# Launch Validator Nodes

## Introduction

We are going to launch the 2 validator nodes of the network - **Alice** and **Bob**.

## Alice Starts the Node

The prerequisite for this step is a compiled runtime and generated chain spec file. Refer to [**Development**](../../development/development) section or to [previous](../create-your-first-subsembly-runtime) guide on how to do it.

Alice runs the following commands inside the **Subsembly** project root folder:

```
make run-node \
NAME=node01 \
PORT=30333 \
WS-PORT=9944 \
RPC-PORT=9933 \
spec=raw-chain-spec.json \
-- --validator
```

What do those flags represent?

```
NAME= Specifies the name of your Node
PORT = Specifies the port that your node will listen for p2p traffic on
WS-PORT = Specifies the port that your node will listen for p2p traffic on
RPC-PORT = Specifies the port that your node will listen for incoming RPC traffic on
spec = Specifies path to the raw chain spec file
OTHER = Specifies additional flags/options to provide to the node. In this case, we want our node to be validator
```

More details about the flags and other options for the node, can be explored with the following command:

```
make run-node help=1
```

After launching the node, you should see the following output:

```
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO Substrate Node    
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO ✌️  version 2.0.0-unknown-x86_64-linux-gnu    
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO ❤️  by Substrate DevHub <https://github.com/substrate-developer-hub>, 2017-2021    
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO 📋 Chain specification: Local Testnet    
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO 🏷  Node name: noisy-channel-3350    
Mar 25 16:11:41.565  INFO 👤 Role: AUTHORITY    
Mar 25 16:11:41.566  INFO 💾 Database: RocksDb at /tmp/node01/chains/local_testnet/db    
Mar 25 16:11:41.566  INFO ⛓  Native runtime: node-template-1 (node-template-1.tx1.au1)    
Mar 25 16:11:41.701  INFO 🔨 Initializing Genesis block/state (state: 0x54d1…dab9, header-hash: 0x1bef…c190)    
Mar 25 16:11:41.725  INFO ⏱  Loaded block-time = 5000 milliseconds from genesis on first-launch    
Mar 25 16:11:41.725  WARN Using default protocol ID "sup" because none is configured in the chain specs    
Mar 25 16:11:41.726  INFO 🏷  Local node identity is: 12D3KooWGtgEa8AuxLMnuKf71qE1bPb2nGKXbgmyjhC5G1w7Yrrf (legacy representation: 12D3KooWGtgEa8AuxLMnuKf71qE1bPb2nGKXbgmyjhC5G1w7Yrrf)    
Mar 25 16:11:41.730  INFO 📦 Highest known block at #0    
Mar 25 16:11:41.731  INFO 〽️ Prometheus server started at 127.0.0.1:9615    
Mar 25 16:11:41.733  INFO Listening for new connections on 127.0.0.1:9944.    
Mar 25 16:11:46.736  INFO 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0x1bef…c190), finalized #0 (0x1bef…c190), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0    
Mar 25 16:11:51.707  INFO 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0x1bef…c190), finalized #0 (0x1bef…c190), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
```

We copy Alice's node identity to use it when we are connecting other nodes to Alice's:

```
Mar 25 16:11:41.726  INFO 🏷  Local node identity is: 12D3KooWGtgEa8AuxLMnuKf71qE1bPb2nGKXbgmyjhC5G1w7Yrrf (legacy representation: 12D3KooWGtgEa8AuxLMnuKf71qE1bPb2nGKXbgmyjhC5G1w7Yrrf)
```

## Connect to PolkadotJs

Once your node is running, go to PolkadotJS interface at [https://polkadot.js.org/apps](https://polkadot.js.org/apps). PolkadotJS interface provides an interface for interacting with your node and it should automatically connect to your local node:

![Picture 1. Connected to PolkadotJs](https://3486155078-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MVLPB3fCkGpKnqkQwlo%2F-MX7SZdpQQSS0tIkWwd_%2F-MX7SsfKV-nvtsZWFPHS%2FScreenshot%202021-03-31%20at%2016.27.13.png?alt=media\&token=e7d46a61-9e67-4f93-a2b2-09b3c469030d)

## Bob Joins

In a separate terminal, run the node for Bob:

```
make run-node \
PORT=30334 \
WS-PORT=9945 \
RPC-PORT=9934 \
spec=raw-chain-spec.json \
NAME=node02 \
-- --validator \
--bootnodes /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/30333/p2p/12D3KooWEyoppNCUx8Yx66oV9fJnriXwCcXwDDUA2kj6vnc6iDEp
```

We can notice some differences compared to the command used to run Alice's node. We changed the ports and name of the node, since two nodes can not have the same name and one port can not be exposed from two different nodes.

Most importantly, we added a **`--bootnodes`** flag, to specify a single boot node of Alice. Here, the value of **`--bootnodes`** flag is comprised of following properties:

* Alice's IP Address, localhost or `127.0.0.1`
* Alice's Port, she specified `30333`
* Alice's Peer ID, we copied it in the Alice's section

