# Running a Grin++ public node (Linux) **URL:** \ **Category:** Development and Technical Discussion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522 "2022-01-17T17:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidtavarez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@davidtavarez](https://forum.grin.mw/u/davidtavarez)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/1 "2022-01-17T17:40:39Z")
Hi! if you have a small VPS and want to contribute to Grin by running a public node… I wrote a small python script to download the latest Grin++ release and extract the binary file of the node into a desired folder. The bash [script can be find here](https://gist.github.com/davidtavarez/38714c9b5267642d922a809e43ea0822). You will need python3 to run the script. You can run it like this: ```auto # python3 grinpp_downloader.py --help usage: grinpp_downloader.py [-h] [--prelease] -d DESTINATION -b BINARY Grin++ Downloader optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit --prelease Download prelease if the prelease is the latest release (default: false) required named arguments: -d DESTINATION, --destination DESTINATION Destination folder -b BINARY, --binary BINARY Name of the binary ``` Let’s make sure you have what you need: ```auto $ sudo apt install -y curl jq python3 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done python3 is already the newest version (3.8.2-0ubuntu2). curl is already the newest version (7.68.0-1ubuntu2.7). jq is already the newest version (1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1). 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. $ ``` To get the script you can use curl. The URL of the raw file might change, so I do recommend to double check the url: ```auto $ curl --silent -O https://gist.githubusercontent.com/davidtavarez/38714c9b5267642d922a809e43ea0822/raw/1ecb0af8edd5f3233e35bb7ea4f6047e17c62754/grinpp_downloader.py ``` Excellent! Now let’s run the script: ```auto $ python3 grinpp_downloader.py --prelease --destination /usr/bin --binary grin Getting the latest release... Getting assets for v1.2.7-beta.1... Downloading GrinPlusPlus-1.2.7-beta.1.AppImage file... Extracting Grin node... Stopping Grin node... Cleaning up peers database... Copying GrinNode binary... Copying tor folder... Assigning execution permissions... Removing unnecesary files... Done. Tip: Start Grin node in brackground by executing the next command: nohup /usr/bin/grin > /dev/null 2>&1 & ``` To run the node in background you could run it like this: ```auto $ nohup /usr/bin/grin > /dev/null 2>&1 & ``` With `nohup` we make sure that the node will remain running after we logout. The last step is to make sure that the node is running: ```auto $ ps -ax | grep grin && curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3413/v1/status | jq 748 ? Sl 6:41 /usr/bin/grin 47308 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep grin { "chain": { "hash": "0001255cf5ddf2d6ea6cd7c3366e4f619a4271efa2b1f4bbf77ac9a983ce2b1d", "height": 1575018, "previous_hash": "0001b128a386eb979926fedb76cd47ef2023afdab0da9078057a8b2f9ae2f1a1", "total_difficulty": 1876778791393289 }, "header_height": 1575018, "network": { "height": 1575018, "num_inbound": 50, "num_outbound": 10, "total_difficulty": 1876778791393289 }, "protocol_version": 1000, "state": { "download_size": 0, "downloaded": 0, "processing_status": 0 }, "sync_status": "FULLY_SYNCED", "user_agent": "Grin++ 1.2.7" } ``` Make sure to allow incoming transactions on port **3414** to serve others. Example: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/grin/original/2X/9/917df0f2f1354843e23b81ce66d91e74b571175d.png) If you want to manage the number of peers, open the config file here: `~/.GrinPP/MAINNET/server_config.json` and set the `MAX_PEERS`, and `MIN_PEERS` values. Example: ```json { "P2P":{ "MAX_PEERS":60, "MIN_PEERS":10 }, "WALLET":{ "DATABASE":"SQLITE", "MIN_CONFIRMATIONS":10 } } ``` ---
**Author:** ![mcm-mike](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.grin.mw/mcm-mike/32/3492_2.png) [@mcm-mike](https://forum.grin.mw/u/mcm-mike)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/2 "2022-01-17T23:28:59Z")
Could you please explain or point me to a documentation, where I can find `server_config.json` documentation? It would be great to: - start GrinPP headless with the option to point where my `server_config.json` is located, e.g. `./grin --config /path/to/server_config.json` - **define storage folder** of all GrinPP files like in [Version 0.6.1 how to choose setup path ? · Issue #68 · GrinPlusPlus/GrinPlusPlus · GitHub](https://github.com/GrinPlusPlus/GrinPlusPlus/issues/68#issuecomment-586972938) - **define nodes to connect to** , similar to [grinnode.live/grin-server.toml at master · Grinnode-live/grinnode.live · GitHub](https://github.com/Grinnode-live/grinnode.live/blob/master/grin-server.toml#L118) ---
