lighthouse/testing/network_testing/README.md

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# Lighthouse live network testing
## DISCLAIMER
This document describes how to run a lighthouse node with minimal resources and time on a live
network.
This procedure should ONLY be used for testing networks and never in production and never with
attached validators. The Lighthouse node described in this state is only a partially functioning
node.
## Overview
We are going to run a single lighthouse node connected to a live network, without syncing and
without an execution engine. This should only ever be done for testing.
There two main components needed.
1. A lighthouse node that doesn't sync
2. A fake execution client that does nothing
We will start with the second
## Mock-EL
This is a service that runs and fakes an execution engine. We firstly need to install the lighthouse
`lcli` tool.
```
$ make install-lcli
```
Once installed, run the fake execution client:
```
$ lcli mock-el --jwt-output-path /tmp/mockel.jwt
```
This will create a server listening on localhost:8551
## Lighthouse no sync
To create a lighthouse node that doesn't sync we need to compile it with a special flag.
```
$ cargo build --release --bin lighthouse --features network/disable-backfill
```
Once built, it can run via checkpoint sync on any network, making sure we point to our mock-el
Prater testnet:
```
$ lighthouse --network prater bn --execution-jwt /tmp/mockel.jwt --checkpoint-sync-url
https://prater.checkpoint.sigp.io --execution-endpoint http://localhost:8551
```
Mainnet:
```
$ lighthouse --network mainnet bn --execution-jwt /tmp/mockel.jwt --checkpoint-sync-url
https://checkpoint.sigp.io --execution-endpoint http://localhost:8551
```
Additional flags, such as metrics may be added.
## Additional Notes
The above is assuming that you have not run the command in the past. If you have a database in
existence for the network you are testing, checkpoint sync will not start. You may need to add the
`--purge-db` flag to remove any past database and force checkpoint sync to run.