sia-bootstrap

README

sia-bootstrap

This project helps to bootstrap the Sia daemon. A configuration file is used to specify a desired state - fully synced, wallet initialized and unlocked - and sia-bootstrap will run the necessary commands to bring siad into this state. This allows to run the lengthy bootstrapping procedure largely unattended.

One use case consists of using sia-bootstrap as part of a systemd unit file for siad. This ensures that other services, that depend on siad, will only start after the Sia daemon is fully operational.

Installation

$ git clone https://github.com/javgh/sia-bootstrap.git
$ cd sia-bootstrap
$ go install            # will - by default - install to ~/go/bin/

Usage

Create the following configuration file as ~/.config/sia-bootstrap/config:

consensus_location = "./consensus/consensus.db"
consensus_bootstrap = "https://siasetup.info/consensus.zip"
#consensus_bootstrap = "https://siastats.info/bootstrap/bootstrap.zip"
ensure_wallet_initialized = true
wallet_password = "password"
#wallet_seed = "your seed here"
ensure_wallet_unlocked = true
#ensure_recovery = true

The tool is divided into two phases: "pre" and "post". During the "pre" phase sia-bootstrap will check whether the consensus database already exists. If not, it will download a third-party snapshot of the database to speed up the initial blockchain download. If you would rather not rely on a third party for the initial sync, simply comment out or remove all lines starting with consensus_ and sia-bootstrap will let siad download the blockchain on its own.

The default value for consensus_location will work if you start sia-bootstrap in the same directory as siad. Otherwise, you should provide an absolute path to the consensus database. The consensus snapshot configured with consensus_bootstrap needs to be a ZIP archive and contain a file named consensus.db. The two example bootstrap files are courtesy of SiaSetup and SiaStats.info.

If no wallet already exists and ensure_wallet_initialized = true is set, sia-bootstrap will initialize one. It will be encrypted with the password provided by wallet_password. A specific seed is used if it is provided via wallet_seed. Otherwise, the wallet will have a fresh seed.

Use ensure_wallet_unlocked = true to ensure that the freshly created or already existing wallet will be unlocked.

Finally, ensure_recovery = true can be used if sia-bootstrap should trigger a recovery scan. It will only do so, if siad reports no contracts. However, any backups that might be recovered during the recovery process need to be restored manually.

Trigger the "pre" phase before starting siad and let the "post" phase run afterwards:

$ mkdir sia
$ cd sia
$ sia-bootstrap pre
Consensus database not present at /home/jan/sia/consensus/consensus.db
Downloading snapshot from https://siasetup.info/consensus.zip
$ siad

In a new terminal:

$ cd sia
$ sia-bootstrap post
Waiting for Sia daemon to become available...
Waiting for Sia daemon to sync...
Initializing wallet with fresh seed...
Unlocking wallet...

systemd

Template for a systemd unit file. Make sure to modify the user and various paths to fit your system. Create as /etc/systemd/system/siad.service and enable with systemctl enable siad. The service will start on next system boot or manually by running systemctl start siad. Check the status with systemctl status siad or journalctl -u siad -f.

[Unit]
Description=Sia daemon
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=jan
WorkingDirectory=/home/jan/sia
ExecStartPre=/home/jan/go/bin/sia-bootstrap pre
ExecStart=/home/jan/bin/siad
ExecStartPost=/home/jan/go/bin/sia-bootstrap post
Restart=always
RestartSec=30
TimeoutStartSec=infinity
TimeoutStopSec=30min

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target