Customizing your setup

If the script we provide isn't flexible enough for your needs, in this section you will find more ways to customize your setup.

The script uses sensible defaults, so for the majority of use cases the above is all that is required to run a node as validator. However, there are a few things you can customize, should you be so inclined.

Runtime parameters

If you want to tweak more advanced parameters, you can do so by editing the env/validator_testnet(or env/archivist_testnet if you are running an archivist) file that you will find in the aleph-node-runner directory. Please note, however, that by doing so you may render your node non-functional, so proceed with care.

For the changes to take effect, you will need to re-run the script.

Custom images

If you are not happy with running the node inside docker, or want to build it yourself for other reasons, you can take a look at our much more detailed building guide.

If you have a Docker image that you would like to use in place of the one downloaded by the script, you can provide its name and tag to the image flag:

./run_node.sh --name <your node's name> --image <your_image>:<tag>

Choosing node type

By default, the node will start configured to be used as a validator. If you’re reading this guide, this is probably the desired setup. If, however, you would like to start an archivist, you can supply the --archivist flag.

The difference between the archivist and validator at the setup level is essentially the network configuration: an archivist allows RPC calls from outside (i.e. not from localhost) at the cost of only allowing safe RPC methods. Note that when running the script, you may first run it as an archivist and then switch it off and start in the validator mode.

Aleph version

The script will auto-update the version each time you run it, so there's no need to manually provide the version. This is due to the fact that running an up-to-date version of the node is crucial for being able to validate without problems.

Choosing build stages

You might choose to only fetch the required files and Docker images by running the script with the --build_only flag. When you have already downloaded the prerequisites, the script will make sure not to re-download them needlessly, so you can safely re-run it.

Disabling telemetry

The node will start with telemetry enabled by default. This is the recommended setup and makes it much easier to see the health of the nodes in the network. However, if you want to disable the telemetry, you will need to set the TELEMETRY_ENABLED variable to false.

Disabling pruning

The node will start with database pruning mode enabled by default. This is the recommended setup and makes a node use much less of its persistent memory. However, if you want to disable the pruning mode, you need to set both the PRUNING_ENABLED variable to false and you will have to manually download the appropriate DB snapshot.