Cardano Private-Testnet / Devnet Setup

---

This project provides instructions and shell scripts to bootstrap a private Cardano testnet and connect a cardano-db-sync process to it. If you don't want to bother with setting up cardano-db-sync, you can easily skip over the sections of this project that are not relevant.

Note: If you want to run a private testnet in the babbage era, you can check out the babbage branch and follow these instructions instead. The babbage instructions do not include instructions for running smart contract transactions yet, but the network will support the new Plutus V2.

The scripts used by this project to create the private Cardano testnet are taken from the IOHK cardano-node project and have been modified as needed. You may find the original script files in the IOHK git repository: cardano-node scripts. In particular, running cardano-db-sync to sync to the private testnet required a few changes to the original scripts provided by IOHK.

Hopefully, this documentation provides a lot of value for others. I welcome your feedback both good and bad!

Minimum system requirements

• Operating System : documentation is based on Ubuntu (Debian) linux, but can be adapted to other flavors of linux, as well as Darwin MacOS
  • The IOG scripts used to start node processes should be compatible with any linux variant and Darwin MacOS
• Processor : In the mkfiles script, each cardano-node is configured to run 4 CPU cores in parallel. This configuration may be changed as necessary to fit your system constraints. Search for cardano-node run in mkfiles.sh to modify.
• RAM : Each node is using about 1/3 GB of RAM, which gives 1 GB of RAM for 3 nodes total.
• Disk space : The amount of disk space used to run the network will grow the longer you are running. For the author, after running for a full day, each node used 1.8 GB of disk space, which gives 5.4 GB for 3 nodes total. Depending on your system capacity, one could kill the node processes, delete the persisted state, and initialize a fresh network as necessary.
• Recommended : Overall, a 4 core CPU with 2+ GB of available RAM and 10 GB of disk space is sufficient and provides some excess capacity.

Why is this useful?

• A private Cardano testnet provides a controlled environment to execute transactions
• With cardano-db-sync connected to your private testnet, you can use SQL queries to view blockchain activity data.
• You can use this controlled environment for local Cardano development.
• Lastly, it is a great learning experience to set up your own private testnet and learn about the data stored on the blockchain.

Key Details

• The private testnet consists of three block-producing node processes.
• The cardano-db-sync process syncs blockchain data to a highly normalized database schema. This enables blockchain data to be queried with SQL.
• The example transactions include setting up keys and wallet address for new user, transfering ADA from one user wallet address to another and executing a Plutus script for a vesting contract.

Medium article

For an additional overview of this project, please check out this medium article

Usage Instructions

1. Install Cardano executables

   • Install the following executables: cardano-node, cardano-cli, and optionally cardano-db-sync
   • Please refer to the Install executables guide for instructions.

2. Optional: Install PostgreSQL packages and create Postgres user

   • The cardano-db-sync process uses a connection to a PostgreSQL database.
   • Please refer to the Install posgreSQL for instructions to set up.

3. Run scripts to set up & run private Cardano network

   • Run scripts to bootstrap the Cardano private network
   • Please refer to the Run network scripts guide for instructions.

4. Optional: Attach DB Sync process the network

   • Attach the cardano-db-sync process to the network, which syncs blockchain data to a PostgreSQL database.
   • Please refer to the Attach db-sync guide for instructions.

5. Run simple transaction and optionally query the db-sync database to see results

   • Set up a new wallet for user2 and make a payment from user1 to user2. Query the database to confirm the transaction.
   • Please refer to the Run transaction guide for instructions.

6. Run Plutus script transactions

   • Build the project code for a simple vesting script, which sets User2 as the beneficiary with a vesting deadline
   • Set up transaction to give ADA from User1 to the script address and a transaction to grab ADA from the script by User2
   • Please refer to the Run Plutus Script transactions guide for instructions.

Contributors

This project is provided free of charge to the Cardano community. The author of this project is a fan of Cardano, as well as a Cardano stake pool operator. I am not affiliated with IOHK in any official capacity.

If you want to support the continued development of this project, you can delegate or recommend my staking pool:

• WOOF Cardano Staking Pool

Contributing

If you'd like to help maintain this project, please feel free to submit a pull request. Please ensure that any script changes have been tested and verified.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.