Install Collaborative Recovery V1.2.1

Who this documentation is for:

  • Node operators
  • Business Network Operators (BNOs)
  • Corda developers

For Collaborative Recovery to be effective if it’s ever needed, you should install the required CorDapps as early as possible. You may be able to install them during a disaster scenario, but it saves valuable time to prepare in advance. This also allows other nodes in the network to reconcile/recover from you.

If you are part of an operating Business Network, Corda Network or Segregated Sub-Zone that does not currently mandate that all nodes run disaster recovery, you should recommend these measures are taken. Collaborative Recovery can only be successful if all nodes on the network have the appropriate CorDapps installed and up to date.

Outline of steps for installation:

  1. Check the requirements for Collaborative Recovery - both on your local environment and your Business Network.

  2. Database requirements and operations outline.

  3. Prepare your node for installation.

  4. Install and check the CorDapps.

  5. Run database migrations.

  6. Verify installation.

  • LedgerGraph CorDapp. The collaborative recovery CorDapps depend on the LedgerGraph CorDapp.

  • Corda Enterprise Corda nodes must be running Corda Enterprise in order to initiate or participate in Collaborative Recovery. This feature is not available for Corda Community Edition nodes.

  • Node Minimum Platform Version (MPV) > 6 Collaborative Recovery requires operative Corda nodes to have a Corda Platform Version (CPV) of 6 or greater. This version number is related to the version of Corda a node is running.

  • Network MPV > 6 In addition to a CPV of greater than 6, the network itself must have a sufficient MPV.

  • Database requirements Collaborative Recovery CorDapps are tested against Corda Enterprise and will work according to the platform support matrix.

The first step in the installation of Collaborative Recovery CorDapps is to obtain the JAR files (distributable binaries that the Corda node will run). These should be provided by your Corda Representative. Once you have obtained these CorDapps in a distributable format, you are ready to install them into your operating Corda node.

You should have access to two individual JAR files - representing LedgerSync and LedgerRecovery respectively. You should be able to access these files readily on the machine from which you will be performing the installation.

In order to safely install the Collaborative Recovery CorDapps, all pending Corda Flows must finish executing. This can be accomplished by enabling flowDrainingMode, which is a configuration setting that causes the node to no longer accept any incoming instructions to initiate new flows or accept newly initiated incoming flows. Instead, only currently checkpointed flows will continue to execute until the node is drained of any pending activity. This can be done in one of two ways:

  1. Via RPC - By using the setFlowsDrainingModeEnabled method with the parameter true.
  2. Via the CRaSH Shell - By issuing the following command: run setFlowsDrainingModeEnabled enabled: true.

Once the node has been successfully drained of any pending activity, you will be able to shut it down safely. Use the following command to output a JSON representation of remaining checkpoints:

checkpoints dump

If the resultant list is empty, the node has been successfully drained. If the list contains representations of in-flight flows, and continues to do so for an unreasonable amount of time, the flows may have become stuck. At this point, you may wish to kill the flows explicitly using the killFlow API.

There are three CorDapps to install:

  • LedgerSync
  • LedgerRecovery
  • LedgerGraph if you have not already installed this separately.

Using the file transfer protocol of your choice, transfer the JAR files representing the required CorDapps to the cordapps directory of the Corda node.

Before proceeding, verify that the transfer was completed successfully by checking that the files are present in the CorDapps directory and the file sizes are the same as the sizes of the source JAR files you received.

If you are using Corda with a permissioned database, you may need to perform database migrations.

Restart the node in the manner in which the node was originally started by the node operator.

You have enabled your Corda node for Collaborative Recovery in the event of a disaster scenario.

Now that you have successfully installed the Collaborative Recovery CorDapps, you can verify that they are available for use. You can do this by requesting a list of the flows available for initiating via the CRaSH shell.

In the CRaSH shell, run the following command: flow list

You should now see a list of flows printed to the console, including those required to initiate Collaborative Recovery. Collaborative Recovery contains many initiating flows, described in detail in this documentation. Verify that the list printed includes:

  • ScheduleReconciliationFlow
  • AutomaticLedgerRecoverFlow
  • InitiateManualRecoveryFlow

Now that you have successfully installed and verified your Collaborative Recovery CorDapps, you can familiarise yourself with their use and configuration.

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