Testnet Setup

Setting up a masternode with support for evo services requires a basic understanding of Linux and blockchain technology, as well as an ability to follow instructions closely. It also requires regular maintenance and careful security, particularly if you are not storing your Dash on a hardware wallet. There are some decisions to be made along the way, and optional extra steps to take for increased security.

Commercial masternode hosting services are available if you prefer to delegate day-to-day operation of your masternode to a professional operator. When using these hosting services, you retain full control of the 1000 DASH collateral and pay an agreed percentage of your reward to the operator. It is also possible to delegate your voting keys to a representative, see the governance documentation for more information.

Antes de comenzar

This guide assumes you are setting up a single testnet masternode for the first time. If you are updating a masternode, see here instead. You will need:

• 1000 Dash

• Una billetera para guardar tus Dash, preferiblemente una billetera de hardware, aunque la billetera Dash Core también es compatible

• Un servidor Linux, preferiblemente un Servidor Privado Virtual (VPS)

For information about hosted masternodes, see the documentation listed below:

• Información para usuarios de masternodes hospedados

• Información de operadores hospedando masternodes

This documentation describes the commands as if they were entered in the Dash Core GUI by opening the console from Window > Console, but the same result can be achieved on a masternode by entering the same commands and adding the prefix ~/.dashcore/dash-cli to each command.

Server configuration

Proper server configuration is essential to successful masternode operation for both security and performance reasons. Refer to the Server configuration page for details on preparing your server to host a masternode.

Enviar garantía

A Dash address with a single unspent transaction output (UTXO) of exactly 1000 DASH is required to operate a masternode. Once it has been sent, various keys regarding the transaction must be extracted for later entry in a configuration file and registration transaction as proof to write the configuration to the blockchain so the masternode can be included in the deterministic list. A masternode can be registered from a hardware wallet or the official Dash Core wallet, although a hardware wallet is highly recommended to enhance security and protect yourself against hacking. This guide will describe the steps for both hardware wallets and Dash Core.

Option 1: Holding collateral in a hardware wallet

Set up your Trezor using the Trezor wallet at https://wallet.trezor.io/ and send a test transaction to verify that it is working properly. For help on this, see this guide - you may also choose to (carefully!) add a passphrase to your Trezor to further protect your collateral. Create a new account in your Trezor wallet by clicking Add account. Then click the Receive tab and send exactly 1000 DASH to the address displayed. If you are setting up multiple masternodes, send 1000 DASH to consecutive addresses within the same new account. You should see the transaction as soon as the first confirmation arrives, usually within a few minutes.

Pestaña de recepción en la billetera Trezor que muestra la garantía de 1000 DASH recibida con éxito

Una vez que aparece la transacción, haz click en el código QR a la derecha para ver la transacción en la cadena de bloques. Manten esta ventana abierta mientras completamos los siguientes pasos, ya que pronto necesitaremos confirmar que existen 15 confirmaciones, como se muestra en la siguiente captura de pantalla.

El explorador Trezor de la cadena de bloques muestra 15 confirmaciones para la transferencia de garantías

Mientras esperamos 15 confirmaciones, descarga la última versión de la herramienta Dash Masternode (DMT) desde la página de lanzamientos de GitHub aquí. Descomprime y ejecuta el archivo. La siguiente ventana aparecerá.

Pantalla de inicio de la herramienta Dash Masternode

Click the third button from the left Check Dash Network Connection in the top left corner of the main window to verify that the connection is working. Then connect your Trezor device and click the next button Test Hardware Wallet Connection to verify the Trezor connection is working.

Herramienta Dash Masternode confirmaciones exitosas de conexión

We will now use DMT to enter some basic information about the masternode and extract the transaction ID. Carry out the following sequence of steps as shown in this screenshot:

Pasos de configuración de la Herramienta Dash Masternode

1. Haz clic en el nuevo botón.

2. Ingresa un nombre para tu masternode. El nombre del servidor que especifica para tu VPS es una buena opción.

3. Enter the IP address of your masternode. This was given to you by the VPS provider when you set up the server. Then enter the TCP port number. This should be 19999.

4. Click Locate collateral to view unused collateral funding transactions available on the connected hardware wallet. Select the address to which you sent 1000 Dash and click Apply. The Collateral address, path, Collateral TX hash and index fields should be filled automatically.

Dash Masternode Tool with masternode configuration

Leave DMT open and continue with the next step: installing Dash Core on your VPS.

