ION is a decentralized Layer 2 network for Decentralized Identifiers that runs atop the Bitcoin blockchain. Running an ION node minimizes trust in external parties for resolving ION DIDs, helps make the network more resilient and reliable, and provides the operator with better DID resolution performance.
The ION node reference implementation is currently in a volatile alpha phase, running on Bitcoin's test net. Operators should expect frequent breaking changes and regular resets of the network's state. Presently, we are only recommending that experienced developers invest the time in running, testing, and contributing to the code base. This recommendation will change as the implementation progresses into more stable stages of development, which contributors will communicate to the community via blog posts and communications from DIF and collaborating organizations.
The ION node implementation is composed of a collection of microservices written in TypeScript. Of these components, the major dependencies are Bitcoin/bitcore, IPFS, and MongoDB (for local persistence of data).
We recommend you run ION on a machine with the following minimum specs:
- i5 processor (2017+ models)
- 6GB of RAM
- 1TB of storage
Setup a Debian-based distros of Linux. This guide was verified on Ubuntu 18, so we currently recommend this distro and version.
Services within ION rely on both Node.js version 9 and 10. To install both versions and easily use them together, you'll need to install the Node Version Manager (NVM) utility. Installation of NVM should be as easy as running the following command and restarting your console:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash
NOTE: If the command above doesn't work for some reason, there are other installation options detailed in the NVM installation doc.
Once NVM is installed, run the following command to install Node v9 and v10.15.3:
nvm install 9
nvm install 10.15.3
If you wish to run a node that writes DID operations to the Bitcoin blockchain, you will need to open ports 4002 and 4003.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/zeromq
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python
sudo apt-get install -y libzmq3-dev
sudo apt-get install build-essential
Run nvm use 9 to ensure you're using the version that the current version of Bitcore requires.
Install the Bitcore npm package:
npm install -g bitcore
Run the following initialization command in your desired directory/drive location - which this guide will refer to as ion-bitcore - where you want the Bitcoin testnet data to be stored:
bitcore create ion-bitcore --testnet
Clone the Sidetree Bitcoin repo:
git clone https://github.com/decentralized-identity/sidetree-bitcoin
Navigate to the sidetree-bitcoin/bitcored-services/sidetree directory of the cloned repo and run the following:
npm install bitcore-lib
Navigate to the directory of the ion-bitcore instance you created, and run the following:
bitcore install insight-api insight-ui
cd /node_modules
ln -s sidetree-bitcoin/src/bitcored-services/sidetree ion-bitcore
Add the string ion-bitcore to the services array in the ion-bitcore instance's bitcore-node.json configuration file.
To start the bitcored daemon by navigating to the root of the ion-bitcore instance you created, and run the following:
bitcored
NOTE: Bitcore can, in some circumstances, fail with RPC queue errors, so you may also want to manually increase the RPC worker queue limit. You can do this by adding
rpcworkqueue=64to thebitcoin.conffile located in yourion-bitcoreinstance directory.
Verify that the bitcored installation was successful by pointing the browser to:
http://localhost:3001/insight/
Once Sidetree's bitcored instance is running correctly, you'll need to build and run the Sidetree’s Bitcoin service that consumes the blockchain data and APIs exposed by bitcored:
Clone the Sidetree Bitcoin repo and navigate to its root directory: https://github.com/decentralized-identity/sidetree-bitcoin
Examine the json/config.json file to ensure the bitcoreSidetreeServiceUri property points to the location of the bitcored service you setup earlier in this guide (e.g. http://localhost:3001/SidetreeBlockchainService)
Run the following commands:
nvm use 10.15.3
npm i
npm run build
npm start
Clone the IPFS service repo and navigate to its root folder: https://github.com/decentralized-identity/sidetree-ipfs
After cloning the repo:
- cd into the the repo
- Run
git checkout ec6e63100 - Change the
portvalue in thejson/config.jsonto3002
Run the following commands:
nvm use 10.15.3
npm i
npm run build
npm start
The default persistence option for storing data locally is MongoDB, though it is possible to create adapters for other datastores. To use the default MongoDB option, you'll need to install MongoDB community build:
- Download as a
debpackage: https://www.mongodb.com/download-center/community. - Installation doc: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-ubuntu/
NOTE: You may not have all the dependencies required to run MongoDB, if so you can run
sudo apt-get install -fto bring them in.
You'll probably want to store the data from the Mongo instance in the same place you chose to store the blockchain data, due to the large amount of storage required. Set the directory for this by creating a db folder in the location you chose and run mongod --dbpath ~/YOUR_LOCATION/db
After MongoDB is installed and running, modify the operationStoreUri property of the JSON configuration file located at /json/config.json in the ION repo to match the location of your MongoDB instance.
To view MongoDB files with a more approachable GUI, download and install MongoDB Compass: https://docs.mongodb.com/compass/master/install/
Clone https://github.com/decentralized-identity/ion
Change the contentAddressableStoreServiceUri property in json/config.json to http://127.0.0.1:3002/v1.0
Run the following commands:
nvm use 10.15.3
npm i
npm run build
npm start
Verify ION is running properly by checking the following DID resolution link in your browser: http://localhost:3000/did:ion:EiBzpfCmJlxXnfJtJwBr-u6DLXAWX3g7CeLZXY_pFyNhvw