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System Configuration

Run an IOTA Node using Systemd

Tested using:

  • Ubuntu 20.04 (linux/amd64) on bare metal
  • Ubuntu 22.04 (linux/amd64) on bare metal

Prerequisites and Setup​

  1. Add a iota user and the /opt/iota directories
sudo useradd iota
sudo mkdir -p /opt/iota/bin
sudo mkdir -p /opt/iota/config
sudo mkdir -p /opt/iota/db
sudo mkdir -p /opt/iota/key-pairs
sudo chown -R iota:iota /opt/iota
  1. Install the IOTA Node (iota-node) binary, two options:

  • Pre-built binary from Github

  • Build from source (select the branch you want to build from depending on the network you want to connect to):

git clone https://github.com/iotaledger/iota.git && cd iota
git checkout [devnet|testnet|mainnet]
cargo build --release --bin iota-node
mv ./target/release/iota-node /opt/iota/bin/iota-node
  1. Copy your key-pairs into /opt/iota/key-pairs/

Make sure when you copy them they retain iota user permissions. To be safe you can re-run: sudo chown -R iota:iota /opt/iota

  1. Update the node configuration file and place it in the /opt/iota/config/ directory.

Add the paths to your private keys to validator.yaml. If you chose to put them in /opt/iota/key-pairs, you can use the following example:

authority-key-pair: 
  path: /opt/iota/key-pairs/authority.key
protocol-key-pair: 
  path: /opt/iota/key-pairs/protocol.key
network-key-pair: 
  path: /opt/iota/key-pairs/network.key

  1. Place genesis.blob (see Genesis) in /opt/iota/config/

  2. Copy the iota-node systemd service unit file

File: iota-node.service

Copy the file to /etc/systemd/system/iota-node.service.

  1. Reload systemd with this new service unit file, run:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  1. Enable the new service with systemd
sudo systemctl enable iota-node.service

Connectivity​

You may need to explicitly open the ports outlined in IOTA for Node Operators for the required IOTA Node connectivity.

Start the node​

Start the Validator:

sudo systemctl start iota-node

Check that the node is up and running:

sudo systemctl status iota-node

Follow the logs with:

journalctl -u iota-node -f

Updates​

When an update is required to the IOTA Node software the following procedure can be used. It is highly unlikely that you will want to restart with a clean database.

  • assumes iota-node lives in /opt/iota/bin/
  • assumes systemd service is named iota-node
  • DO NOT delete the IOTA databases
  1. Stop iota-node systemd service
sudo systemctl stop iota-node

  1. Fetch the new iota-node binary from Github

  2. Update and move the new binary:

chmod +x iota-node
sudo mv iota-node /opt/iota/bin/
  1. start iota-node systemd service
sudo systemctl start iota-node