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Aramid Soldier Setup

Aramid Bridge is a multisignature, multichain bridge supporting EVM, AVM, and NEAR. An Aramid Soldier plays a key role in ensuring the security and operation of the bridge by acting as a signatory of the multisig.

Components​

Each soldier must run the following components:

  • Aramid Chain Relay Algod and Indexer Nodes
  • A Public Participation Node
  • Aramid Soldier App

If you are interested in becoming an Aramid Soldier, fill out the registration form.

Environment​

Aramid apps are best run in Kubernetes environments. The following sections provide detailed steps for setting up each component.

Kubernetes Setup​

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Key Features​

  • Container Orchestration: Automates the deployment and scaling of containerized applications across clusters.
  • Self-healing: Automatically restarts containers that fail, replaces containers, and manages health checks.
  • Horizontal Scaling: Applications can be scaled up and down with a simple command or automatically based on CPU usage.
  • Service Discovery and Load Balancing: Kubernetes can expose containers using DNS names or their own IP addresses.
  • Automated Rollouts and Rollbacks: Kubernetes progressively rolls out changes while monitoring the application's health.
  • Secret and Configuration Management: Store and manage sensitive information like passwords, tokens, and SSH keys.

Kubernetes is widely used in production environments to manage microservices and ensure high availability of applications.

Linode Kubernetes Setup​

To set up Kubernetes on Linode, follow the steps outlined in the Linode K8S setup guide.

Helm Repository Setup​

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies the process of deploying and managing applications.

Benefits​

  • Simplified Deployment: Helm charts bundle necessary Kubernetes manifests.
  • Version Control: Easily manage versions and rollbacks of deployments.
  • Reusability: Helm charts can be shared across projects.
  • Customization: Helm provides a templating engine for easy customization.
  • Dependency Management: Helm manages dependencies between charts, simplifying complex setups.

Installation​

To install Helm, run the following command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

For more details, refer to the Helm repository setup guide.

Algod Node Setup​

Aramid chain relay nodes are used for bootstrapping AVM chains. Soldiers use the algod node in their Aramid Soldier app to submit payloads and exchange data.

Relay Node Setup​

To set up the relay node, follow these steps:

  1. Create the aramid-relay-values.yaml file and add any necessary modifications from the default values.yaml configuration. You can review the default configuration here.

Example configuration for Linode:

pvcRoot:
  storageClassName: "linode-block-storage-retain"

deployment:
  resources:
    requests:
      memory: "1000Mi"
      cpu: "1000m"
    limits:
      memory: "16000Mi"
      cpu: "8000m"

Example for AWS:

pvcRoot:
  storageClassName: "gp2"
  1. Review the configuration:
helm template biatec-repo/aramid-relay --values ./aramid-relay-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Install the node:
kubectl create namespace aramid
helm install aramid-relay biatec-repo/aramid-relay --values ./aramid-relay-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Update or upgrade the node:
helm upgrade aramid-relay biatec-repo/aramid-relay --values ./aramid-relay-values.yaml --namespace aramid

For more details, visit:

  • Relay node setup using helm chart
  • Example node setup on GitHub: Aramid Relay Node Setup

Indexer Node Setup​

The Aramid Indexer Node serves lookup functions for the Aramid Soldier app.

Indexer Node Installation​

  1. Create the aramid-indexer-values.yaml file with modifications as needed from the default configuration. See the default values.yaml here.

Example configuration for Linode:

pvcDB:
  storageClassName: "linode-block-storage-retain"
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 50Gi

pvcConduit:
  storageClassName: "linode-block-storage-retain"

pvcFollowNode:
  storageClassName: "linode-block-storage-retain"

ingress:
  host: "aramidmain-indexer.us.biatec.io"

Example for AWS:

pvcDB:
  storageClassName: "gp2"
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 50Gi

pvcConduit:
  storageClassName: "gp2"

pvcFollowNode:
  storageClassName: "gp2"

ingress:
  host: "aramidmain-indexer.us.biatec.io"
  1. Review the configuration:
helm template biatec-repo/aramid-indexer --values ./aramid-indexer-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Install the node:
kubectl create namespace aramid
helm install aramid-indexer biatec-repo/aramid-indexer --values ./aramid-indexer-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Update the node:
helm upgrade aramid-indexer biatec-repo/aramid-indexer --values ./aramid-indexer-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Check the node's status:
kubectl get pods,services,ingresses -n aramid

For more information, refer to:

  • Indexer setup using helm chart
  • Example setup on GitHub: Aramid Indexer Setup

Public Participation Node Setup​

The Public Participation Node allows anyone to make their account online and protect the AramidMain chain.

Participation Node Installation​

  1. Create the aramid-participation-values.yaml file with modifications from the default configuration. See the default values.yaml here.

Example configuration for Linode:

pvcParticipationNode:
  storageClassName: "linode-block-storage-retain"

ingressParticipationNode:
  host: "aramidmain-participation.us.biatec.io"

Example for AWS:

pvcParticipationNode:
  storageClassName: "gp2"

ingressParticipationNode:
  host: "aramidmain-participation.us.biatec.us"
  1. Review the configuration:
helm template biatec-repo/aramid-participation --values ./aramid-participation-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Install the node:
kubectl create namespace aramid
helm install aramid-participation biatec-repo/aramid-participation --values ./aramid-participation-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Update the node:
helm upgrade aramid-participation biatec-repo/aramid-participation --values ./aramid-participation-values.yaml --namespace aramid
  1. Check node status:
kubectl get pods,services,ingresses -n aramid

Public participation nodes are registered in this GitHub repository: Public Participation Providers