Set-up a Nym-enabled node

To connect to through nym network we use the socks5 proxy provided by Nym

Note: This page is a general guide for nym nodes in the DarkFi ecosystem and is applicable to other apps such as taud and darkfid. We use darkirc as our main example throughout this guide. Commands such as ./darkirc and configuration filenames need to be adjusted if using different apps. If you're using another app, the network configurations remain the same except for the seed nodes you connect to.

Note: Currently, we can set up only outbound nodes with Nym.

Generating configuration files

After compiling, you can start the application so it can spawn its configuration file. We use darkirc as the application example going forward.

% ./darkirc

darkirc creates a configuration file darkirc_config.toml by default in ~/.config/darkfi/. You will review and edit this configuration file for your preferred network settings.

Configure network settings

Modify the network settings located in the ~/.config/darkfi directory. This configuration allows your node to send and receive traffic only via Nym.

Note: As you modify the file, if you notice some settings are missing, simply add them. Some settings may be commented-out by default.

First, download nym-socks5-client. Then initialize it:

./nym-socks5-client init --id [YOUR_ID] --provider [YOUR_PROVIDER]

Replace [YOUR_ID] with your own preferred id and [YOUR_PROVIDER] with a Nym network requester provider address. You can find a list of network requester providers from Nym Harbour Master. Make sure the provider you select is able to connect to non-standard ports used by darkirc nodes.

After you initialize it, run the socks5 client:

./nym-socks5-client run  --id [YOUR_ID]

Outbound node settings

These outbound node settings for your nym node configuration is only for connecting to the network. You will not advertise an external address. Make sure nym-socks5-client is running, and it's socks5 proxy is listening on 127.0.0.1:1080 before running darkirc. To be able to route our darkirc connections through the socks5 proxy provided by Nym, we need to enable the socks5 proxy transport in our settings:

## connection settings
outbound_connect_timeout = 60
channel_handshake_timeout = 55
channel_heartbeat_interval = 90
outbound_peer_discovery_cooloff_time = 60

## Whitelisted transports for outbound connections
allowed_transports = ["socks5+tls", "tcp+tls"]

## Transports to be mixed
mixed_transports = ["tcp+tls"]

## Seed nodes to connect to 
seeds = [
    "tcp+tls://lilith1.dark.fi:5262"
]

## Outbound connection slots
outbound_connections = 8

## Nym Socks5 proxy
nym_socks5_proxy = "socks5://127.0.0.1:1080"

Connect and test your node

Run ./darkirc. Welcome to the dark forest.

You can test if your node is configured properly on the network. Use Dnet and the ping-tool to test your node connections. You can view if your node is making inbound and outbound connections.

Troubleshooting

Refer to Network troubleshooting for further troubleshooting resources.

Running a Nym Network Requester

You can run a Nym Network Requester to support the Darkfi P2P network

A Nym network requester serves as an exit gateway in the Nym network, an equivalent of an exit node in the Tor network. You can provide your Nym network requester address to others so that they can use your node as an exit gateway. To set it up you need a VPS with a good internet connection.

First, download nym-network-requester. Then initialize it:

./nym-network-requester init --id [YOUR_ID]

You will see some configuration output along with the address of your Nym Network Requester, make sure to record it. It is the address you will share with others.

With it's default configuration the Nym Network Requester will not allow connections to pass through non-standard ports, like the one used by darkirc nodes. By default it uses this exit policy. To override this behavior you need to modify the config file found in ~/.nym/service-providers/network-requester/testing/config/config.toml. Go to the line with upstream_exit_policy and set it to your exit policy url:

upstream_exit_policy_url = 'http://localhost/YOUR_EXIT_POLICY.txt'

Run nginx or a simple http server to host your exit policy.

This is a sample exit policy that whitelists a node with the ip address NODE_IP_ADDRESS and rejects any other connections. Note that the exit policy requires an ip address to be set, it doesn't accept a domain name:

ExitPolicy accept [NODE_IP_ADDRESS]:*
# reject everything else not covered by any of the previous rules
ExitPolicy reject *:*

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