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Installing the Issuer Node in Kubernetes

In this article, we will see how to install the Issuer Node on a Kubernetes cluster. We will demonstrate how to install both APIs and the web frontend. Due to the number of components and configurations required, we will use Helm for the installation.

It's important to clarify that the cluster we will be using is not recommended for production environments. Furthermore, this installation does not include the use of certificates or HTTPS domains.

If you desire a production deployment of the Issuer Node, we recommend using the version available in the Google Marketplace, which is straightforward to configure and deploy:

Google Marketplace Issuer Node

We will then show you how to configure the Issuer Node on a cluster for a demonstration environment.

Before we begin, please ensure that you have the following software installed:

Additionally, to follow this tutorial, you must have:

Creating the Kubernetes Cluster With K3D​

There are different ways to create a Kubernetes cluster using K3D. Since we will be using domain names in this example (without certificates and over HTTP), one straightforward way to create it is with the following terminal command:

k3d cluster create issuernode --api-port 6550 --agents 1 --volume "/tmp/data:/data@agent:*" --volume "/tmp/data:/data@server:*" -p "80:80@loadbalancer"

With the above command, a cluster that "listens" to port 80 is created, which means the domains should point to the public IP of the host and port 80.

That's it, now we're going to install the Issuer Node.

How to install the Issuer Node using domains names​

In the k8s/helm/ folder of the GitHub project, you will find all the necessary files for the deployment. The first step involves defining some environment variables:

export APP_INSTANCE_NAME=polygon-id-issuer
export NAMESPACE=default
export APP_DOMAIN=app.example.com
export UI_DOMAIN=ui.example.com
export API_DOMAIN=api.example.com
export PRIVATE_KEY="YOUR PRIVATE KEY"
export MAINNET=false
export UIPASSWORD="my ui password"
export ISSUERNAME="My Issuer"
export ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL="https://polygon-network.XXXX"
export INGRESS_ENABLED=true
export VAULT_PWD=password
export RHS_MODE=None                                    
export RHS_URL="https://reverse-hash-service.com"

where…

APP_INSTANCE_NAME is the name for the Helm application.

NAMESPACE is where you want to deploy the application.

APP_DOMAIN is the domain for the API UI. To use this, INGRESS_ENABLED must be true.

UI_DOMAIN is the domain name for the UI. To use this, INGRESS_ENABLED must be true.

API_DOMAIN is the domain for the API. To use this INGRESS_ENABLED must be true.

PRIVATE_KEY is the private key of the wallet (Metamask private key wallet).

MAINNET Specify if the network is main; if this value is false, the issuer node will use Amoy.

UIPASSWORD is the password for the user: ui-user. This password is used when the user visits the UI.

ISSUERNAME Issuer Name. This value is shown in the UI.

ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL is the blockchain RPC.

INGRESS_ENABLED If this value is false you must provide a PUBLIC_IP.

VAULT_PWD is the vault password.

RHS_MODE Reverse Hash Service mode. Options: None, OnChain, OffChain.

RHS_URL Reverse Hash Service URL. Required if RHS_MODE is OffChain.

After assigning values to the environment variables, you should run the following command using Helm:

helm install "$APP_INSTANCE_NAME" . \
--create-namespace --namespace "$NAMESPACE" \
--set appdomain="$APP_DOMAIN" \
--set uidomain="$UI_DOMAIN" \
--set apidomain="$API_DOMAIN" \
--set privatekey="$PRIVATE_KEY" \
--set mainnet="$MAINNET" \
--set uiPassword="$UIPASSWORD" \
--set issuerName="$ISSUERNAME" \
--set issuerEthereumUrl="$ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL" \
--set ingressEnabled="$INGRESS_ENABLED" \
--set privateKey="$PRIVATE_KEY" \
--set vaultpwd="$VAULT_PWD" \
--set rhsMode="$RHS_MODE" \
--set rhsUrl="$RHS_URL"

After a few minutes, the ingress should be ready, and you can access the domains you specified.

If you don't have domain names, you can install the Issuer Node by leveraging a public IP address. First, we need to create a cluster that allows access to the Issuer Node through the public IP and specific ports. We will create the cluster named issuernode2:

k3d cluster create issuernode2 --api-port 6550 --agents 1 --volume "/tmp/data:/data@agent:*" --volume "/tmp/data:/data@server:*" -p "30000-30010:30000-30010@server:0"

With the cluster created and running, we need to assign values to some environment variables:

export APP_INSTANCE_NAME=polygon-id-issuer
export NAMESPACE=default
export PUBLIC_IP="your public ip"
export PRIVATE_KEY="YOUR PRIVATE KEY"
export MAINNET=false
export UIPASSWORD="my ui password"
export ISSUERNAME="My Issuer"
export ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL="https://polygon-network.XXXX"
export INGRESS_ENABLED=false
export VAULT_PWD=password
export RHS_MODE=None                                    
export RHS_URL="https://reverse-hash-service.com"

where…

APP_INSTANCE_NAME is the name for the Helm application.

NAMESPACE is where you want to deploy the application.

PUBLIC_IP is your public IP.

PRIVATE_KEY is the private key of the wallet (Metamask private key wallet).

MAINNET Specify if the network is main; if this value is false, the issuer node will use amoy.

UIPASSWORD is the password for user: ui-user. This password is used when the user visits the UI.

ISSUERNAME Issuer Name. This value is shown in the UI.

ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL is the blockchain RPC.

INGRESS_ENABLED: if this value is false, you must provide a PUBLIC_IP (in this case must be false).

VAULT_PWD is the vault password.

RHS_MODE Reverse Hash Service mode. Options: None, OnChain, OffChain.

RHS_URL Reverse Hash Service URL. Required if RHS_MODE is OffChain.

After assigning values to the environment variables, you should run the following command using Helm:

helm install "$APP_INSTANCE_NAME" . \
--create-namespace --namespace "$NAMESPACE" \
--set publicIP="$PUBLIC_IP" \
--set privatekey="$PRIVATE_KEY" \
--set mainnet="$MAINNET" \
--set uiPassword="$UIPASSWORD" \
--set issuerName="$ISSUERNAME" \
--set issuerEthereumUrl="$ISSUER_ETHERUM_URL" \
--set ingressEnabled="$INGRESS_ENABLED" \
--set privateKey="$PRIVATE_KEY" \
--set vaultpwd="$VAULT_PWD" \
--set rhsMode="$RHS_MODE" \
--set rhsUrl="$RHS_URL"

After a few minutes, you can access the app by visiting:

  • http://$PUBLIC_IP:30001 for the API
  • http://$PUBLIC_IP:30002 for the API UI
  • http://$PUBLIC_IP:30003 for the UI