Configure and Run the BP

We've created all the keys, setup our servers, configured firewalls, and registered our pools and stake addresses. It is now time to create our hotkeys, adjust our scripts and mint some blocks!

The first thing we need to do is rotate our KES keys and create our first operational certificate.

Let's start by creating a directory and backing up our first KES secret key.

mkdir ~/preprodnet/pool/old-keys
cp ~/preprodnet/pool/kes.skey ~/preprodnet/pool/old-keys/

Now let's craete a new kes.skey

cardano-cli node key-gen-KES \
  --verification-key-file ~/preprodnet/pool/kes.vkey \
  --signing-key-file ~/preprodnet/pool/kes.skey

We now need to calculate the current KES period, which is current slot divided by slotsPerKESPeriod.

Let's query the tip

cardano-cli query tip --testnet-magic 1

When this image was taken, our "slot" was 53386135. Now let's see how many slots each KES period has in this network.

cat ~/preprodnet/config/shelley-genesis.json | grep KES

The preprod testnet has 129600 slots per KES period. Now we divide the current slot number by the slots per KES period (53386135/129600) which gives us ~411.9, meaning we are still in KES period 411. Yours will likely be higher than this depending on when you follow this guide.

Next, let's create our operational certificate.

cardano-cli node issue-op-cert --kes-verification-key-file ~/preprodnet/pool/kes.vkey \
--cold-signing-key-file ~/preprodnet/pool/cold.skey \
--operational-certificate-issue-counter-file ~/preprodnet/pool/opcert.counter \
--kes-period <calculated current KES period> \
--out-file ~/preprodnet/pool/op.cert

Once your new keys have been made we will need to restart the node.service but with an updated start script (in our case, node.sh).

Let's modify our node.sh script so that it starts up using our hot keys and operational certificate.

nano ~/preprodnet/scripts/node.sh

Edit the startup script to match the following.

#!/bin/bash
#
# We will set a few variables to shorten our launch command
# Database Path
DB=/home/preprod/preprodnet/db
# Socket Path
SOCKET=/home/preprod/preprodnet/socket/node.socket
# Configuration File
CONFIG=/home/preprod/preprodnet/config/config.json
# Topology File
TOPOLOGY=/home/preprod/preprodnet/config/topology.json
# Host Address. We will set this to 'listen' for incoming connections
HOST=0.0.0.0
# Please change <your port> to the port for either your block producing node or relay
PORT=<your port>
#
VRF=/home/preprod/preprodnet/pool/vrf.skey
# Your KES path
KES=/home/preprod/preprodnet/pool/kes.skey
# lastly your operational certificate path
OPCERT=/home/preprod/preprodnet/pool/op.cert
# Command to run the node
#
/home/preprod/preprodnet/bin/cardano-node run \
--topology $TOPOLOGY \
--database-path $DB \
--socket-path $SOCKET \
--port $PORT \
--config $CONFIG \
--host-addr $HOST \
--shelley-kes-key $KES \
--shelley-vrf-key $VRF \
--shelley-operational-certificate $OPCERT

Once edited and saved, restart your node.service.

sudo systemctl restart node.service