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TAO'S MASTERNODE SETUP GUIDE FOR DUMMIES (UPDATE GUIDE UPDATED FOR 13.0)

TAO'S START-MANY GUIDE FOR DUMMIES - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
(BASED ON THE FINE WORK OF orangecycle)


Hello, and welcome to TAO'S START-MANY GUIDE FOR DUMMIES! I'm TAO OF SATOSHI, and I will be walking you through this intimidating (but very rewarding) set-up! This guide is based on the work of orangecycle, without whose guide, I would not have done it myself!

If you are interested in setting up more than one Masternode, a start-many implementation will be very valuable to you come update time! With start-many, you can have all of your local addresses in one wallet, and issue one command to start all of your VPS instances at the same time!

Does this sound like something that would interest you?


LET'S GET STARTED!

First, this guide will split into two options for setting up your local wallet. Are you trying to consolidate multiple existing local wallets, or are you starting from scratch with new addresses, and just looking for a way to keep everything together?

Option 1 - Importing an existing wallet (recommended if you are consolidating wallets).

This is the way to go if you are consolidating multiple wallets into one that supports start-many.

On your desktop, open a Notepad file.

From your single-instance MasterNode wallet:

Open your QT Wallet.

Go to the Debug Console by clicking on Tools => Debug Console. The command line will be at the bottom.

Dump the private key from your MasterNode's public key. This is accomplished by entering the following commands:

walletpassphrase YOURPASSWORD 600

dumpprivkey MNPUBLICKEY
(Please note, MNPUBLICKEY is the address that holds the 1000 DRKs for that Masternode (Address 0))

You will see a string of numbers in the next line. That is your address's private key!

Copy this private key to your notepad file. You'll need it in the next step.

Repeat these steps for any additional Masternode wallets you may have on your computer.

From your multi-instance MasterNode wallet:

Open your QT Wallet.

Go to the Debug Console by clicking on Tools => Debug Console. The command line will be at the bottom.

You will need to import the private key from your wallet which you copied into the notepad file in the step above.

Enter the following commands:

walletpassphrase YOURPASSWORD 600

importprivkey PRIVATEKEYFROMNOTEPADFILE

The wallet will re-scan. It may take several minutes, so be patient. When the scan is complete, you will begin to see all of the addresses' transactions be imported to your new wallet and you will see your available balance increase by the amount that was in the imported wallet.

Skip Option 2. and go to Create masternode.conf file.

Option 2 - Sending 1,000 DRK to new wallet addresses.
This is the way to go if you are starting from scratch with brand new addresses.
Please note: If you used Option 1 above, then you can skip down to Create masternode.conf file.


Create new wallet addresses:
  1. Open the QT Wallet.
  2. Click the Receive tab.
  3. Fill in the form to request a payment.
    • Label: mn01
    • Amount: 1000 DRK
    • Click Request payment
  4. Click the Copy Address button
Create a new wallet address for each MasterNode.

Close your QT Wallet.

Send 1,000 DRK to New Addresses
Just like setting up a standard MN. Send exactly 1,000 DRK to each new address created above.

Create New Keys
Open your QT Wallet and go to console (from the menu select Tools => Debug Console)

Issue the following:

masternode genkey

Close your QT Wallet.

Create masternode.conf file
Remember... this is local. Make sure your QT is not running.

Create the masternode.conf file in the same directory as your wallet.dat.

Copy the private key and correspondig collateral output transaction that holds the 1K DRK.

The private key may be an existing key from Option 1, or a newly generated key from Option 2.

Get the collateral output
Open your QT Wallet and go to console (from the menu select Tools => Debug Console)

Issue the following:

masternode outputs

Make note of the hash (which is your collaterla_output) and index.

Enter your MasterNode details into your masternode.conf file
From the darkcoin github repo

The new masternode.conf format consists of a space seperated text file. Each line consisting of an alias, IP address followed by port, masternode private key, collateral output transaction id and collateral output index.

alias ipaddress:port masternode_private_key collateral_output collateral_output_index
Example:

mn01 127.0.0.1:9999 93HaYBVUCYjEMeeH1Y4sBGLALQZE1Yc1K64xiqgX37tGBDQL8Xg 2bcd3c84c84f87eaa86e4e56834c92927a07f9e18718810b92e0d0324456a67c 0
mn02 127.0.0.2:9999 93WaAb3htPJEV8E9aQcN23Jt97bPex7YvWfgMDTUdWJvzmrMqey aa9f1034d973377a5e733272c3d0eced1de22555ad45d6b24abadff8087948d4 0

What about the darkcoin.conf file?
If you are using a masternode.conf file you no longer need the darkcoin.conf file. The exception is if you need custom settings (thanks oblox).