**Author:** ![mcm-mike](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.grin.mw/mcm-mike/32/3492_2.png) [@mcm-mike](https://forum.grin.mw/u/mcm-mike)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:47am UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/3 "2022-01-18T10:47:36Z")
**`systemd` to auto start GRIN++ node.** I did write a small `systemd` service to auto start the GRIN++ node. **grinPP.service** ```auto [Unit] Description=Grin node++ After=network.target [Service] WorkingDirectory=/opt/grin/grinPP User=grin Group=grin PrivateDevices=yes Type=simple ExecReload="/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID" KillMode=mixed KillSignal=SIGTERM TimeoutStopSec=60 ExecStart=/opt/grin/grinPP/grin --headless > /dev/null 2>&1 & Restart=on-failure RestartSec=30 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Alias=grinPP.service ``` adjust your `WorkingDirectory` and `ExecStart` paramentes as well as the `User` ! Place this file under `/etc/system/system` as `grinPP.service`. **You can now start the service using:** - `systemctl start grinPP.service` **You can now stop the service using:** - `systemctl stop grinPP.service` **You can now check status of this service using:** - `systemctl status grinPP.service` ```auto grinPP.service - Grin node++ Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/grinPP.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Tue 2022-01-18 10:37:05 UTC; 8min ago Main PID: 103473 (grin) Tasks: 84 (limit: 4557) Memory: 371.1M CPU: 32.088s CGroup: /system.slice/grinPP.service ├─103473 /opt/grin/grinPP/grin --headless > /dev/null 2>&1 & └─103511 /opt/grin/grinPP/tor/tor --ControlPort 3423 --SocksPort 3422 --DataDirectory /grin/.GrinPP/MAINNET/TOR/data3423 --HashedControlPassword 16:906248AB51F939ED605CE9937D3B1FDE65DEB4098A889B2A07AC221D8F -f /grin/.> Jan 18 10:40:23 grinpp01.grinnode.live grin[103511]: Jan 18 10:40:23.000 [notice] Heartbeat: Tor's uptime is 0:03 hours, with 9 circuits open. I've sent 488 kB and received 4.74 MB. Jan 18 10:40:53 grinpp01.grinnode.live grin[103511]: Jan 18 10:40:53.000 [notice] Heartbeat: Tor's uptime is 0:03 hours, with 8 circuits open. I've sent 498 kB and received 4.75 MB. Jan 18 10:41:23 grinpp01.grinnode.live grin[103511]: Jan 18 10:41:23.000 [notice] Heartbeat: Tor's uptime is 0:04 hours, with 8 circuits open. I've sent 505 kB and received 4.75 MB. Jan 18 10:41:53 grinpp01.grinnode.live grin[103511]: Jan 18 10:41:53.000 [notice] Heartbeat: Tor's uptime is 0:04 hours, with 10 circuits open. I've sent 511 kB and received 4.76 MB. ``` **To enable this service at reboot:** - `systemctl enable grinPP.service` ---
**Author:** ![mcm-mike](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.grin.mw/mcm-mike/32/3492_2.png) [@mcm-mike](https://forum.grin.mw/u/mcm-mike)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:57am UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/4 "2022-01-18T10:57:11Z")
`logrotate` to rotate GRIN++ logs. ```auto /etc/logrotate.d# cat grinPP /grin/.GrinPP/MAINNET/LOGS/* { daily rotate 3 size 10M compress delaycompress } ``` This will rotate your logs on a daily basis. - **rotate 3** indicates that only 3 rotated logs should be kept. Thus, the oldest file will be removed on the fourth subsequent run. ---
**Author:** ![oryhp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.grin.mw/oryhp/32/2923_2.png) [@oryhp](https://forum.grin.mw/u/oryhp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 11:54am UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/5 "2022-01-18T11:54:37Z")
Might make sense to put the tooling scripts in some repository to avoid getting them lost in the forum posts. ---
**Author:** ![davidtavarez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@davidtavarez](https://forum.grin.mw/u/davidtavarez)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/6 "2022-01-18T15:37:05Z")
Good idea. We’re deploying few nodes and testing a bit first. ---
**Author:** ![Anynomous](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.grin.mw/anynomous/32/2928_2.png) [@Anynomous](https://forum.grin.mw/u/Anynomous)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/7 "2022-01-25T11:50:02Z")
> [@oryhp](#): > > Might make sense to put the tooling scripts in some repository to avoid getting them lost in the forum posts. e.g. here: > > > //github.com/grincc/hub/tree/main/scripts ---
**Author:** ![Mokhtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mokhtar](https://forum.grin.mw/u/Mokhtar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.grin.mw/t/running-a-grin-public-node-linux/9522/8 "2022-01-30T17:46:38Z")
Today i ran my first node and it was easy as cake i had some issues but @davidtavarez helped me. at one point, my node seemed to be stuck, means that chain height and network height were out of sync with nothing left to do. The solution was to stop the node, remove peers and restart everything ```auto killall -9 grin rm -Rf ~/.GrinPP/MAINNET/NODE/DB/PEERS/* nohup /usr/bin/grin > /dev/null 2>&1 & $ ps -ax | grep grin && curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3413/v1/status | jq ``` to make sure that your node is fully synced, you need to make sure that chain height = network height. i have around 47 inbound connections, means that we need more node on our lovely network. i hope that helps 😃