Build your private ethereum fullnode on Debian 9.0 (Stretch)

Date

Ethereum is an open-source blockchain platform featuring smart contract functionality.

If you want to try to learn the smart contract, the first of the important thing to do

is install the ethereum fullnode. There are 3 type of networks: main network, public testnet

and local private testnet. In this article, I will show you how to build a local private testnet

from the scratch. You can also use the script to reproduce identical network with me.

NOTE: The root directory for fullnode is ~/eth

I will demo the commands in detail, you can issue them in the bash terminal.

1 Install tools from the beginning (Need root password)

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential git
mkdir ~/eth
cd ~/eth
curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.7.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf go1.7.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

2 Prepare the enviroment for fullnode compile

mkdir ~/eth/go-workspace
export PATH=$PATH:~/eth/go/bin
export GOPATH=~/eth/go-workspace
export GOROOT=~/eth/go

3 Clone & build fullnode from sourcecode (go-ethereum)

cd ~/eth
git clone https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum
cd go-ethereum
make geth

4 Build the private ethereum testnet

cd ~/eth
export PATH=$PATH:~/eth/go-ethereum/build/bin
mkdir ~/eth/myeth_data
cat > myeth_genesis.json << EOL
{
    "nonce": "0x0000000000000042",
    "timestamp": "0x00",
    "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
    "extraData": "0x00",
    "gasLimit": "0x8000000",
    "difficulty": "0x400",
    "mixhash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
    "coinbase": "0x3333333333333333333333333333333333333333",
    "alloc": {
     },
     "config": {
        "chainId": 15,
        "homesteadBlock": 0,
        "eip155Block": 0,
        "eip158Block": 0
    }
}
EOL
geth --identity "myeth" --datadir ~/eth/myeth_data --rpc --rpccorsdomain "*" --rpcapi "db,eth,net,web3" --networkid 1024 init "./myeth_genesis.json"

5 Start the fullnode console

geth --identity "myeth" --datadir ~/eth/myeth_data --networkid 1024 console

6 Create account and start mining in the fullnode console

personal.newAccount("password"); /* change password to your own */
miner.setEtherbase(personal.listAccounts[0])
miner.start()