Option 2: Holding collateral in Dash Core wallet

Abre la billetera Dash Core y espera a que se sincronice con la red. Debería verse así esto cuando esté lista:

Billetera Dash Core totalmente sincronizada

Click Window > Console to open the console. Type the following command into the console to generate a new Dash address for the collateral:

getnewaddress
yiFfzbwiN9oneftd7cEfr3kQLRwQ4kp7ue

Take note of the collateral address, since we will need it later. The next step is to secure your wallet (if you have not already done so). First, encrypt the wallet by selecting Settings > Encrypt wallet. You should use a strong, new password that you have never used somewhere else. Take note of your password and store it somewhere safe or you will be permanently locked out of your wallet and lose access to your funds. Next, back up your wallet file by selecting File > Backup Wallet. Save the file to a secure location physically separate to your computer, since this will be the only way you can access our funds if anything happens to your computer. For more details on these steps, see here.

Now send exactly 1000 DASH in a single transaction to the new address you generated in the previous step. This may be sent from another wallet, or from funds already held in your current wallet. Once the transaction is complete, view the transaction in a blockchain explorer by searching for the address. You will need 15 confirmations before you can register the masternode, but you can continue with the next step at this point already: generating your masternode operator key.

El explorador Trezor de la cadena de bloques muestra 15 confirmaciones para la transferencia de garantías

Masternode Installation

The following tools are available for installing a Dash masternode:

• dashmate installation

• Dash Masternode Zeus (does not yet support evonodes)

dashmate installation

Dashmate is a universal tool designed to help you set up and run Dash nodes in a containerized environment. It is based on Docker technology and features an interactive setup command. Dashmate handles the installation of Dash Core, as well as all dependencies and supporting services. See this dashmate documentation for more information.

Advertencia

Installation as root user is not supported or recommended.

Open PuTTY or a console again and connect using the username and password you just created for your new, non-root user. Begin by installing dashmate dependencies:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh ./get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 16

Install dashmate:

npm install -g dashmate

Run the interactive setup wizard:

dashmate setup

You will be prompted to select a network, node type, IP address and BLS private key. Enter this information or accept the detected/generated defaults. Start your node as follows:

dashmate start

You can manage your masternode status, configuration, and running state entirely from within dashmate. See the documentation here or use the built-in help system to learn more:

• dashmate --help

• dashmate <command> --help

dashmate displaying a range of status output

You can check the status of your masternode using the various dashmate status commands as follows:

- dashmate status
- dashmate status core
- dashmate status host
- dashmate status masternode
- dashmate status platform
- dashmate status services

Continue with the Registration step to setup the collateral, keys and construct the ProTx transaction required to enable your masternode.

Masternode Update

You can use dashmate to update minor versions of the software on your masternode as follows:

dashmate stop
dashmate update
dashmate start

Adding the following git and npm commands optionally also ensures you are using the latest stable version of dashmate:

dashmate stop
npm update -g dashmate
dashmate update
dashmate start

Adding the following command will drop all data from Dash Platform (necessary if Platform has been wiped) and restart with the latest version:

dashmate stop
npm update -g dashmate
dashmate reset --platform-only
dashmate update
dashmate start

Masternode registration

The three keys required for the different masternode roles are described briefly under Masternode Concepts in this documentation.

Option 1: Registering from a hardware wallet

Go back to DMT and ensure that all fields from the previous step are still filled out correctly. Click Generate new for the three private keys required for a masternode:

• Llave privada del dueño

• Operator private key (generate new or use private key generated by dashmate)

• Llave privada votando

Dash Masternode Tool ready to register a new masternode

Then click Register masternode. Optionally specify a different Payout address and/or Operator reward, then click Continue. Select Remote Dash RPC Node (automatic method). (See here for documentation on using your own local RPC node.) and confirm the following two messages:

Dash Masternode Tool confirmation dialogs to register a masternode

The public key will be used in following steps. The private key must be entered in the configuration on the masternode. This allows the masternode to watch the blockchain for relevant Pro*Tx transactions, and will cause it to start serving as a masternode when the signed ProRegTx is broadcast by the owner (final step below). If you are using the BLS key generated by dashmate setup, this information is already configured for your masternode. If you generated your own BLS key pair, edit the dashmate configuration as follows:

dashmate config set core.masternode.operator.privateKey <bls_private_key>
dashmate restart

At this point you can go back to your terminal window and monitor your masternode by entering dashmate status or using the Get status function in DMT.

You can now safely log out of your server by typing exit. Congratulations! Your masternode is now running.

Option 2: Registering from Dash Core wallet

Identifica la transacción de financiamiento

If you used an address in Dash Core wallet for your collateral transaction, you now need to find the txid of the transaction. Click Window > Console and enter the following command:

masternode outputs

This should return a string of characters similar to the following:

{
"16347a28f4e5edf39f4dceac60e2327931a25fdee1fb4b94b63eeacf0d5879e3-1",
}

The first long string is your collateralHash, while the last number is the collateralIndex.

