What is CasualChain?

A blockchain core system that doesn't have any incentive features inside

• Man shall not live by crypto currency alone

Documentation

• Code reference
• Overview(English)
• Overview(Japanese)
• API guide
• DataFormat guide
• Configuration guide

Try to run a demo

Setup path

There are three different ways:

1. Building from the code (Current recommendation)
2. Using npm
3. Using docker (Much easy but demo version only)

In any case, a Linux system with MongoDB version 4.4 or higher can be installed is required. CasualChain also uses OpenSSL commands directly. This is usually already installed.

When building from the code

Install the Node.js

Version 18.x and 20.x are tested. Here is a installation example for ubuntu 22.04.

$ sudo apt install nodejs npm
$ sudo npm install n -g
$ sudo n 20
$ sudo apt purge nodejs npm
$ sudo apt autoremove

Download and compile the code

$ sudo apt install git
$ git clone https://github.com/ryojikamei/CasualChain.git
$ cd CasualChain
$ npm install
$ npm run build

Run a demo

$ npm run demo

Demo can be stopped with Ctrl-C. APIs are listed in the overview pdf file.

When using npm

Registered in npm, but not a library, so not a very smart way to do it. In future versions, the core will be made into a library, which will be more useful.

Install the Node.js

$ sudo apt install nodejs npm
$ sudo npm install n -g
$ sudo n 20
$ sudo apt purge nodejs npm
$ sudo apt autoremove

Install CasualChain

$ npm install casualchain
$ cd node_modules/casualchain
$ ln -s systemrpc_grpc_pb.cjs  grpc/systemrpc_grpc_pb.js
$ ln -s systemrpc_pb.cjs  grpc/systemrpc_pb.js
$ npm install

Run a demo

$ npm run demo

Demo can be stopped with Ctrl-C. APIs are listed in the overview pdf file.

When using docker

Currently only a demo version is available. It cannot be used for full-scale evaluation. See https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/ryojikamei/casualchain/general to seek the recent image.

$ sudo docker image pull ryojikamei/casualchain:demo_<timestamp>
$ sudo docker container run -p 8001:8001 -p 9001:9001 ryojikamei/casualchain:demo_<timestamp>

Demo can be stopped like:

$ sudo docker container list
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                        COMMAND                   CREATED              STATUS              PORTS                                                                                                      NAMES
490e3caef3d8   ryojikamei/casualchain:demo_20240529084025   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute   0.0.0.0:8001->8001/tcp, :::8001->8001/tcp, 8002/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9001->9001/tcp, :::9001->9001/tcp, 9002/tcp   quizzical_lederberg
$ sudo docker container stop quizzical_lederberg

Run for a long-term evaluation

The two startup modes - dev, and demo - build the MongoDB on volatile memory. When starting in a long-term evaluation, MongoDB must be configured as normal.

MongoDB installation

CasualChain stores blocked data in MongoDB. Version 4.4 or higher is required because CasualChain requires the transaction feature.

Here is a installation example for ubuntu 22.04. MongoDB for ubuntu 24.04 does not yet exist.

$ sudo apt install gnupg curl
$ curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc | \
  sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg \
  --dearmor
$ echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install -y mongodb-org

A pair of private key and public key to run a node

Required keys are automatically generated upon initial startup. They will be in config/<run mode><node name>.key and config/<run mode><node name>.pub. Alternatively, you may use keys you have provided.

MongoDB configuration

The two startup modes - dev, and demo - build the MongoDB on volatile memory. When starting in evaluation, MongoDB must be configured as normal.

Here is a minimal configuration of MongoDB. These setups are insufficient in terms of availability because all instances are stored on a single server. When building a production environment, prepare servers for the number of nodes.

Start mongod

$ sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

Create admin account

$ mongosh
test> use admin
switched to db admin
admin> db.createUser({
... "user": "admin",
... "pwd": "<some hard password>",
... "roles": [{"role":"userAdminAnyDatabase","db":"admin"}]
... });
{ ok: 1 }
admin> <exit with Ctrl-D>

Enable authorization

$ sudo vi /etc/mongod.conf

Open mongod.conf and enable authorization.

security:
  authorization: enabled

Restart the mongod

$ sudo systemctl restart mongod

Create account for each CasualChain instance

I recommend starting at least 3 instances, so prepare 3 databases. Passwords will be specified later in CasualChain configuration files, so they must be remembered.

$ mongosh -u admin -p <password for admin>
test> use bcdb1;
switched to db bcdb1
bcdb1> db.createUser({
... "user": "bcuser1",
... "pwd": "<some hard password>",
... "roles": [{"role":"dbOwner","db":"bdcb1"}]
... });
{ ok: 1 }
bcdb1> use bcdb2;
switched to db bcdb2
bcdb2> db.createUser({
... "user": "bcuser2",
... "pwd": "<some hard password>",
... "roles": [{"role":"dbOwner","db":"bdcb2"}]
... });
{ ok: 1 }
bcdb2> use bcdb3;
switched to db bcdb3
bcdb3> db.createUser({
... "user": "bcuser3",
... "pwd": "<some hard password>",
... "roles": [{"role":"dbOwner","db":"bdcb3"}]
... });
{ ok: 1 }
bcdb3> <exit with Ctrl-D>
$ sudo systemctl restart mongod

Put configuration file for each instance

Unfinished configuration files are provided.

$ cp -a config/template/* .
$ ls config/prod_*
config/prod_node1.json        config/prod_node2.json
config/prod_node3.json

There is one configuration file per node.

Edit configuration files

Edit the three files, prod_node1.json, prod_node2.json, and prod_node3.json, and activate them as configuration files. The following is a list of the parts of each file that need to be modified.

• "logger":"filepath"
  Specify a valid file path.

• "datastore":"mongo_password"
  Specify here the password to access the MongoDB database that you have already set up using mongosh.

• "api":"rest":"userapi_password"
  Specify the password for the user API.

• "api":"rest":"adminapi_password"
  Specify the password for the administration API.

Run

Startup entries for node1 through node3 are provided in package.json. Prepare three VTs and run the npm command from each.

$ npm run prod_node1

$ npm run prod_node2

$ npm run prod_node3