Online-Node

How to install an Ethereum online node with HTTPS

Prequirement

Ubuntu 16.04

Add swap

fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile

Make it permanent

nano /etc/fstab

Add

/swapfile   none    swap    sw    0   0

Geth

Install geth

apt-get install software-properties-common
add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethereum/ethereum
apt-get update
apt-get install ethereum

Running geth in background

Good command

nohup geth --light --testnet --rpc --rpcaddr "IP_TO_EXPOSE_IF_NO_SSL" --rpccorsdomain "*" --ipcdisable &

For testnet network

nohup geth --testnet &

For main network

nohup geth &

For fast sync

nohup geth --fast

For light node (download only header)

nohup geth --light &

Enable localhost rpc

nohup geth --rpc --rpccorsdomain "*" &

Enable rpc and expose it to an IP

nohup geth --rpc --rpcaddr "IP_OF_SERVER" --rpccorsdomain "*" &

See geth output

tail -f nohup.out

Check if geth is running

ps ax | grep geth

Kill geth

pkill geth

Install and configure Nginx as a HTTPS proxy

Install Nginx

apt-get install nginx

Config Nginx

nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Replace by (replace SERVER_ADDRESS)

server {
	listen 80;
	listen [::]:80;
	
	location /.well-known {
	      root              /var/www/DOMAIN/;
	}
	
	location / {
		return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
	}
}
server {
	listen 443 ssl default_server;
	listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
	
	#ssl_certificate                 /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/fullchain.pem;
	#ssl_certificate_key             /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/privkey.pem;
	#ssl_trusted_certificate         /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/chain.pem;

	location / {
	      proxy_set_header        Host $host;
	      proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
	      proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
	      proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # Fix the “It appears that your reverse proxy set up is broken" error.
	      proxy_pass          http://localhost:8545;
	      proxy_read_timeout  90;
	}
}

Note that the ssl_certificate config are commented. As the certificate is not generated yet, Nginx will not restard if the files doesn't exist. We will uncomment them later.

Restart Nginx

service nginx restart

Certificate

apt-get install letsencrypt
mkdir /var/www/DOMAIN/
letsencrypt certonly --webroot -w /var/www/DOMAIN/ -d DOMAIN

Edit Nginx config to remove the comment ssl lines

nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Uncomment the lines like:

	ssl_certificate                 /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/fullchain.pem;
	ssl_certificate_key             /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/privkey.pem;
	ssl_trusted_certificate         /etc/letsencrypt/live/DOMAIN/chain.pem;

Restart Nginx

service nginx restart

Renew certificate auto

First try to check if the renew work

letsencrypt renew --dry-run --agree-tos

Don't mind the Registering without email!. If everything is fine, add the cron

crontab -e

Add

37 4 * * * letsencrypt renew >/dev/null 2>&1

Source

https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Installation-Instructions-for-Ubuntu

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-nginx-with-ssl-as-a-reverse-proxy-for-jenkins

https://certbot.eff.org/#ubuntuxenial-nginx

https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Command-Line-Options

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-on-ubuntu-14-04