Network with Block Node Example

Example of how to create and manage a custom Solo deployment and configure it with custom settings

Network with Block Node Example

This example demonstrates how to deploy a Hiero Hashgraph Solo network with a block node using Kubernetes and Taskfile.

What it does

  • Creates a local Kubernetes cluster using Kind
  • Deploys a Solo network with a single consensus node, mirror node, relay, explorer, and block node
  • Provides tasks to install (start) and destroy the network

Usage

  1. Install dependencies

  2. Deploy the network

    task

    This will:

    • Install the Solo CLI
    • Create a Kind cluster
    • Initialize Solo
    • Connect and set up the cluster reference
    • Create and configure the deployment
    • Add a block node
    • Generate node keys
    • Deploy the network, node, mirror node, relay, and explorer

  3. Destroy the network

    task destroy

    This will:

    • Stop the node
    • Destroy the mirror node, relay, and explorer
    • Destroy the Solo network
    • Delete the Kind cluster

Tasks

  • install: Installs and starts the Solo network with a block node, mirror node, relay, and explorer.
  • destroy: Stops and removes all network components and deletes the Kind cluster.

Customization

You can adjust the number of nodes and other settings by editing the vars: section in the Taskfile.yml.

Advanced: Block Node Routing Configuration

The --block-node-cfg flag allows you to configure how each consensus node sends blocks to specific block nodes.

Usage

The flag accepts either:

  1. JSON string directly:

    solo consensus network deploy --block-node-cfg '{"node1":[1,3],"node2":[2]}'

  2. Path to a JSON file:

    # Create block-config.json
echo '{"node1":[1,3],"node2":[2]}' > block-config.json

# Use the file
solo consensus network deploy --block-node-cfg block-config.json

Configuration Format

The JSON configuration maps consensus node names to arrays of block node IDs:

{
  "node1": [1, 3],
  "node2": [2]
}

This example means:

  • Consensus node node1 sends blocks to block nodes 1 and 3
  • Consensus node node2 sends blocks to block node 2

Example: Multi-Node Setup with Custom Routing

# Deploy network with 3 consensus nodes and 3 block nodes
solo consensus network deploy \
  --deployment my-network \
  --number-of-consensus-nodes 3 \
  --block-node-cfg '{"node1":[1],"node2":[2],"node3":[3]}'

# This creates isolated routing: each consensus node talks to one block node

This example is self-contained and does not require any files from outside this directory.