Akash Node Via Helm Charts | Akash Network - Your Guide to Decentralized Cloud

Build an Akash Node quickly and simply with a deployment onto your Kubernetes cluster via a ready to use Helm Chart.

The Akash Node build detailed takes advantage of “state sync” which allows rapid activation. State Sync allows a new node to join a network by fetching a snapshot of the state at a recent height instead of fetching and replaying all historical blocks. This can reduce the time needed to sync with the network from hours to minutes.

Steps in this guide include:

STEP 1 - Prepare Kubernetes Cluster
STEP 2 - Akash Node Installation
STEP 3 - Node Verifications

Prepare Kubernetes Cluster

Overview

In this section we will create necessary Kubernetes labels, install Helm, and ensure the necessary Helm repositories are available.

Create Necessary Kubernetes Labels

Create the akash-services label if not done so prior

kubectl create ns akash-services
kubectl label ns akash-services akash.network/name=akash-services akash.network=true

Install Helm

Install Helm for Kubernetes package management if not done so prior
Execute on these steps on a Kubernetes control plane node

wget https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.11.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

tar -zxvf helm-v3.11.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

install linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm

###Remove any potential prior repo instances
helm repo remove akash

helm repo add akash https://akash-network.github.io/helm-charts

Update the Akash Helm Repo

helm repo update akash

Akash Node Installation

Uninstall Any Prior Node Instances

NOTE - if no previous Akash node instances are found the following message will be received and is expected

`Error: uninstall: Release not loaded: akash-node: release: not found`

helm -n akash-services uninstall akash-node

Install Akash Node as a Kubernetes Pod

helm install akash-node akash/akash-node -n akash-services

Expected/Sample Output

helm install akash-node akash/akash-node -n akash-services

NAME: akash-node
LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jun 23 13:26:03 2022
NAMESPACE: akash-services
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None

Node Verifications

View Helm Chart Values

Utilize this step to ensure the installed Helm Chart user supplied variables are correct
The values were defined when we executed the helm install command with specified parameters

helm -n akash-services get values akash-node

Expected/Sample Output

If custom values were included with the helm install command the following output is expected (example)

helm -n akash-services get values akash-node

USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
state_sync:
  enabled: true

If no custom values were included with the helm install command the following output is expected

USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
null

Verify Akash Node Pod Status

Confirm that the Akash Node pod is in a pristine state

kubectl get pods -n akash-services

Expected/Sample Output

kubectl get pods -n akash-services

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
akash-node-1-78954d745c-xgkhx   1/1     Running   0          50s

Verify Akash Node Sync via Logs

Ensure that the Akash Node pod has errors of concerns in logs and that the blockchain sync is progressing
Replace the name-of-pod variable with akash-node pod name displayed in the previous step

kubectl logs <name-of-pod> -n akash-services | grep -iv peer | tail

Expected/Sample Output

kubectl logs akash-node-1-78954d745c-xgkhx -n akash-services | grep -iv peer | tail

2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=16 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=17 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=18 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=19 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Discovered new snapshot format=1 hash=":��6u�^�/G号Ĝ��d]��W�]/\x11�S�N*�" height=6443000 module=statesync
2:07PM INF Discovered new snapshot format=1 hash="�\x1bkn\x18��_��\x06���8��,��\f�Jp�\x01Ft�\t�~" height=6442500 module=statesync
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=20 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=21 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=22 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26
2:07PM INF Applied snapshot chunk to ABCI app chunk=23 format=1 height=6442000 module=statesync total=26

Akash Node Status

Access Pod Shell

Access the Kubernetes shell of the Akash Node deployment to view sync status

kubectl exec --stdin --tty -n akash-services <pod-name> -- /bin/bash

Verify Node Status

akash status

Expected/Sample Output

Note the following expected values:
- catching_up - should be false once your Node is in sync with the blockchain
- latest_block_height - compare this block height with the latest height on a block explorer as another method of validating if the node is in sync or if not in sync how close to completing that process the node may be

kubectl exec --stdin --tty -n akash-services akash-node-1-78954d745c-g46pf -- /bin/bash

root@akash-node-1-78954d745c-g46pf:/# akash status
{"NodeInfo":{"protocol_version":{"p2p":"8","block":"11","app":"0"},"id":"330603b82b2e0dbeadf84b13d00d81ff19017854","listen_addr":"tcp://0.0.0.0:26656","network":"akashnet-2","version":"0.34.19","channels":"40202122233038606100","moniker":"mynode-1","other":{"tx_index":"on","rpc_address":"tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"}},"SyncInfo":{"latest_block_hash":"826995C3E57B5D5B56F2EB5B47C3F9315F87795F078063DE9E6C736064C3A6C3","latest_app_hash":"1B3DCEFCFA1752777FBEC5B1E26DCB29484D22518C86492D50E8FCE02560D1B5","latest_block_height":"6260678","latest_block_time":"2022-06-10T16:51:26.696963875Z","earliest_block_hash":"1957CBF8018B0819880ADB44402AE837E170FAD47FF5F745F9872D622F037816","earliest_app_hash":"2A0D0C3541D399D24C26A4098A5741C628B28AC15EFEA6947DF6D3D71FD24B1F","earliest_block_height":"6260001","earliest_block_time":"2022-06-10T15:42:43.877575807Z","catching_up":false},"ValidatorInfo":{"Address":"3410C9951968DA68145D8A4F06B3C7BA962D6926","PubKey":{"type":"tendermint/PubKeyEd25519","value":"tHKKYDHdV3VoWtRHzOu5vUP94vGc98QD8bxytH1Jlwo="},"VotingPower":"0"}}

Additional Node Verification

STEP 1 - From the K8s Control-Plane Node

export AKASH_NODE="http://$(kubectl -n akash-services get ep akash-node-1 -o jsonpath='{.subsets[0].addresses[0].ip}'):26657"

curl -s "$AKASH_NODE/status" | jq -r .

STEP 2 - From a Remote Address (Outside the K8s Network)

Use kubectl port-forward for forwarding the akash node (RPC) port 26657/tcp to your local station.

Forward 26657 to 127.0.0.1:26657

kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657

Expected/Example Output

$ kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:26657 -> 26657
Forwarding from [::1]:26657 -> 26657

Put the kubectl port-forward Process into Background

Press Ctrl+Z and type bg + Enter as follows:

^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657
$ bg
[1]+ kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657 &

Access the RPC as if it were Running Locally

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:26657/status | jq -r .

Stop kubectl port-forward When Done Testing

$ jobs
[1]+  Running                 kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657 &
$ kill %1
$ jobs
[1]+  Terminated              kubectl -n akash-services port-forward service/akash-node-1 26657:26657