lighthouse/book/src/simple-testnet.md

Simple Local Testnet

This guide is about running your own private local testnet.

• If you wish to join the ongoing public testnet, please read become a validator.

This guide will help you setup your own private local testnet.

First, install Lighthouse.

Then, get the current unix time in seconds; you can use epochconverter.com or $ date +%s. It should look like this 1576803034 and you should use it wherever we put <time>.

If you choose a time that's more than several minutes in the past the validator client will refuse to produce blocks. We will loosen this restriction in the future, the issue is tracked here.

Starting a beacon node

Start a new node with:

$ lighthouse bn --http testnet -r quick 8 <time>

Notes:

• The --http flag starts the API so the validator can produce blocks.
• The -r flag creates a random data directory to avoid clashes with other nodes.
• 8 is number of validators with deposits in the genesis state.
• See $ lighthouse bn testnet --help for more configuration options, including minimal/mainnet specification.

Starting a validator client

In a new terminal window, start the validator client with:

$ lighthouse vc testnet insecure 0 8

Notes:

• The insecure command uses predictable, well-known private keys. Since this is just a local testnet, these are fine.
• The 0 8 indicates that this validator client should manage 8 validators, starting at validator 0 (the first deposited validator).
• The validator client will try to connect to the beacon node at localhost. See --help to configure that address and other features.

Adding another beacon node

You may connect another (non-validating) node to your local network by starting a new terminal and running:

lighthouse bn -z --libp2p-addresses /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/9000 testnet -r quick 8 <time>

Notes:

• The z (or --zero-ports) flag sets all listening ports to be zero, which then means that the OS chooses random available ports. This avoids port collisions with the first node.
• The --libp2p-addresses flag instructs the new node to connect to the first node.