Update darkcoin.conf on server
If you generated a new private key, you will need to update the remote darkcoin.conf files.

Shut down the daemon and then edit the file.

sudo nano .darkcoin/darkcoin.conf

Edit the masternodeprivkey
If you generated a new private key, you will need to update the masternodeprivkey value in your remote darkcoin.conf file.

Start your MasterNodes
Remote
If your remote server is not running, start your remote daemon as you normally would.

I usually confirm that remote is on the correct block by issuing:

darkcoind getinfo

And compare with the official explorer at http://explorer.darkcoin.io/chain/Darkcoin

Local
Finally... time to start from local.

Open up your QT Wallet
From the menu select Tools => Debug Console

If you want to review your masternode.conf setting before starting the MasterNodes, issue the following in the Debug Console:

masternode list-conf

Give it the eye-ball test. If satisfied, you can start your nodes one of two ways.

  1. masternode start-alias [alias_from_masternode.conf]. Example masternode start-alias mn01
  2. masternode start-many
 
Hey TaoOfSatoshi , orangecycle is preparing pull request to push his guide to official Darkcoin repo doc - https://github.com/darkcoin/darkcoin/pull/131 There are some important notes/changes, would be nice to see them here too. :wink:
UdjinM6 orangecycle
Can you guys also include a scenario where someone is 1.importing many additional/ or 2. using many new addresses? Like what to do with the genkeys, and the masternode outputs? Please be detailed, I'm making a Dummies guide, and I'm a dummy myself...
:grin:

Example: I want to import six addresses from other wallets. What do I do with the 6 masternode outputs?

I want to create six NEW addresses. How do I handle the multiple genkeys, and multiple masternode outputs?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Amazing work,
please update your OP so people can find the newest version !
tx
well done !!
 
Tao, you made that simple enough (and fun enough) to read that even I now think I can set up a successful Masternode. Thats hard to do! I'm a bit far from actually being able to do so, but that's another issue.

I've got this funny little fantasy of setting up a dedicated Masternode computer using one of those small/ barebones models you can get from places like Newegg. There's just something about the idea of a little blinking box whirring away in the corner of my room as it accumulates money for me that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
 
Tao, you made that simple enough (and fun enough) to read that even I now think I can set up a successful Masternode. Thats hard to do! I'm a bit far from actually being able to do so, but that's another issue.

I've got this funny little fantasy of setting up a dedicated Masternode computer using one of those small/ barebones models you can get from places like Newegg. There's just something about the idea of a little blinking box whirring away in the corner of my room as it accumulates money for me that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad my guide is going to help you with the dream of Masternode ownership. Good luck!
I think I'm gonna try this :)
You should!
 
Just read this from Evan in Bitcointalk and I need some dummy help :rolleyes::

From what we can tell there's a uncommon condition on the network (seems to be about 1 in 10 clients), where some databases have became corrupt. Please check your logs for these messages:
--

2015-02-15 17:34:26 ERROR: ReadBlockFromDisk : Deserialize or I/O error - ReadCompactSize() : size too large
OR
2015-02-15 17:34:26 ERROR: ReadBlockFromDisk : Errors in block header

---

If you find entries like that delete ~/.darkcoin/blocks and chainstate, then resync from the bootstrap:

https://github.com/UdjinM6/darkcoin-bootstrap

Thanks
smiley.gif



I have some questions is someone can answer :

1.- How I check my masternode is ok (dummy style)
2.- How I fix this? (dummy style)

Tnks a lot!!
 
Hello,

Anybody please help me:

I have problem when trying to run a master node:

I start local wallet on Mac

And follow the guide

And I got the error message:

"
not capable masternode: Unknown. Check debug.log for more information."