Genera un par de llaves BLS

A public/private BLS key pair is required to operate a masternode. The private key is specified on the masternode itself, and allows it to be included in the deterministic masternode list once a provider registration transaction with the corresponding public key has been created.

If you are using a hosting service, they may provide you with their public key, and you can skip this step. If you are hosting your own masternode or have agreed to provide your host with the BLS private key, you can use the BLS key generated by the dashmate setup command. Alternatively, you can generate a BLS public/private keypair in Dash Core by clicking Window > Console and entering the following command:

bls generate

{
  "secret": "395555d67d884364f9e37e7e1b29536519b74af2e5ff7b62122e62c2fffab35e",
  "public": "99f20ed1538e28259ff80044982372519a2e6e4cdedb01c96f8f22e755b2b3124fbeebdf6de3587189cf44b3c6e7670e",
  "scheme": "legacy"
}

These keys are NOT stored by the wallet or dashmate and must be kept secure, similar to the value provided in the past by the masternode genkey command.

Agrega la llave privada para la configuración de masternodes

The public key will be used in following steps. The private key must be entered in the dash.conf file on the masternode. This allows the masternode to watch the blockchain for relevant Pro*Tx transactions, and will cause it to start serving as a masternode when the signed ProRegTx is broadcast by the owner (final step below). If you are using the BLS key generated by dashmate setup, this information is already configured for your masternode. If you generated your own BLS key pair, edit the dashmate configuration as follows:

dashmate config set core.masternode.operator.privateKey <bls_private_key>
dashmate restart

We will now prepare the transaction used to register the masternode on the network.

Prepara una transacción de ProRegTx

A pair of BLS keys for the operator were already generated above, and the private key was entered on the masternode. The public key is used in this transaction as the operatorPubKey.

First, we need to get a new, unused address from the wallet to serve as the owner key address (ownerKeyAddr). This is not the same as the collateral address holding 1000 Dash. Generate a new address as follows:

getnewaddress

yfgxFhqrdDG15ZWKJAN6dQvn6dZdgBPAip

This address can also be used as the voting key address (votingKeyAddr). Alternatively, you can specify an address provided to you by your chosen voting delegate, or simply generate a new voting key address as follows:

getnewaddress

yfRaZN8c3Erpqj9iKnmQ9QDBeUuRhWV3Mg

Then either generate or choose an existing address to receive the owner’s masternode payouts (payoutAddress). It is also possible to use an address external to the wallet:

getnewaddress

yjZVt49WsQd6XSrPVAUGXtJccxviH9ZQpN

You can also optionally generate and fund another address as the transaction fee source (feeSourceAddress). If you selected an external payout address, you must specify a fee source address.

Either the payout address or fee source address must have enough balance to pay the transaction fee, or the register_prepare transaction will fail.

The private keys to the owner and fee source addresses must exist in the wallet submitting the transaction to the network. If your wallet is protected by a password, it must now be unlocked to perform the following commands. Unlock your wallet for 5 minutes:

walletpassphrase yourSecretPassword 300

We will now prepare an unsigned ProRegTx special transaction using the protx register_prepare command. This command has the following syntax:

protx register_prepare collateralHash collateralIndex ipAndPort ownerKeyAddr
  operatorPubKey votingKeyAddr operatorReward payoutAddress (feeSourceAddress)

Advertencia

After v19 hard fork activation, protx register_prepare_legacy must be used if a legacy scheme BLS key is being used to register a masternode. It’s recommended to instead generate a new basic scheme BLS key where possible. This can be done by following the Generate a BLS key pair instructions.

Abre un editor de texto tal como un bloq de notas para preparar este comando. Reemplaza cada argumento para los comandos siguientes:

• collateralHash: The txid of the 1000 Dash collateral funding transaction

• collateralIndex: The output index of the 1000 Dash funding transaction

• ipAndPort: Masternode IP address and port, in the format x.x.x.x:yyyy

• ownerKeyAddr: The new Dash address generated above for the owner/voting address

• operatorPubKey: The BLS public key generated above (or provided by your hosting service)

• votingKeyAddr: The new Dash address generated above, or the address of a delegate, used for proposal voting

• operatorReward: The percentage of the block reward allocated to the operator as payment

• payoutAddress: A new or existing Dash address to receive the owner’s masternode rewards

• feeSourceAddress: An (optional) address used to fund ProTx fee. payoutAddress will be used if not specified.

Note that the operator is responsible for specifying their own reward address in a separate update_service transaction if you specify a non-zero operatorReward. The owner of the masternode collateral does not specify the operator’s payout address.

