- What is this?
- Who made this?
- License
- Requirements
- Network Architecture
- Go over the samples
- Configuration
- Backup-Restore
- Limitations
- FAQ
- Conclusion
This repository contains a couple of Helm charts to:
- Configure and launch the whole HL Fabric network, either:
- A simple one, one peer per organization and Solo orderer
- Or scaled up one, multiple peers per organization and Kafka orderer
- Populate the network:
- Create the channels, join peers to channels, update channels for Anchor peers
- Install/Instantiate all chaincodes, or some of them, or upgrade them to newer version
- Backup and restore the state of whole network
This work is a result of collaborative effort between APG and Accenture NL.
We had implemented these Helm charts for our project's needs, and as the results looks very promising, decided to share the source code with the HL Fabric community. Hopefully it will fill a large gap! Special thanks to APG for allowing opening the source code :)
We strongly encourage the HL Fabric community to take ownership of this repository, extend it for further use cases, use it as a test bed and adapt it to the Fabric provided samples to get rid of endless Docker Compose files and Bash scripts.
This work is licensed under the same license with HL Fabric; Apache License 2.0.
- A running Kubernetes cluster, Minikube should also work, but not tested
- HL Fabric binaries
- Helm, developed with 2.11, newer 2.xx versions should also work
- Argo, both CLI and Controller
- Minio, only required for backup/restore flows
- Run all the commands in fabric-kube folder
First install chart dependencies, you need to do this only once:
helm repo add kafka http://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-charts-incubator
helm dependency update ./hlf-kube/
Then create necessary stuff:
./init.sh ./samples/simple/ ./samples/chaincode/
This script:
- Creates the
Genesis blockusinggenesisProfiledefined in network.yaml file in the project folder - Creates crypto material using
cryptogenbased on crypto-config.yaml file in the project folder - Creates channel artifacts by iterating over
channelsin network.yaml usingconfigtxgen - Compresses chaincodes into tar archives by iterating over
chaincodesin network.yaml - Copies everything created into main chart folder:
hlf-kube
Now, we are ready to launch the network:
helm install --name hlf-kube -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml ./hlf-kube
This chart creates all the above mentioned secrets, pods, services, etc. cross configures them and launches the network in unpopulated state.
Wait for all pods are up and running:
kubectl get pod --watch
In a few seconds, pods will come up:
Next lets create channels, join peers to channels and update channels for Anchor peers:
helm template -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml channel-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
Wait for the flow to complete, finally you will see something like this:
Next lets install/instantiate/invoke chaincodes
helm template -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml chaincode-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
Wait for the flow to complete, finally you will see something like this:
Install steps may fail even many times, nevermind about it, it's a known Fabric bug, the flow will retry it and eventually succeed.
Lets assume you had updated chaincodes and want to upgrade them in the Fabric network. Firt update chaincode tar archives:
./prepare_chaincodes.sh ./samples/simple/ ./samples/chaincode/
Then make sure chaincode ConfigMaps are updated with new chaincode tar archives:
helm upgrade hlf-kube -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml ./hlf-kube
Or alternatively you can update chaincode ConfigMaps directly:
helm template -f samples/simple/network.yaml -x templates/chaincode-configmap.yaml ./hlf-kube/ | kubectl apply -f -
Next invoke chaincode flow again with a bit different settings:
helm template -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml -f chaincode-flow/values.upgrade.yaml --set chaincode.version=2.0 chaincode-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
All chaincodes are upgraded to version 2.0!
Lets upgrade only the chaincode named very-simple to version 3.0:
helm template -f samples/simple/network.yaml -f samples/simple/crypto-config.yaml -f chaincode-flow/values.upgrade.yaml --set chaincode.version=3.0 --set flow.chaincode.include={very-simple} chaincode-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
Chaincode very-simple is upgarded to version 3.0!
Now, lets launch a scaled up network backed by a Kafka cluster.
First tear down everything:
argo delete --all
helm delete hlf-kube --purge
Wait a bit until all pods are terminated:
kubectl get pod --watch
Then create necessary stuff:
./init.sh ./samples/scaled-kafka/ ./samples/chaincode/
Lets launch our scaled up Fabric network:
helm install --name hlf-kube -f samples/scaled-kafka/network.yaml -f samples/scaled-kafka/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/scaled-kafka/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
Again lets wait for all pods are up and running:
kubectl get pod --watch
This time, in particular wait for 4 Kafka pods and 3 ZooKeeper pods are running and ready count is 1/1.
Kafka pods may crash and restart a couple of times, this is normal as ZooKeeper pods are not ready yet,
but eventually they will all come up.
Congrulations you have a running scaled up HL Fabric network in Kubernetes, with 3 Orderer nodes backed by a Kafka cluster and 2 peers per organization. Your application can use them without even noticing there are 3 Orderer nodes and 2 peers per organization.
Lets create the channels:
helm template -f samples/scaled-kafka/network.yaml -f samples/scaled-kafka/crypto-config.yaml channel-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
And install chaincodes:
helm template -f samples/scaled-kafka/network.yaml -f samples/scaled-kafka/crypto-config.yaml chaincode-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
There are basically 2 configuration files: crypto-config.yaml and network.yaml.
