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Corda Network Builder

The Corda Network Builder is a tool for building Corda networks for testing purposes. It leverages Docker and containers to abstract the complexity of managing a distributed network away from the user.

network builder v4
The network you build will either be made up of local Docker nodes or of nodes spread across Azure containers. For each node a separate Docker image is built based on corda/corda-zulu-java1.8-4.4. Unlike the official image, a node.conf file and CorDapps are embedded into the image (they are not externally provided to the running container via volumes/mount points). More backends may be added in future. The tool is open source, so contributions to add more destinations for the containers are welcome!

Download the Corda Network Builder from Maven.

The network builder uses a set of nodes as the base for all other operations. A node is anything that satisfies the following layout:

-
 -- node.conf
 -- corda.jar
 -- cordapps/

An easy way to build a valid set of nodes is by running deployNodes. In this document, we will be using the output of running deployNodes for the Java samples repository:

  • git clone https://github.com/corda/samples-java/tree/release/4.12
  • cd samples-java/Basic/cordapp-example
  • ./gradlew clean workflows-java:deployNodes
  • cd workflows-java/build/nodes
  • java -jar <path/to/corda-tools-network-builder.jar> -d .

If you run docker ps to see the running containers, the following output should be displayed:

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                       COMMAND         CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                                                                                                    NAMES
406868b4ba69        node-partyc:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 16 seconds       0.0.0.0:32902->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32895->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32898->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32900->12222/tcp   partyc0
4546a2fa8de7        node-partyb:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 17 seconds       0.0.0.0:32896->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32899->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32901->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32903->12222/tcp   partyb0
c8c44c515bdb        node-partya:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 17 seconds       0.0.0.0:32894->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32897->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32892->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32893->12222/tcp   partya0
cf7ab689f493        node-notary:corda-network   "run-corda"     30 seconds ago      Up 31 seconds       0.0.0.0:32888->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32889->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32890->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32891->12222/tcp   notary0

Depending on you machine performance, even after all containers are reported as running, the underlying Corda nodes may be still starting and SSHing to a node may be not available immediately.

  • cd kotlin-source/build/nodes
  • java -jar <path/to/corda-tools-network-builder.jar> -b AZURE -d .

You can interact with the nodes by SSHing into them on the port that is mapped to 12222. For example, to SSH into the partya0 node, you would run:

ssh user1@localhost -p 32893
Password authentication
Password:


Welcome to the Corda interactive shell.
Useful commands include 'help' to see what is available, and 'bye' to shut down the node.

>>> run networkMapSnapshot
[
  { "addresses" : [ "partya0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyA, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330613 },
  { "addresses" : [ "notary0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=Notary, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701305115 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyc0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyC, L=Paris, C=FR" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701331608 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyb0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyB, L=New York, C=US" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330118 }
]

>>>

You can also run a flow from cordapp-example: flow start com.example.flow.ExampleFlow$Initiator iouValue: 20, otherParty: "PartyB"

To verify it, connect into the partyb0 node and run run vaultQuery contractStateType: "com.example.state.IOUState". The partyb0 vault should contain IOUState.

It is possible to add additional nodes to the network by reusing the nodes you built earlier. For example, to add a node by reusing the existing PartyA node, you would run:

java -jar <path/to/corda-tools-network-builder.jar> --add "PartyA=O=PartyZ,L=London,C=GB"

To confirm the node has been started correctly, run the following in the previously connected SSH session:

Tue Jul 17 15:47:14 GMT 2018>>> run networkMapSnapshot
[
  { "addresses" : [ "partya0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyA, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330613 },
  { "addresses" : [ "notary0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=Notary, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701305115 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyc0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyC, L=Paris, C=FR" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701331608 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyb0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyB, L=New York, C=US" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330118 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partya1:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyZ, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701630861 }
]

The Corda Network Builder also provides a GUI for when automated interactions are not required. To launch it, run java -jar <path/to/corda-tools-network-builder.jar> -g.

  • Click Open nodes ... and select the folder where you built your nodes in Creating the base nodes and click Open
  • Select Local Docker or Azure
  • Click Build

All the nodes should eventually move to a Status of INSTANTIATED. If you run docker ps from the terminal to see the running containers, the following output should be displayed:

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                       COMMAND         CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                                                                                                    NAMES
406868b4ba69        node-partyc:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 16 seconds       0.0.0.0:32902->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32895->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32898->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32900->12222/tcp   partyc0
4546a2fa8de7        node-partyb:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 17 seconds       0.0.0.0:32896->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32899->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32901->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32903->12222/tcp   partyb0
c8c44c515bdb        node-partya:corda-network   "run-corda"     17 seconds ago      Up 17 seconds       0.0.0.0:32894->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32897->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32892->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32893->12222/tcp   partya0
cf7ab689f493        node-notary:corda-network   "run-corda"     30 seconds ago      Up 31 seconds       0.0.0.0:32888->10003/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32889->10005/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32890->10020/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32891->12222/tcp   notary0

It is possible to add additional nodes to the network by reusing the nodes you built earlier. For example, to add a node by reusing the existing PartyA node, you would:

  • Select partya in the dropdown
  • Click Add Instance
  • Specify the new node’s X500 name and click OK

If you click on partya in the pane, you should see an additional instance listed in the sidebar. To confirm the node has been started correctly, run the following in the previously connected SSH session:

Tue Jul 17 15:47:14 GMT 2018>>> run networkMapSnapshot
[
  { "addresses" : [ "partya0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyA, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330613 },
  { "addresses" : [ "notary0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=Notary, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701305115 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyc0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyC, L=Paris, C=FR" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701331608 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partyb0:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyB, L=New York, C=US" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701330118 },
  { "addresses" : [ "partya1:10020" ], "legalIdentitiesAndCerts" : [ "O=PartyZ, L=London, C=GB" ], "platformVersion" : 6, "serial" : 1532701630861 }
]

Run docker kill $(docker ps -q) to kill all running Docker processes.

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