No database download on NIS?

Technical Discussion
#1

Hello,

I am setting up a new NEM node, and have download 0.6.74 package on my debian server. Without any setup modification, I’ve launched ./nix.runNis.sh and there is no warning at all. The port 7890 is opened, and I can connect to the Nis from my local wallet. By http on this port, I have the following answer :

{
timeStamp: 31850120,
error: “Not Found”,
message: null,
status: 404
}

But if I modify my wallet setup, giving my server IP address as NIS host, the top bar becomes yellow, telling NIS has to be started (Block 1)… By looking on the server database, the file nis5_mainnet.h2.db is well created, but its size is stuck to 2107392. Nothing more happens…

I could copy my local db on my server, but I wonder why the server doesn’t load the blockchain db.

Is there anything I’ve forgotten to do ?

Thanks.

#2

Hi olivier, can you supply the logs in /home/your_user\nem\nis\logs?

#3

Hi !

The log is here

I can not see any SEVERE or FATAL error.
I’ve tried several times, with the same behavior : the NIS starts well, but the nis5_mainnet.h2.db size is always 2107392. When I stop NIS, its size becomes 1040384, and when I start again 2088960… It looks like NIS is unable to download the blockchain. 7890 port is opened, all the others (except 80) are closed.

Does it help you to understand ?

Thanks

#4

olivier, you need to boot nis to start the sync process.

#5

Yes, but… how do you boot NIS ? (found nothing relevant in google ‘nis auto boot’)

If I change nis/config.properties auto boot nis.bootKey and nis.bootName, Nis sends a FATAL error because my delegated account is not known (because local db is empty ? I’ve verified the delegated account is well known on http://chain.nem.ninja/)

If I try to boot from ncc, setting up parameters (using my Nis server IP, my delegated account # and name, checking auto-boot), it is said remote booting is not allowed. And I have of course the message “NIS needs to be booted. Please open your wallet and boot a local node via the popup dialog or configure the auto-boot setting. (at block 1)”

Do I have to send a POST boot request, as said here ? http://bob.nem.ninja/docs/#booting-the-local-node

Thanks

#6

ok… I think I’ve understood…

I had to uncomment (in nis/config.properties) WITHOUT setting a valid private key for bootkey :
nis.bootKey = 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
nis.bootName = mynodename

I thought I had to give a valid private key fo bootkey, which doesn’t work, because the account is not found, as the blockchain is not yet loaded.

I find it a little confusing, I must say, as it implies I have to setup Nis with a wrong bootkey first, to download the blockchain, and set it up with a valid one afterwards. I don’t think I’ve seen this procedure in the tutorials I’ve read.

#7

The boot key can be any key, you can use any delegated key for example.
A different thing is the nis.shouldAutoHarvestOnBoot setting. You only should set it to true if your chain is up to date and the boot key is known to the block chain.

#8

Everything is fine now. I had to understand the setup must be done in two steps :

  • fake bootkey without harvesting to download the blockchain
  • start again with delegated bootkey

(may be this could be modified into the code : if the db is empty, load it first, and harvest afterwards, no ?)

So, from now on, there is a new nem node online (nemcoinfr) :slight_smile:
http://chain.nem.ninja/#/nodes/
I will try to keep it online 24/24 7/7

thanks.