Syscoin 4.2 Testnet Setup Guide assuming a clean install

Below are the minimum requirements for your VPS. Please do not try to compile without the minimum.

64-bit CPU — 2 Cores (4 preferred)

4gb RAM (real) minimum (8gb RAM preferred)

4gb swap (if less than 8gb real RAM) Will need to use SSD if using Swap

KVM or OpenVZ (KVM preferred)

Linux OS — Minimum Ubuntu 18.04, LTS Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) preferred.

80gb Disk Space (100gb+ SSD preferred).

Port open for Syscoin (default: 18369) and Geth (default: 30303)

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Please read these instructions carefully the majority of issues are because these instructions are not read correctly.

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SETUP QT FOR TESTNET

You will need to setup a separate datadir for use on Testnet.

Choose a location for the Testnet data and create a folder, I use

D:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\Syscoin4.2TestNet

Open this folder and create a syscoin.conf file with the following and save it as syscoin.conf.

#rpc config
testnet=1
[test]
rpcuser=user
rpcpassword=password
listen=1
daemon=1
server=1
assetindex=1
port=18369
rpcport=18370
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
gethtestnet=1
addnode=54.203.169.179
addnode=54.190.239.153

Close and save this file as syscoin.conf before running QT.

Now we need to tell QT to use this directory for Testnet

Use latest RC release and for windows use the win64.zip unzip and run from the download folder. (If you use the installer it will overwrite any existing installation)

https://github.com/syscoin/syscoin/releases

Locate your syscoin-qt.exe, Use 4.2rc x

Right click on it and create a shortcut

You might have to save it to your desktop

Rename the shortcut to something like

syscoin-qt.exe — TestNet

Right click on the shortcut and choose properties

In the target field add -datadir and the location (created above)after syscoin-qt.exe so it looks like this (note the space before -datadir)

“C:\Program Files\Syscoin\syscoin-qt.exe” 
-datadir=D:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\Syscoin4.2TestNet

If you want you can change the icon to distinguish it from Live

Press OK to save changes

Now run QT from this shortcut and it will run QT on Testnet

Once synced request tSys from #testnet.

Please enable coin control and show masternode tab from the options.

Note: If using an Operator to host your node you now need to follow their instructions. The following applies to self hosted nodes.

SET UP VPS

Log onto your Server using Putty as Root.

All text in boxes are commands and need to be typed (Copy/Paste into Putty followed by Enter.

Install Nano (Text editor)

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nano

Manual Install

Open ports/enable firewalls etc.
apt install ufw python virtualenv git unzip pv -y
ufw allow ssh/tcp 
ufw limit ssh/tcp 
ufw allow 18369/tcp 
ufw allow 30303/tcp 
ufw logging on 
ufw enable

Install Swap file if you have only 4gb Memory

fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile
nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line at the end of the file, then press Ctrl + X to close the editor, then Y and Enter save the file.

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

Install Syscoin Binaries :

wget https://github.com/syscoin/syscoin/releases/download/v4.2.0rc14/syscoin-4.2.0rc14-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
tar xf syscoin-4.2.0rc14-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin syscoin-4.2.0rc14/bin/*
rm -r syscoin-4.2.0rc14
mkdir ~/.syscoin

We need to create the config file

nano ~/.syscoin/syscoin.conf

Paste in the following:

testnet=1
[test]
rpcuser=user
rpcpassword=password
listen=1
daemon=1
server=1
assetindex=1
port=18369
rpcport=18370
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
gethtestnet=1
addnode=54.190.239.153
addnode=52.40.171.92

Press Ctrl + X to close the editor and Y and Enter save the file

Run Syscoin Core

syscoind

Check Blocks

syscoin-cli getblockchaininfo

Install Sentinel

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install git python3 virtualenv   ## note this says python3
git clone https://github.com/syscoin/sentinel.git
cd sentinel
git checkout dev-4.x
virtualenv -p $(which python3) ./venv
./venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

We now need to edit the sentinel config file

nano sentinel.conf

1. If there is a # In front of syscoin_conf= then remove it and change it to syscoin_conf=/root/.syscoin/syscoin.conf
2. Put a # next to network=mainnet and remove the # next to network=testnet to enable testnet version of sentinel.

Save

Should look like this

Finish Sentinel setup

Create a crontab entry to wake sentinel every 5 minutes.

crontab -e

Please wait and select Nano as the option if this is the first time you have done this and add this line to the end of the file, including * * * * *

* * * * * cd /root/sentinel && ./venv/bin/python bin/sentinel.py 2>&1 >> sentinel-cron.log

To Start Syscoind automatically on boot you can add this line.

//Thanks to Locutus

@reboot /usr/local/bin/syscoind -daemon >/dev/null 2>&1

Save

SETUP THE MASTERNODE.

