bootstrap

README

Bootstrapping

This package contains script for generating the bootstrap files needed to initialize the Flow network. The high-level bootstrapping process is described in Notion.

WARNING: These scripts use Go's crypto/rand package to generate seeds for private keys. Make sure you are running the bootstrap scripts on a machine that does provide proper a low-level implementation. See https://golang.org/pkg/crypto/rand/ for details.

NOTE: Public and private keys are encoded in JSON files as base64 strings, not as hex, contrary to what might be expected.

Code structure:

• cmd/bootstrap/cmd contains CLI logic that can exit the program and read/write files. It also uses structures and data types that are purely relevant for CLI purposes, such as encoding, decoding, etc.
• cmd/bootstrap/run contains reusable logic that does not know about the CLI. Instead of exiting the program, functions here will return errors.

Overview

The bootstrapping will generate the following information:

Per node

• Staking key (BLS key with curve BLS12-381)
• Networking key (ECDSA key)
• Random beacon key; only for consensus nodes (BLS based on Joint-Feldman DKG for threshold signatures)

Node Identities

• List of all authorized Flow nodes
  • node network address
  • node ID
  • node role
  • public staking key
  • public networking key
  • weight

Root Block for main consensus

• Root Block
• Root QC: votes from consensus nodes for the root block (required to start consensus)
• Root Execution Result: execution result for the initial execution state
• Root Block Seal: block seal for the initial execution result

Root Blocks for Collector clusters

Each cluster of collector nodes needs to have its own root Block and root QC

• Root ClusterBlockProposal
• Root QC from cluster for their respective ClusterBlockProposal

Usage

go run -tags relic ./cmd/bootstrap prints usage information

Phase 1: Generate networking and staking keys for partner nodes:

This step will generate the staking and networking keys for a single partner node.

Required Inputs

Values directly specified as command line parameters:

• node network address
• node role

Optional Inputs

Values can be specified as command line parameters:

• seed for generating staking key (min 48 bytes in hex encoding)
• seed for generating networking key (min 48 bytes in hex encoding) If seeds are not provided, the CLI will try to use the system's pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), e. g. dev/urandom. Make sure you are running the CLI on a hardware that has a cryptographically secure PRNG, or provide seeds generated on such a system.

Example

go run -tags relic ./cmd/bootstrap key --address "example.com:1234" --role "consensus" -o ./bootstrap/partner-node-infos

Generated output files

• file <NodeID>.node-info.priv.json
  • strictly CONFIDENTIAL (only for respective partner node with ID )
  • contains node's private staking and networking keys (plus some other auxiliary information)
  • REQUIRED at NODE START; file needs to be available to respective partner node at boot up (or recovery after crash)
• file <NodeID>.node-info.pub.json
  • public information
  • file needs to be delivered to Dapper Labs for Phase 2 of generating root information, but is not required at node start

Phase 2: Generating final root information

This step will generate the entire root information for all nodes (incl. keys for all Dapper-controlled nodes).

Required Inputs

Each input is a config file specified as a command line parameter:

• parameter with the ID for the chain for the root block (root-chain)
• parameter with the ID of the parent block for the root block (root-parent)
• parameter with height of the root block to bootstrap from (root-height)
• parameter with state commitment for the initial execution state (root-commit)
• json containing configuration for all Dapper-Controlled nodes (see ./example_files/node-config.json)
• folder containing the <NodeID>.node-info.pub.json files for all partner nodes (see .example_files/partner-node-infos)
• json containing the weight value for all partner nodes (see ./example_files/partner-weights.json). Format: <NodeID>: <weight value>

Example

go run -tags relic ./cmd/bootstrap finalize \
  --root-chain main \
  --root-height 0 \
  --root-parent 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 \
  --root-commit 4b8d01975cf0cd23e046b1fae36518e542f92a6e35bedd627c43da30f4ae761a \
  --config ./cmd/bootstrap/example_files/node-config.json \
  --partner-dir ./cmd/bootstrap/example_files/partner-node-infos \
  --partner-weights ./cmd/bootstrap/example_files/partner-weights.json \
  --epoch-counter 1 \
  -o ./bootstrap/root-infos

Generated output files

• files <NodeID>.node-info.priv.json

  • strictly CONFIDENTIAL (only for respective Dapper node with ID )
  • contains node's private staking and networking keys (plus some other auxiliary information)
  • REQUIRED at NODE START: file needs to be available to respective Dapper node at boot up (or recovery after crash)

• files <NodeID>.random-beacon.priv.json

  • strictly CONFIDENTIAL (only for consensus node with ID )
  • CAUTION: we generate the random beacon private keys for all consensus nodes, i.e. Dapper and Partner nodes alike! The private random beacon keys must be delivered to the Partner Node operator securely.
  • contains node's private random beacon key
  • REQUIRED at NODE START: file needs to be available to respective consensus node at boot up (or recovery after crash)

• file node-infos.pub.json

  • contains public Node Identities for all authorized Flow nodes (Dapper and Partner nodes)
  • REQUIRED at NODE START for all nodes; file needs to be available to all nodes at boot up (or recovery after crash)

• file root-block.json

  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all nodes

• file root-qc.json

  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all nodes

• file root-result.json

  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all nodes

• file root-seal.json

  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all nodes

• file dkg-data.pub.json

  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all nodes

• file <ClusterID>.root-cluster-block.json

  • root ClusterBlockProposal for collector cluster with ID <ClusterID>
  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all collectors of the respective cluster
  • file can be made accessible to all nodes at boot up (or recovery after crash)

• file <ClusterID>.root-cluster-qc.json

  • root Quorum Certificate for ClusterBlockProposal for collector cluster with ID <ClusterID>
  • REQUIRED at NODE START by all collectors of the respective cluster
  • file can be made accessible to all nodes at boot up (or recovery after crash)

Generating networking key for Observer

This generates the networking key used by observers to connect to the public libp2p network. It is a different key format than staked nodes and should only be used for Observers.

go run -tags relic ./cmd/bootstrap observer-network-key  -f ./path/network-key

This key must be kept secret as it's used to encrypt and sign network requests sent by the observers.