DarkFi public node guide

Public nodes are nodes that reveal themselves to the network. They are publicly accessible so they can accept inbound connections from other nodes. Public nodes are important for the health of the DarkFi P2P network. This guide explains how to run the optimal DarkFi public node configurations.

Note: If you do not want your IP address to be public you can run a node using Tor.

Note: This page is a general guide for public 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.

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 your network settings

Edit your darkirc_config.toml file to reflect the network settings you want to support. Listed below are different darkirc_config.toml configurations. You can choose between a clearnet node, a fully anonymous Tor node, or a bridge node which runs over clearnet & Tor, and is most beneficial for the health of the network.

Note: As you modify the file, if you notice some settings are missing, simply add them. Some settings may be commented-out by default. In the example configurations below, you will find the placeholders MY_IP_V4, MY_IP_V6, my.resolveable.address, and youraddress.onion which indicates you should replace them with your public IPv4, IPv6, domain or your onion address. If you don't have some of them (for example: IPv6 or domain) remove the values entirely.

Clearnet node

A clearnet node routes traffic over tcp+tls. You can find a complete example config file for darkirc-clearnet.toml in ${DARKFI_REPO}/bin/darkirc/config.

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

## Addresses we want to advertise to peers
external_addrs = ["tcp+tls://MY_IP_V4:26661", "tcp+tls://MY_IP_V6:26661", "tcp+tls://my.resolveable.address:26661"]

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

## P2P accept addresses
inbound = ["tcp+tls://0.0.0.0:26661", "tcp+tls://[::]:26661"]

## Outbound connection slots
outbound_connections = 8

## Inbound connection slots
inbound_connections = 64

## Enable transport mixing
transport_mixing = false

Fully anonymous Tor-enabled node

A Tor-enabled node routes traffic over tor. You can find a complete example config file for darkirc-tor.toml in ${DARKFI_REPO}/bin/darkirc/config. This node configuration is for users that would like to support darkirc over the Tor network. A Tor node provides the best anonymity on the network.

You need to configure Tor and launch your hidden service prior to running your public node over Tor. Please refer to Tor Nodes.

## 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 = ["tor", "tor+tls"]

## Addresses we want to advertise to peers
external_addrs = ["tor://youraddress.onion:25551"]

## Seed nodes to connect to 
seeds = [
    "tor://czzulj66rr5kq3uhidzn7fh4qvt3vaxaoldukuxnl5vipayuj7obo7id.onion:5263",
    "tor://vgbfkcu5hcnlnwd2lz26nfoa6g6quciyxwbftm6ivvrx74yvv5jnaoid.onion:5273",
]

## P2P accept addresses
inbound = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:25551"]

## Outbound connection slots
outbound_connections = 8

## Inbound connection slots
inbound_connections = 64

## Enable transport mixing
transport_mixing = false

Bridge node

A bridge node is a node that offers connectivity via multiple transport layers. This provides the most benefit for the health of the network. This is the most maximally compatible node for people that wish to support the network. You can find a complete example config file for darkirc-mixed.toml in ${DARKFI_REPO}/bin/darkirc/config. Refer to Tor Nodes to configure Tor.

## 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 = ["tcp+tls", "tor"]

## Addresses we want to advertise to peers
external_addrs = ["tcp+tls://MY_IP_V4:26661", "tcp+tls://MY_IP_V6:26661", "tcp+tls://my.resolveable.address:26661", "tor://youraddress.onion:25551"]

## Seed nodes to connect to 
seeds = [
    "tcp+tls://lilith1.dark.fi:5262",
    "tor://czzulj66rr5kq3uhidzn7fh4qvt3vaxaoldukuxnl5vipayuj7obo7id.onion:5263",
    "tor://vgbfkcu5hcnlnwd2lz26nfoa6g6quciyxwbftm6ivvrx74yvv5jnaoid.onion:5273",
]

## P2P accept addresses
inbound = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:25551", "tcp+tls://0.0.0.0:26661", "tcp+tls://[::]:26661"]

## Outbound connection slots
outbound_connections = 8

## Inbound connection slots
inbound_connections = 64

## Enable transport mixing
transport_mixing = true

Test your node

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.

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