Return to QT

Note if using an existing address with seniority you will have to manually ‘lock’ the collateral until after you have registered the MN.

Note the masternode.config file is no longer used.

More than one masternode can not share the same collateral address, ownerKeyAddress or votingKeyAddress and payout address cannot be the same as owner or voting addresses.

Create a new address for collateral this does not need to be a legacy address anymore, or use an existing seniority address. This address can also be in an offline wallet that has signing capabilities.

getnewaddress mn1

Send exactly 100,000 tsys to this address

Identify the funding transaction

Click Window> Console and enter the following command:

Note some commands now require an underscore

masternode_outputs

This should return a string of characters similar to the following:

{
  "3304a4920f20e1e5cd1f34e5396556ded1e603296f7c5dd66c7ec4fe63cb008d": "0"
}

The first long string is your collateralHash, while the last number is the collateralIndex.

Generate a BLS key pair

A public/secret BLS key pair is required to operate a masternode. The secret key is specified on the masternode itself, and allows it to be included in the deterministic masternode list once a provider registration transaction with the corresponding public key has been created.

If you are using a hosting service, they may provide you with their public key, and you can skip this step. If you are hosting your own masternode or have agreed to provide your host with the BLS secret key, generate a BLS public/secret keypair in the Console and entering the following command:

bls_generate
{
  "secret": "1a8f477d2b02650b7d159efe315940f05252334eb292376309386cc99b0c4ec7",
  "public": "05afc5f75d0a215951677703e41a108a67f2efb31110e392d988dbd4f9e8446a3336d59de1ff886ec0d3c65c822af2de"
}

These keys are NOT stored by the wallet and must be kept secure, similar to the value provided in the past by the masternode genkey command.

Add the secret key to your masternode configuration

The public key will be used in following steps. The secret key must be entered in the syscoin.conf file on the masternode. This allows the masternode to watch the blockchain for relevant Pro*Tx transactions, and will cause it to start serving as a masternode when the signed ProRegTx is broadcast by the owner (final step below). Log in to your masternode using ssh or PuTTY and edit the configuration file as follows:

nano ~/.syscoin/syscoin.conf

The editor appears with the existing configuration. Add this line in the file, replacing the key with your BLS secret key generated above (excluding “ ”) and also add your VPS external address

masternodeblsprivkey=1a8f477d2b02650b7d159efe315940f05252334eb292376309386cc99b0c4ec7
externalip=123.123.123.123

Press enter to make sure there is a blank line at the end of the file, then press Ctrl + X to close the editor and Y and Enter save the file. Note that providing a masternodeblsprivkey enables masternode mode, which will automatically force the txindex=1, peerbloomfilters=1, and prune=0 settings necessary to provide masternode service. We now need to restart the masternode for this change to take effect. Enter the following commands, waiting a few seconds in between to give Syscoin time to shut down making sure you are in the root directory:

syscoin-cli stop
sleep 5
syscoind

We will now prepare the transaction used to register the masternode on the network.

Prepare a ProRegTx transaction

A pair of BLS keys for the operator were already generated above, and the secret key was entered on the masternode. The public key is used in this transaction as the operatorPubKey.

First, we need to get a new, unused address from the wallet to serve as the owner key address (ownerKeyAddr). This is not the same as the collateral address holding 100000 Sys. This address must be different for each MN. Generate a new address as follows:

getnewaddress mn1-owner
tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0

This address can also be used as the voting key address (votingKeyAddr). Alternatively, you can specify an address provided to you by your chosen voting delegate, or simply generate a new voting key address as follows:

getnewaddress mn1-voting
tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zhrttg8g8g

Then either generate or choose an existing address to receive the owner’s masternode payouts (payoutAddress). This address cannot be the same as your owner or voting address, it is also possible to use an address external to the wallet:

getnewaddress payouts
tsys1quuu4ach5npjp3vpmaezzctc9r33405p39khz67

You can also optionally generate and fund another address as the transaction fee source (feeSourceAddress). If you selected an external payout address, you must specify a fee source address.

Either the payout address or fee source address must have enough balance to pay the transaction fee, or the register_prepare transaction will fail.