Ejemplo (elimina salto de lineas de copiado):

protx register_prepare
  16347a28f4e5edf39f4dceac60e2327931a25fdee1fb4b94b63eeacf0d5879e3
  1
  45.76.230.239:19999
  yfgxFhqrdDG15ZWKJAN6dQvn6dZdgBPAip
  99f20ed1538e28259ff80044982372519a2e6e4cdedb01c96f8f22e755b2b3124fbeebdf6de3587189cf44b3c6e7670e
  yfRaZN8c3Erpqj9iKnmQ9QDBeUuRhWV3Mg
  0
  yjZVt49WsQd6XSrPVAUGXtJccxviH9ZQpN
  yR83WsikBaBaNusTnHZf28kAcL8oVmp1TE

Salida:

{
  "tx": "030001000175c9d23c2710798ef0788e6a4d609460586a20e91a15f2097f56fc6e007c4f8e0000000000feffffff01a1949800000000001976a91434b09363474b14d02739a327fe76e6ea12deecad88ac00000000d1010000000000e379580dcfea3eb6944bfbe1de5fa2317932e260acce4d9ff3ede5f4287a34160100000000000000000000000000ffff2d4ce6ef4e1fd47babdb9092489c82426623299dde76b9c72d9799f20ed1538e28259ff80044982372519a2e6e4cdedb01c96f8f22e755b2b3124fbeebdf6de3587189cf44b3c6e7670ed1935246865dce1accce6c8691c8466bd67ebf1200001976a914fef33f56f709ba6b08d073932f925afedaa3700488acfdb281e134504145b5f8c7bd7b47fd241f3b7ea1f97ebf382249f601a0187f5300",
  "collateralAddress": "yjSPYvgUiAQ9AFj5tKFA8thFLoLBUxQERb",
  "signMessage": "yjZVt49WsQd6XSrPVAUGXtJccxviH9ZQpN|0|yfgxFhqrdDG15ZWKJAN6dQvn6dZdgBPAip|yfRaZN8c3Erpqj9iKnmQ9QDBeUuRhWV3Mg|ad5f82257bd00a5a1cb5da1a44a6eb8899cf096d3748d68b8ea6d6b10046a28e"
}

Next we will use the collateralAddress and signMessage fields to sign the transaction, and the output of the tx field to submit the transaction.

Firma la transacción ProRegTx

We will now sign the content of the signMessage field using the private key for the collateral address as specified in collateralAddress. Note that no internet connection is required for this step, meaning that the wallet can remain disconnected from the internet in cold storage to sign the message. In this example we will again use Dash Core, but it is equally possible to use the signing function of a hardware wallet. The command takes the following syntax:

signmessage collateralAddress signMessage

Ejemplo:

signmessage yjSPYvgUiAQ9AFj5tKFA8thFLoLBUxQERb yjZVt49WsQd6XSrPVAUGXtJccxviH9ZQpN|0|yfgxFhqrdDG15ZWKJAN6dQvn6dZdgBPAip|yfRaZN8c3Erpqj9iKnmQ9QDBeUuRhWV3Mg|ad5f82257bd00a5a1cb5da1a44a6eb8899cf096d3748d68b8ea6d6b10046a28e

Salida:

II8JvEBMj6I3Ws8wqxh0bXVds6Ny+7h5HAQhqmd5r/0lWBCpsxMJHJT3KBcZ23oUZtsa6gjgISf+a8GzJg1BfEg=

Ingresa el mensaje firmado

We will now submit the ProRegTx special transaction to the blockchain to register the masternode. This command must be sent from a Dash Core wallet holding a balance on either the feeSourceAddress or payoutAddress, since a standard transaction fee is involved. The command takes the following syntax:

protx register_submit tx sig

Donde:

• tx: The serialized transaction previously returned in the tx output field from the protx register_prepare command

• sig: The message signed with the collateral key from the signmessage command

Ejemplo:

protx register_submit 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 II8JvEBMj6I3Ws8wqxh0bXVds6Ny+7h5HAQhqmd5r/0lWBCpsxMJHJT3KBcZ23oUZtsa6gjgISf+a8GzJg1BfEg=

Salida:

aba8c22f8992d78fd4ff0c94cb19a5c30e62e7587ee43d5285296a4e6e5af062

Your masternode is now registered and will appear on the Deterministic Masternode List after the transaction is mined to a block. You can view this list on the Masternodes -> DIP3 Masternodes tab of the Dash Core wallet, or in the console using the command protx list valid, where the txid of the final protx register_submit transaction identifies your masternode.

At this point you can go back to your terminal window and monitor your masternode by entering dashmate status or using the Get status function in DMT.