Chain configuration

Introduction

ico package uses underlying Populus framework to configure different Ethereum backends.

Supported backend and nodes include

  • Go Ethereum (geth)
  • Parity
  • Infura (Ethereum node as a service)
  • Quicknode (Ethereum node as a service)
  • Ethereum mainnet
  • Ethereum Ropsten test network
  • Ethreum Kovan test network
  • … or basically anything that responds to JSON RPC

Default configuration

The default configuration set in the packge distribution is in populus.json file.

Edit this file for your own node IP addresses and ports.

The default configuration is

  • http://127.0.0.1:8545 is mainnet JSON-RPC, populus.json network sa mainnet
  • http://127.0.0.1:8546 is Kovan JSON-RPC, populus.json network sa kovan
  • http://127.0.0.1:8547 is Kovan JSON-RPC, populus.json network sa ropsten

Ethereum node software (geth, parity) must be started beforehand and configured to allow JSON-RPC in the particular port.

For more information about populus.json file refer to Populus documentation.

Starting Ethereum node and creating deployment accounts

Below are two examples for Go Ethereum and Parity.

Note

We recommend using Kovan or Ropsten testnet for any testing and trials, because of faster transaction confirmation times. However, as the writing of this, Kovan testnet is only available for Parity and not for Go Ethereum. Go Ethereum and Parity have a different command line syntax and account unlocking mechanisms. It might take some effort to learn and start using both.

Account unlocking

When you make an Ethereum transaction, including deploying a contract, you need to have an Ethereum account with ETH balance on it. Furthermore this account must be unlocked. By default the accounts are available only in an encrypted file in the hard disk. When you unlock the account you can use it from the scripts for performing transactions.

Go Ethereun for mainnet

Example how to start Go Ethereum JSON-RPC for mainnet:

geth --fast --ipcdisable --rpc --rpcapi "db,eth,net,web3,personal" --verbosity 3 --rpccorsdomain "*"  --cache 2048

You can create a new mainnet account which you will use a deployment account from geth console:

geth attach http://localhost:8545

Create a new private key from a seed phrase in geth console:

> web3.sha3("my super secret seed phrase")
0x000000...

Now import this 256-bit number as a geth account private key:

> personal.importRawKey("0x00000", "my account password")

You also need to unlock your deployment every time you do a deployment from geth console.

Example:

geth attach http://localhost:8545

Then unlock account for 1 hour in geth console:

personal.unlockAccount("0x00000000...", "my account password", 3600)

Parity with Kovan testnet

First start parity –chain=kovan to generate the chaindata files and such.

Connect to the Parity UI using your web browser.

Create a new Kovan testnet account. The account password will be stored in plain text, so do not use a strong password.

Create a file password.txt and store the password there.

Example how to start Parity JSON-RPC for Kovan testnet, unlocking your Kovan account for test transactions. It will permanently unlock your account using the password given in password.txt and listen to JSON-RPC in port http://localhost:8547.

parity --chain=kovan --unlock 0x001fc7d... --password password.txt --jsonrpc-apis "web3,eth,net,parity,traces,rpc,personal" --jsonrpc-port 8547 --no-ipc --port 30306 --tracing on --allow-ips=public

Getting Kovan testnet ETH

Your options