Joining Testnet

General instructions on how to join the Juno testnet

Current testnet

Below is the list of Juno testnets and their current status. You will need to know the version tag for installation of the junod binary.

For details of upgrades on the current testnet, as well as syncing, you can check out the testnets repo, which is the definitive source of truth.

If you get stuck, then please ask on Discord.

chain-id	Current Github version tag
uni-6	v16.0.0

Minimum Hardware Requirements

The minimum recommended hardware requirements for running a validator for the Juno testnets are:

Requirements
16GB RAM 200GB of disk space 2 Cores (modern CPU's)

These specifications are the minimum recommended. As Juno Network is a smart contract platform, it can at times be very demanding on hardware. Low spec validators WILL get stuck on difficult to process blocks.

Note that the testnets accumulate data as the blockchain continues. This means that you will need to expand your storage as the blockchain database gets larger with time.

junod Installation

To get up and running with the junod binary, please follow the instructions here

Configuration of Shell Variables

For this guide, we will be using shell variables. This will enable the use of the client commands verbatim. It is important to remember that shell commands are only valid for the current shell session, and if the shell session is closed, the shell variables will need to be re-defined.

If you want variables to persist for multiple sessions, then set them explicitly in your shell .profile, as you did for the Go environment variables.

To clear a variable binding, use unset $VARIABLE_NAME . Shell variables should be named with ALL CAPS.

Choose a testnet

Set the CHAIN_ID:

CHAIN_ID=uni-6

Set your moniker name

Choose your <moniker-name>, this can be any name of your choosing and will identify your validator in the explorer. Set the MONIKER_NAME:

MONIKER_NAME=<moniker-name>

#Example
MONIKER_NAME="Validatron 9000"

Set persistent peers

Persistent peers will be required to tell your node where to connect to other nodes and join the network. To retrieve the peers for the chosen testnet:

#Set the base repo URL for the testnet & retrieve peers
CHAIN_REPO="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmosContracts/testnets/main/$CHAIN_ID" && \
export PEERS="$(curl -s "$CHAIN_REPO/persistent_peers.txt")"

# check it worked
echo $PEERS

NB: If you are unsure about this, you can ask in discord for the current peers and explicitly set them in ~/.juno/config/config.toml instead.

Set minimum gas prices

In $HOME/.juno/config/app.toml, set gas prices:

# note testnet denom
sed -i.bak -e "s/^minimum-gas-prices *=.*/minimum-gas-prices = \"0.0025ujunox\"/" ~/.juno/config/app.toml

Setting up the Node

Running a node is different from running a Validator. In order to run a Validator, you must create and sync a node, and then upgrade it to a Validator.

These instructions will direct you on how to initialise your node, synchronise to the network and upgrade your node to a validator.

Initialize the chain

junod init $MONIKER_NAME --chain-id $CHAIN_ID

This will generate the following files in ~/.juno/config/

• genesis.json

• node_key.json

• priv_validator_key.json

Note that this means if you jumped ahead and already downloaded the genesis file, this command will replace it and you will get an error when you attempt to start the chain.

Download the genesis file

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmosContracts/testnets/main/$CHAIN_ID/genesis.json > ~/.juno/config/genesis.json

This will replace the genesis file created using junod init command with the genesis file for the testnet.

Set persistent peers

Using the peers variable we set earlier, we can set the persistent_peers in ~/.juno/config/config.toml:

sed -i.bak -e "s/^persistent_peers *=.*/persistent_peers = \"$PEERS\"/" ~/.juno/config/config.toml

Create a local key pair

Create a new key pair or restore a key for your validator:

# Create new keypair
junod keys add <key-name>

# Restore existing juno wallet with mnemonic seed phrase.
# You will be prompted to enter mnemonic seed.
junod keys add <key-name> --recover

# Query the keystore for your public address
junod keys show <key-name> -a

Replace <key-name> with a key name of your choosing.

After creating a new key, the key information and seed phrase will be shown. It is essential to write this seed phrase down and keep it in a safe place. The seed phrase is the only way to restore your keys.

Get some testnet tokens

Testnet tokens can be requested from the faucet. To request tokens, visit HERE and enter your Juno address in the address field like this: https://faucet.testnet.chaintools.tech/uni-6/<your_juno_address_here>.

Setup cosmovisor

Follow these instructions to setup cosmovisor and start the node.

Syncing the node

After starting the junod daemon, the chain will begin to sync to the network. The time to sync to the network will vary depending on your setup, but could take a very long time. To query the status of your node:

# Query via the RPC (default port: 26657)
curl http://localhost:26657/status | jq .result.sync_info.catching_up

If this command returns true then your node is still catching up. If it returns false then your node has caught up to the network current block and you are safe to proceed to upgrade to a validator node.

Validators and sentries can rapidly join the network with state-sync. See instructions for using state-sync here.

Upgrade to a validator

To upgrade the node to a validator, you will need to submit a create-validator transaction:

junod tx staking create-validator \
  --amount 9000000ujunox \
  --commission-max-change-rate "0.1" \
  --commission-max-rate "0.20" \
  --commission-rate "0.1" \
  --min-self-delegation "1" \
  --details "validators write bios too" \
  --pubkey=$(junod tendermint show-validator) \
  --moniker $MONIKER_NAME \
  --chain-id $CHAIN_ID \
  --gas-prices 0.025ujunox \
  --from <key-name>

Backup critical files

There are certain files that you need to backup to be able to restore your validator if, for some reason, it damaged or lost in some way. Please make a secure backup of the following files located in ~/.juno/config/:

• priv_validator_key.json

• node_key.json

It is recommended that you encrypt the backup of these files.