This is Fabric's native configuration for cryptogen tool. We use it to define the network architecture. We honour OrdererOrgs,
PeerOrgs, Template.Count in PeerOrgs (peer count) and even Template.Start.
OrdererOrgs:
- Name: Groeifabriek
Domain: groeifabriek.nl
Specs:
- Hostname: orderer
PeerOrgs:
- Name: Karga
Domain: aptalkarga.tr
EnableNodeOUs: true
Template:
Start: 9 # we also honour Start
Count: 1
Users:
Count: 1This file defines how network is populated regarding channels and chaincodes.
network:
# only used by init script to create genesis block
genesisProfile: OrdererGenesis
# defines which organizations will join to which channels
channels:
- name: common
# all peers in these organizations will join the channel
orgs: [Karga, Nevergreen, Atlantis]
- name: private-karga-atlantis
# all peers in these organizations will join the channel
orgs: [Karga, Atlantis]
# defines which chaincodes will be installed to which organizations
chaincodes:
- name: very-simple
# chaincode will be installed to all peers in these organizations
orgs: [Karga, Nevergreen, Atlantis]
# at which channels are we instantiating/upgrading chaincode?
channels:
- name: common
# chaincode will be instantiated/upgraded using the first peer in the first organization
# chaincode will be invoked on all peers in these organizations
orgs: [Karga, Nevergreen, Atlantis]
policy: OR('KargaMSP.member','NevergreenMSP.member','AtlantisMSP.member')
- name: even-simpler
orgs: [Karga, Atlantis]
channels:
- name: private-karga-atlantis
orgs: [Karga, Atlantis]
policy: OR('KargaMSP.member','AtlantisMSP.member')For chart specific configuration, please refer to the comments in the relevant values.yaml files.
- Persistence should be enabled in relevant components (Orderer, Peer, CouchDB)
- Configure Argo for some artifact repository. Easiest way is to install Minio
- An Azure Blob Storage account with a container named
hlf-backup(configurable). ATM, backups can only be stored at Azure Blob Storage but it's quite easy to extend backup/restore flows for other mediums, like AWS S3. See bottom of backup-workflow.yaml
IMPORTANT: Backup flow does not backup contents of Kafka cluster, if you are using Kafka orderer you need to manually back it up. In particular, Kafka Orderer with some state cannot handle a fresh Kafka installation, see this Jira ticket, hopefully Fabric guys will fix this soon.
First lets create a persistent network:
./init.sh ./samples/simple-persistent/ ./samples/chaincode/
helm install --name hlf-kube -f samples/simple-persistent/network.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
Again lets wait for all pods are up and running, this may take a bit longer due to provisioning of disks.
kubectl get pod --watch
Then populate the network, you know how to do it :)
Start backup procedure and wait for pods to be terminated and re-launched with Rsync containers.
helm upgrade hlf-kube --set backup.enabled=true -f samples/simple-persistent/network.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
kubectl get pod --watch
Then take backup:
helm template -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml --set backup.target.azureBlobStorage.accountName=<your account name> --set backup.target.azureBlobStorage.accessKey=<your access key> backup-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
This will create a folder with default backup.key (html formatted date yyyy-mm-dd),
in Azure Blob Storage and hierarchically store backed up contents there.
Finally go back to normal operation:
helm upgrade hlf-kube -f samples/simple-persistent/network.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
kubectl get pod --watch
Start restore procedure and wait for pods to be terminated and re-launched with Rsync containers.
helm upgrade hlf-kube --set restore.enabled=true -f samples/simple-persistent/network.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
kubectl get pod --watch
Then restore from backup:
helm template --set backup.key='<backup key>' -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml --set backup.target.azureBlobStorage.accountName=<your account name> --set backup.target.azureBlobStorage.accessKey=<your access key> restore-flow/ | argo submit - --watch
Finally go back to normal operation:
helm upgrade hlf-kube -f samples/simple-persistent/network.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/crypto-config.yaml -f samples/simple-persistent/values.yaml ./hlf-kube
kubectl get pod --watch
TLS is not working ATM.
The reason is, in contrast with Docker, Kubernetes does not allow dot “.” in service names,
so we cannot have service names like atlantis.com. As the TLS certificates are created for those domain names,
there is a mismatch between the service name and the certificate.
If required can be solved by either:
- Running a DNS server inside Kubernetes and tell Kubernetes use that DNS server for certain domains
- Making launching HL a two step process, first launch the network, collect IP’s of services, then attach that data as DNS entries to pods
- Predetermining cluster IP’s and directly attaching them as DNS entries to pods might also be an option but might be error prone due to possible conflicts
This is possible but they should be run in different namespaces. We do not use Helm release name in names of components, so if multiple instances of Fabric network is running in the same namespace, names will conflict.
See FAQ page for further details.
So happy BlockChaining in Kubernetes :)
And don't forget the first rule of BlockChain club:
"Do not use BlockChain unless absolutely necessary!"
Hakan Eryargi (r a f t)