After running the command you should see the output similar to this:

```
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO Substrate Node    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO ✌️  version 2.0.0-unknown-x86_64-linux-gnu    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO ❤️  by Substrate DevHub <https://github.com/substrate-developer-hub>, 2017-2021    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO 📋 Chain specification: Local Testnet    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO 🏷  Node name: node02    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO 👤 Role: FULL    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO 💾 Database: RocksDb at /tmp/node02/chains/local_testnet/db    
Mar 31 14:06:51.017  INFO ⛓  Native runtime: node-template-1 (node-template-1.tx1.au1)    
Mar 31 14:06:51.156  INFO 🔨 Initializing Genesis block/state (state: 0x6ae8…bdb7, header-hash: 0xc122…3dac)    
Mar 31 14:06:51.182  INFO ⏱  Loaded block-time = 5000 milliseconds from genesis on first-launch    
Mar 31 14:06:51.182  WARN Using default protocol ID "sup" because none is configured in the chain specs    
Mar 31 14:06:51.183  INFO 🏷  Local node identity is: 12D3KooWLLpxfFcFDAidDgQMy6CCUY1Tc67zj6xLkYzBRRjmnFDd (legacy representation: 12D3KooWLLpxfFcFDAidDgQMy6CCUY1Tc67zj6xLkYzBRRjmnFDd)    
Mar 31 14:06:51.186  INFO 📦 Highest known block at #0    
Mar 31 14:06:51.187  INFO 〽️ Prometheus server started at 127.0.0.1:9615    
Mar 31 14:06:51.188  INFO Listening for new connections on 0.0.0.0:9945.    
Mar 31 14:06:52.212  INFO 🔍 Discovered new external address for our node: /ip4/172.17.0.3/tcp/30334/p2p/12D3KooWLLpxfFcFDAidDgQMy6CCUY1Tc67zj6xLkYzBRRjmnFDd    
Mar 31 14:06:56.190  INFO 💤 Idle (1 peers), best: #0 (0xc122…3dac), finalized #0 (0xc122…3dac), ⬇ 1.0kiB/s ⬆ 1.0kiB/s    
Mar 31 14:07:01.190  INFO 💤 Idle (1 peers), best: #0 (0xc122…3dac), finalized #0 (0xc122…3dac), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0    
Mar 31 14:07:06.194  INFO 💤 Idle (1 peers), best: #0 (0xc122…3dac), finalized #0 (0xc122…3dac), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
```

As you see from the output (**`1 peers`**), Bob successfully connected to the Alice's node:

```
Mar 31 14:06:56.190  INFO 💤 Idle (1 peers), best: #0 (0xc122…3dac), finalized #0 (0xc122…3dac), ⬇ 1.0kiB/s ⬆ 1.0kiB/s
```

You can also connect this node to PolkadotJs interface. To do that, you will need to change the **`ws`** port in the left tab in the main page (`9945` in this case)

![Picture 2. Custom endpoint of the Node](https://3486155078-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MVLPB3fCkGpKnqkQwlo%2F-MX7SZdpQQSS0tIkWwd_%2F-MX7rWaXO6ie4mq4ylPa%2FScreenshot%202021-03-31%20at%2018.18.54.png?alt=media\&token=949b0a44-1516-49a1-9696-0607e6ecc250)

### Insert Keys

After we launched the nodes and they are successfully connected, we have to insert their respective Aura keys to start the block production.

**Important**

The params that you are providing in the curl request are the mnemonic and public key generated in step 1.

Insert the keys for **Alice**:

```
curl --location --request POST '0.0.0.0:9933' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "author_insertKey",
    "params": ["aura","dice height enter anger ahead chronic easily wave curious banana era happy","0xdcc1461cba689c60dcae053ef09bc9e9524cdceb696ce39c7ed43bf3a5fa9659"],
    "id": 1
}'
```

Keep in mind that your params will be different, since the generated mnemonic/pub key tuple will be different from this one! The first part of the "params" is the mnemonic and the last parameter is the public key both derived the subkey generation.

We do the same for **Bob**:

```
curl --location --request POST '0.0.0.0:9933' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "author_insertKey",
    "params": ["aura","lady demand candy vacuum warm nurse shaft garment horror list burst strike","0xec9fd69c119fb45b6f6efca397db3e864649e6903cf227d4609ed53a66d3bf1e"],
    "id": 1
}'
```

If you see this output, you have successfully inserted the keys:

```
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":null,"id":1}
```

You will notice that nodes will start producing new blocks:

```
Apr 02 10:24:20.131  INFO 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xe3c0…1d52), finalized #0 (0xe3c0…1d52), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0    
Apr 02 10:24:25.132  INFO 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xe3c0…1d52), finalized #0 (0xe3c0…1d52), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0    
Apr 02 10:24:27.190  INFO Accepted a new tcp connection from 172.17.0.1:56090.    
Apr 02 10:24:30.020  INFO 🙌 Starting consensus session on top of parent 0xe3c0470c20338ba3aa8c7bdc776b9060db7c0d49788576dae05cf829bc5f1d52    
Apr 02 10:24:30.070  INFO 🎁 Prepared block for proposing at 1 [hash: 0x908cc6443bd80bcfb2f8c0bab749117e638b72f707b974c63661d17f73bc392c; parent_hash: 0xe3c0…1d52; extrinsics (1): [0x790b…38f5]]    
Apr 02 10:24:30.073  INFO 🔖 Pre-sealed block for proposal at 1. Hash now 0x23225f0aa6c0487ef27081dfed4be7ad5c9c9374459abb5a12e49cb5c0c7d2df, previously 0x908cc6443bd80bcfb2f8c0bab749117e638b72f707b974c63661d17f73bc392c.    
Apr 02 10:24:30.074  INFO ✨ Imported #1 (0x2322…d2df)    
Apr 02 10:24:30.133  INFO 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #1 (0x2322…d2df), finalized #0 (0xe3c0…1d52), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
```

If you inserted the keys for both nodes correctly, you should see blocks beeing produced every 5 seconds.
