Ethereum Private Chain

Sample project for creating a local blockchain using geth

Usage

Prerequisites

• geth installed from geth download page
• configurations like firewall policies taken care of

Chain initialization

Run the following command

$ geth --datadir=./chaindata init ./genesis.json

Running geth with the private chain

$ geth --datadir=./chaindata

Usage with Docker

Docker container can be created to install geth and all its dependencies easily - it saves time on configuration and setup of node. A standard genesis block json is copied to the container which can be updated once the container is up. RPC ports 30303 and 8545 will be exposed from the container and a volume can be mounted to the private chain folder to utilise the geth.ipc file on the host. For creating a docker container, use the following commands -

Creating the docker image

$ docker build -t "ethereumprivatechain:0.1" .

Running the container from the image

$ docker run -it -v /path/where/you/cloned/the/project/EthereumPrivateChain/chaindata:/root/chaindata -p 32768:30303 -p 32769:8545  ethprivatechain:0.1

It lands the user inside the /root folder of the container with geth not running.

Creating the private network and starting the node

Same steps as initiating and running node with custom genesis block

$ geth --datadir=./chaindata init ./genesis.json

Starting the node

$ geth --nodiscover --datadir=./chaindata

Node is now up and running, it can be accessed from applications browsers running on a host system.