And here is the debug.log

2015-02-15 18:40:04 Added time data, samples 9, offset -1 (+0 minutes)
2015-02-15 18:40:04 nTimeOffset = -1 (+0 minutes)
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Checking inbound connection to '104.238.183.117:9999'
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::GetMasterNodeVin - Could not locate specified vin from possible list
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Could not find suitable coins!
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::Dseep() - Error: masternode is not in a running status
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Error on Ping: masternode is not in a running statusspork - new f89d57c96bb51faa62a0b48abf4c74b13c6aec71c06307b768d9f2be30429a7b ID 10000 Time 1420126342 bestHeight 220688
2015-02-15 18:40:41 receive version message: /Core:0.11.1.25/: version 70066, blocks=220688, us=118.70.171.39:61968, them=104.238.183.117:9999, peer=104.238.183.117:9999
2015-02-15 18:40:41 Added time data, samples 10, offset +0 (+0 minutes)
2015-02-15 18:40:43 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Checking inbound connection to '104.238.183.117:9999'
2015-02-15 18:40:43 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - not capable: Wallet is locked.
2015-02-15 18:40:44 receive version message: /Core:0.11.1.25/: version 70066, blocks=220688, us=118.70.171.39:61969, them=104.238.183.117:9999, peer=104.238.183.117:9999



And here is the info on remote host:

[root@vultr ~]# ./darkcoind getinfo

{

"version" : 110125,

"protocolversion" : 70066,

"walletversion" : 61000,

"balance" : 0.00000000,

"darksend_balance" : 0.00000000,

"blocks" : 220686,

"timeoffset" : 0,

"connections" : 9,

"proxy" : "",

"difficulty" : 6493.94704931,

"testnet" : false,

"keypoololdest" : 1424023809,

"keypoolsize" : 1001,

"paytxfee" : 0.00000000,

"relayfee" : 0.00001000,

"errors" : ""

}


Thank you,
I don't know how to help you with a Mac. I'll tag UdjinM6 or flare, maybe they can help.
 
Just read this from Evan in Bitcointalk and I need some dummy help :rolleyes::





I have some questions is someone can answer :

1.- How I check my masternode is ok (dummy style)
2.- How I fix this? (dummy style)

Tnks a lot!!
Using Putty, enter
./darkcoind getinfo
Check blocks.
If they don't match DRK.mn, stop your daemon. (./darkcoind stop)
Open winSCP.
Go to folder .darkcoin and open.
Delete chainstate and blocks folders.
In putty restart daemon. (./darkcoind)
Wait for blocks to fully sync.
Restart Masternode from local wallet.
IF YOU ARE UNSURE, DO THESE STEPS ANYWAY.
It can't hurt anything, and you will be sure.

Tao.
 
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Checking inbound connection to '104.238.183.117:9999'
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::GetMasterNodeVin - Could not locate specified vin from possible list
2015-02-15 18:40:40 CActiveMasternode::ManageStatus() - Could not find suitable coins!
This^^^^ means that you have no inputs that hold exactly 1000 DRK. You need to send exactly 1000 DRK to your address (and wait for 15 confirmations) before trying to start masternode.
 
Is this require to run masternode genkey before encrypt wallet?

Can I run masternode genkey after funding address?
 
Thank you,

But the chosen address ( Address 0) already has 1000.06 DRK with more than 70 confirmations.
There must be a transaction funding your address with exactly 1000 DRK. Wallet is looking not for your balance, wallet is looking for that kind of transaction.

Is this require to run masternode genkey before encrypt wallet?

Can I run masternode genkey after funding address?
Yes, you can run masternode genkey at any time and any number of times.
 
Using Putty, enter
./darkcoind getinfo
Check blocks.
If they don't match DRK.mn, stop your daemon. (./darkcoind stop)
Open winSCP.
Go to folder .darkcoin and open.
Delete chainstate and blocks folders.
In putty restart daemon. (./darkcoind)
Wait for blocks to fully sync.
Restart Masternode from local wallet.
IF YOU ARE UNSURE, DO THESE STEPS ANYWAY.
It can't hurt anything, and you will be sure.

Tao.

Tnks a lot Tao! This was a really helpful explanation.

Now my masternodes are working fine.
 
Remember guys the masternode client is also in the standard darkcoin-qt, so you can run a hot wallet masternode from the same machine for testing purposes before going to the more difficult remote/local setup.
 
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