Local Testnet - Polka Storage Parachain

This guide helps to set up a local parachain network using zombienet. At the end, we will have three nodes: Alice, Bob and Charlie. Alice and Bob will be running Polkadot relay chain nodes as validators, and Charlie will run a relay chain and parachain node. Charlie will be our contact point to the parachain network.

Native Binaries

Our latest releases's binaries are available to download and can be run without additional dependencies. We support Linux x86_64 and MacOS ARM x64. The commands below will download:

Relay Chain binaries (polkadot, polkadot-prepare-worker, polkadot-execute-worker),
Polka Storage Parachain binary (polka-storage-node),
Polka Storage Provider internal node (polka-storage-provider),
CLI for interacting with the parachain (storagext-cli),
zombienet to spawn local testnets and orchestrate them (zombienet),
Polka Storage Parachain out-of-the-box zombienet's configuration (polka-storage-testnet.toml).

Linux x86_64

Download the binaries:

wget https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/releases/download/polkadot-v1.13.0/polkadot
wget https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/releases/download/polkadot-v1.13.0/polkadot-prepare-worker
wget https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/releases/download/polkadot-v1.13.0/polkadot-execute-worker
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/linux_x86-64/polka-storage-node
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/linux_x86-64/polka-storage-provider
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/linux_x86-64/storagext-cli
wget https://github.com/paritytech/zombienet/releases/download/v1.3.106/zombienet-linux-x64 -O zombienet

Setup permissions:

chmod +x zombienet polka-storage-node polka-storage-provider storagext-cli polkadot polkadot-prepare-worker polkadot-execute-worker

Run zombienet:

export PATH=$(pwd):$PATH

wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/polka-storage-testnet.toml
zombienet -p native spawn polka-storage-testnet.toml

MacOS ARM

Download the binaries:

wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/polkadot
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/polkadot-prepare-worker
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/polkadot-execute-worker
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/polka-storage-node
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/polka-storage-provider
wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/macos_arm/storagext-cli
wget https://github.com/paritytech/zombienet/releases/download/v1.3.106/zombienet-macos-arm64 -O zombienet

Setup permissions & de-quarantine:

chmod +x zombienet polka-storage-node polka-storage-provider storagext-cli polkadot polkadot-prepare-worker polkadot-execute-worker
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine zombienet polka-storage-node polka-storage-provider storagext-cli polkadot polkadot-prepare-worker polkadot-execute-worker

If, when running the xattr command, it outputs No such attr: com.apple.quarantine, there's nothing to worry about. It means the downloaded binaries were not quarantined.

Run zombienet:

export PATH=$(pwd):$PATH

wget https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/polka-storage/polka-storage-testnet.toml
zombienet -p native spawn polka-storage-testnet.toml

The parachain is also accessible using the Polkadot.js Apps interface by clicking on this link: https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=ws://127.0.0.1:42069#/explorer

Or interact with the chain via storagext-cli, for example:

storagext-cli --sr25519-key "//Alice" storage-provider register Alice

Kubernetes

Docker Images were only published on x86_64 platforms! They won't work on Kubernetes on MacOS.

Prerequisites

zombienet v1.3.106 - cli tool to easily spawn ephemeral Polkadot/Substrate networks and perform tests against them.
minikube — to run the parachain nodes
a configured kubectl — is used to set up the required kubernetes resources by zombienet
- https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/handbook/kubectl/
- https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/#kubectl

Start up the Kubernetes cluster

Using minikube, start the cluster with the following command:

minikube start

More information about minikube is available on its Getting Started page.

Running the Parachain

Create a local-kube-testnet.toml file with the following content:

[settings]
image_pull_policy = "IfNotPresent"

[relaychain]
chain = "rococo-local"
default_args = ["--detailed-log-output", "-lparachain=debug,xcm=trace,runtime=trace"]
default_image = "docker.io/parity/polkadot:v1.13.0"

[[relaychain.nodes]]
name = "alice"
validator = true

[[relaychain.nodes]]
name = "bob"
validator = true

[[parachains]]
cumulus_based = true

# We need to use a Parachain of an existing System Chain (https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/blob/master/polkadot/runtime/rococo/src/xcm_config.rs).
# The reason: being able to get native DOTs from Relay Chain to Parachain via XCM Teleport.
# We'll have a proper Parachain ID in the *future*, but for now, let's stick to 1000 (which is AssetHub and trusted).
id = 1000

# Run Charlie as parachain collator
[[parachains.collators]]
args = ["--detailed-log-output", "-lparachain=debug,xcm=trace,runtime=trace"]
command = "polka-storage-node"
image = "polkadotstorage.azurecr.io/parachain-node:0.1.0"
name = "charlie"
rpc_port = 42069
validator = true

Run the Parachain, and spawn the zombienet testnet in the Kubernetes cluster:

zombienet -p kubernetes spawn local-kube-testnet.toml

Click here to show the example output.

