Local Node

Boostrapping from a local full node is an efficient way to synchronize Dolos from a trusted source. The downside is having to run two processes (the source node + dolos) where some overlap exist. This method involves connecting via Ouroboros node-to-node mini-protocols.

Note

If you’re looking for way of bootstrapping Dolos but you don’t have a local full node, please refer to the alternative Public Relay option.

In essence, this bootstrapping procedure is just about starting Dolos and let it do its thing. From Dolos’ perspective, the procedure involves the following:

1. Read the genesis files to load initial data
2. Connect to the configure upstream node using Ouroboros
3. Start the chain-sync mini-protocol from origin
4. Keep syncing until reaching the tip of the chain

Note

Syncing using node-to-client mini-protocols (aka: node socket) is being developed but not yet supported

Configuration

To bootstrap using a public relay node, the only required configuration is the one inside the upstream section. You will probably have this configuration already since it’s mandatory for almost every Dolos operation.

property	type	example
peer_address	string	”localhost:30000”
network_magic	integer	1
is_testnet	boolean	true

• peer_address: network address of peer node using {host}:{port} syntax.
• network_magic: the magic number of the network we’re connecting to.
• is_tesnet: flag to indicate if this network is a testent or not.

Tip

We use localhost as an example but it can also be a different hostname as long as the TCP port is reachable.

This is how the configuration fragment would look like inside a dolos.toml file:

[upstream]
peer_address = "localhost:30000"
network_magic = 1
is_testnet = true

Execution

To start the bootstrap procedure, you need to run the following command line:

dolos sync

The process will take several hours depending on the chain you’re synchronizing. You’ll see different log outputs, some lines will indicate the slot of the latest block pulled from the relay node. Compare this value to the tip of the chain as shown in a public explorer to track the overall progress.

Note

The process support resuming from previous runs. You can safely interrupt the process and continue again from where you left off by just running the command again.