The private keys to the owner and fee source addresses must exist in the wallet submitting the transaction to the network. If your wallet is protected by a password, it must now be unlocked to perform the following commands. Unlock your wallet for 5 minutes:

walletpassphrase yourSecretPassword 300

To see a list of common errors for the registration process click https://bittyjohn1954.medium.com/syscoin-4-2-masternode-error-codes-df0b80828f5f

We will now prepare an unsigned ProRegTx special transaction using the protx_register_prepare command. This command has the following syntax:

protx_register_prepare collateralHash collateralIndex ipAndPort ownerKeyAddr
  operatorPubKey votingKeyAddr operatorReward payoutAddress (feeSourceAddress)

Open a text editor such as notepad ++to prepare this command. Replace each argument to the command as follows:

• collateralHash: The txid of the 100000 Syscoin collateral funding transaction
• collateralIndex: The output index of the 100000 Syscoin funding transaction
• ipAndPort: Masternode IP address and port, in the format x.x.x.x:yyyy
• ownerKeyAddr: The Syscoin address generated above for the owner address
• operatorPubKey: The BLS public key generated above (or provided by your hosting service)
• votingKeyAddr: The Syscoin address generated above, or the address of a delegate, used for proposal voting
• operatorReward: The percentage of the block reward allocated to the operator as payment, 0 for no reward.
• payoutAddress: A Syscoin address to receive the owner’s masternode rewards
• feeSourceAddress: An (optional) address used to fund ProTx fee. payoutAddress will be used if not specified.

Note that the operator is responsible for specifying their own reward address in a separate update_service transaction if you specify a non-zero operatorReward. The owner of the masternode collateral does not specify the operator’s payout address.

Either the feeSourceAddress or payoutAddress must hold a small balance since a standard transaction fee is involved.

Example (remove line breaks if copying):

Note in this example I will use the same address for owner and voting and i will have sent a small amount of tSys to the payoutAddress for fees as i am not using feeSourceAddress.(Remember to lock your collateral if using a seniority address)
protx_register_prepare
  3304a4920f20e1e5cd1f4e5396556ded1e603296f7c5dd66c7ec4fe63cb008d
  0
  161.97.140.65:18369
  tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0
  05afc5f75d0a215951677703e41a108a67f2efb31110e392d988dbd4f9e8446a3336d59de1ff886ec0d3c65c822af2de
  tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0
  0
  tsys1quuu4ach5npjp3vpmaezzctc9r33405p39khz67

Output:

{
  "tx": "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",
  "collateralAddress": "TB59KQk6WsMaJxkc8UB3hudjtGMqfeQWSG",
  "signMessage": "tsys1quuu4ach5npjp3vpmaezzctc9r33405p39khz67|0|tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0|tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0|00def144051468bdb1a855f01bf9f022091c4c0ebc745d1ecc28ac418c9af2e0"
}

Next we will use the collateralAddress and signMessage fields to sign the transaction, and the output of the tx field to submit the transaction.

Sign the ProRegTx transaction

We will now sign the content of the signMessage (returned above) field using the public key for the collateral address as specified in collateralAddress. The wallet used to sign must hold the private key to the collateral address and note that no internet connection is required for this step, meaning that the wallet can remain disconnected from the internet in cold storage to sign the message. The command takes the following syntax:

signmessagebech32 collateralAddress signMessage

Example: (excluding “ ”)

signmessagebech32 TB59KQk6WsMaJxkc8UB3hudjtGMqfeQWSG tsys1quuu4ach5npjp3vpmaezzctc9r33405p39khz67|0|tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0|tsys1q9aejtrvkrlnqsfeqanr5zh2wh676mvmekj4hj0|00def144051468bdb1a855f01bf9f022091c4c0ebc745d1ecc28ac418c9af2e0

Output:

IGj1ORdk3yv/uAMKG+DZrBA/GTHX4dW8zn/rmMfGzOzCIaxqmyUbNveYtnqh9wLVECENMjyuyeR2VmB3ccNlRLw=

Submit the signed message

We will now submit the ProRegTx special transaction to the blockchain to register the masternode. This command must be sent from the wallet holding a balance on either the feeSourceAddress or payoutAddress, since a standard transaction fee is involved. The command takes the following syntax:

protx_register_submit tx sig

Where:

• tx: The serialized transaction previously returned in the tx output field from the protx_register_prepare command
• sig: The message returned from the signmessagebech32 command

Example: (excluding “ ”)

protx_register_submit 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 IGj1ORdk3yv/uAMKG+DZrBA/GTHX4dW8zn/rmMfGzOzCIaxqmyUbNveYtnqh9wLVECENMjyuyeR2VmB3ccNlRLw=

Output:

285fba6277586401f8efaf55d4eef7acfa6d690a30c0db7f213a0bb2c6194bd1

Your masternode is now registered and will appear on the Deterministic Masternode List after the transaction is mined to a block. You can view this list on the Masternodes tab in QT, or in the console using the command protx_list valid, where the txid of the final protx_register_submit transaction identifies your masternode.

At this point you can go back to your terminal window and monitor your masternode by entering

syscoin-cli masternode_status

This information can also be seen by double clicking your masternode in QT

Congratulations! Your masternode is now running.

JOB DONE I THINK