│ /ip4/10.1.0.16/tcp/30333/ws/p2p/12D3KooWPKzmmE2uYgF3z13xjpbFTp63g9dZFag8pG6MgnpSLF4S                                   │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

         Warn: Tracing collator service doesn't exist
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                       Network launched 🚀🚀                                                       │
├──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Namespace                    │ zombie-1cecb9b5e0f9a14208f2fbefd9384490                                                            │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Provider                     │ kubernetes                                                                                         │
├──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                         Node Information                                                          │
├──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Name                         │ alice                                                                                              │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Direct Link                  │ https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=ws%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A34341#/explorer                           │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Prometheus Link              │ http://127.0.0.1:35537/metrics                                                                     │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Log Cmd                      │ kubectl logs -f alice -c alice -n zombie-1cecb9b5e0f9a14208f2fbefd9384490                          │
├──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                         Node Information                                                          │
├──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Name                         │ bob                                                                                                │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Direct Link                  │ https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=ws%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A44459#/explorer                           │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Prometheus Link              │ http://127.0.0.1:43841/metrics                                                                     │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Log Cmd                      │ kubectl logs -f bob -c bob -n zombie-1cecb9b5e0f9a14208f2fbefd9384490                              │
├──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                         Node Information                                                          │
├──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Name                         │ charlie                                                                                            │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Direct Link                  │ https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=ws%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A42069#/explorer                           │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Prometheus Link              │ http://127.0.0.1:42675/metrics                                                                     │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Log Cmd                      │ kubectl logs -f charlie -c charlie -n zombie-1cecb9b5e0f9a14208f2fbefd9384490                      │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Parachain ID                 │ 1000                                                                                               │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ChainSpec Path               │ /tmp/zombie-1cecb9b5e0f9a14208f2fbefd9384490_-29755-WOCdKtq9zPGA/1000-rococo-local.json            │
└──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Verifying the Setup

Check if all zombienet pods were started successfully:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

Click here to show the example output.

...
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   alice                              1/1     Running     0               77s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   bob                                1/1     Running     0               62s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   charlie                            1/1     Running     0               49s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   fileserver                         1/1     Running     0               2m28s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp                               0/1     Completed   0               2m25s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-1                             0/1     Completed   0               2m25s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-2                             0/1     Completed   0               2m15s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-3                             0/1     Completed   0               2m1s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-4                             0/1     Completed   0               114s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-5                             0/1     Completed   0               91s
zombie-01b7920d650c18d3d78f75fd8b0978af   temp-collator                      0/1     Completed   0               104s

Accessing the Parachain

The parachain is available through the Polkadot.js Apps interface by clicking on this link:

https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=ws%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A42069#/explorer

This link will automatically connect to Charlie's node running on a local machine at port 42069. The port is configured in local-kube-testnet.toml under rpc_port for Charlie's node.

Name	Description
`chain`	The relaychain name
`default_args`	The default arguments passed to the `command`
`default_command`	The default command to run the relaychain
`nodes`	List of tables defining the nodes to run

`nodes`

Name	Description
`name`	The node name
`validator`	Whether the node is a validator or not

`parachains`

A list of tables defining multiple parachains, in our case, we only care for our own parachain.

Name	Description
`cumulus_based`	Whether to use `cumulus` based generation
`id`	The parachain ID, we're using `1000` as a placeholder for now
`collators`	List of tables defining the collators

`collators`

Name	Description
`args`	The arguments passed to the `command`
`command`	The command to run the collator
`name`	The collator name
`validator`	Whether the collator is also a validator

Differences

The difference between them lies in the usage of container configurations:

Name	Description
`image_pull_policy`	Defines when `zombienet` should pull an image; read more about it in the Kubernetes documentation
`image`	Defines which image to pull
`ws_port`/`rpc_port`	Depending on the type of configuration (Native or Kubernetes), this variable sets the port for the collator RPC service

The Polka Storage Book