Minima as a background service

-rpcenable : (Optional) Enables RPC so you can use the RPC client
IF ENABLED YOU MUST ENSURE YOUR RPC PORT IS CLOSED TO INCOMING CONNECTIONS OR YOUR FUNDS WILL BE AT RISK. See recommended firewall settings.

-basefolder /home/minima : The folder where files exported from your node will be stored

-data /home/minima/.minima : The hidden data folder for your node - THIS MUST NOT BE REMOVED The following start up parameters can optionally be specified when starting your node.

To add/remove parameters after a node has been started, you must quit the node and restart it, adding/removing the required parameters.

Additional optional parameters:

[] square brackets indicate where an input is required, the brackets should not be included.

General​

  • -clean : CAREFUL! Clears existing data, starts a new fresh node. All coins will be lost.
  • -port [port] : specify the initial port for Minima to use. Range used will be the specified port +4. Default is 9001-9005.
  • -host [ipaddress] : specify the host IP
  • -dbpassword : Main Wallet / SQL AES password - MUST be specified on first launch. CANNOT be changed later.
  • -allowallip : Allow all IPs for Maxima / Networking. Local IPs won't be allowed otherwise.
  • -archive : Run an Archive node - store all archive data / the cascade to allow for resyncs from this node
  • -daemon : Run in daemon mode with no stdin input (if running Minima as a background service)
  • -isclient : Tells the P2P System that this node can't accept incoming connections
  • -server : Use Server settings - this node can accept incoming connections
  • -desktop : Use Desktop settings - this node can't accept incoming connections

Folders​

  • -data [foldername/path] : the data folder where all the config files for this node are stored. Default is a hidden .minima folder under the user's home directory. If you want to specify a folder not in the user's home directory, you must use the complete path.
  • -basefolder [foldername/path] : specify a default file creation / backup / restore folder. Default is the user's home directory. Can be the same as the data folder provided.

MiniDapp System (mds)​

  • -mdsenable : enable the MiniDapp System (default port 9003)
  • -mdspassword [yourmdspassword] : specify the mds login password
  • -mdsinit [foldername/path] : specify a folder of miniDAPPs
  • -mdswrite [minidapp] : give an initial miniDAPP WRITE access

RPC​

  • -rpcenable : enable remote procedure call
  • -rpcssl : use Self Signed SSL cert to run RPC
  • -rpcpassword [yourrpcpassword] : set Basic Auth password for RPC calls ( Use with SSL / stunnel ). Only secure if used with SSL.
  • -rpcclrf : use CRLF at the end of the RPC headers (NodeJS)

Test nodes​

  • -genesis : start the node from the genesis block (automatically uses -clean)
  • -test : uses test parameters e.g. faster block times
  • -connect [ip:port,ip:port] : Disable the automatic P2P system and create your own network by manually connecting to this list of host:port
  • -nop2p : Disable the automatic P2P system
  • -noconnect : Stops the P2P system from connecting to other nodes until it has been connected to
  • -nosyncibd : Do not sync IBD (for testing)

Mobile​

  • -mobile : Sets this device to a mobile device - used for metrics only
  • -limitbandwidth : Limit the amount sent for archive sync
  • -noshutdownhook : Do not use the shutdown hook (Android)

Debugging​

  • -p2p-log-level-info : Set the P2P log level to info
  • -p2p-log-level-debug : Set the P2P log level to debug

Help​

  • -showparams : Show relevant startup params on launch
  • -help : print help for the start up parameters