Importing and using a custom network topology
If you want to send traffic through a sub-set of nodes (for instance, ones you control, or a small test setup) when developing, debugging, or performing research, you will need to import these nodes as a custom network topology, instead of grabbing it from the Mainnet Nym-API
(examples/custom_topology_provider.rs
).
There are two ways to do this:
Import a custom Nym API endpoint
If you are also running a Validator and Nym API for your network, you can specify that endpoint as such and interact with it as clients usually do (under the hood):
// Copyright 2023 - Nym Technologies SA <contact@nymtech.net>
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
use nym_sdk::mixnet;
use nym_sdk::mixnet::MixnetMessageSender;
use nym_topology::provider_trait::{async_trait, TopologyProvider};
use nym_topology::{nym_topology_from_detailed, NymTopology};
use url::Url;
struct MyTopologyProvider {
validator_client: nym_validator_client::client::NymApiClient,
}
impl MyTopologyProvider {
fn new(nym_api_url: Url) -> MyTopologyProvider {
MyTopologyProvider {
validator_client: nym_validator_client::client::NymApiClient::new(nym_api_url),
}
}
async fn get_topology(&self) -> NymTopology {
let mixnodes = self
.validator_client
.get_cached_active_mixnodes()
.await
.unwrap();
// in our topology provider only use mixnodes that have mix_id divisible by 3
// and have more than 100k nym (i.e. 100'000'000'000 unym) in stake
// why? because this is just an example to showcase arbitrary uses and capabilities of this trait
let filtered_mixnodes = mixnodes
.into_iter()
.filter(|mix| {
mix.mix_id() % 3 == 0 && mix.total_stake() > "100000000000".parse().unwrap()
})
.collect::<Vec<_>>();
let gateways = self.validator_client.get_cached_gateways().await.unwrap();
nym_topology_from_detailed(filtered_mixnodes, gateways)
}
}
#[async_trait]
impl TopologyProvider for MyTopologyProvider {
// this will be manually refreshed on a timer specified inside mixnet client config
async fn get_new_topology(&mut self) -> Option<NymTopology> {
Some(self.get_topology().await)
}
}
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
nym_bin_common::logging::setup_logging();
let nym_api = "https://validator.nymtech.net/api/".parse().unwrap();
let my_topology_provider = MyTopologyProvider::new(nym_api);
// Passing no config makes the client fire up an ephemeral session and figure things out on its own
let mut client = mixnet::MixnetClientBuilder::new_ephemeral()
.custom_topology_provider(Box::new(my_topology_provider))
.build()
.unwrap()
.connect_to_mixnet()
.await
.unwrap();
let our_address = client.nym_address();
println!("Our client nym address is: {our_address}");
// Send a message through the mixnet to ourselves
client
.send_plain_message(*our_address, "hello there")
.await
.unwrap();
println!("Waiting for message (ctrl-c to exit)");
client
.on_messages(|msg| println!("Received: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&msg.message)))
.await;
}
Import a specific topology manually
If you aren’t running a Validator and Nym API, and just want to import a specific sub-set of mix nodes, you can simply overwrite the grabbed topology manually:
// Copyright 2023 - Nym Technologies SA <contact@nymtech.net>
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
use nym_sdk::mixnet;
use nym_sdk::mixnet::MixnetMessageSender;
use nym_topology::mix::Layer;
use nym_topology::{mix, NymTopology};
use std::collections::BTreeMap;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
nym_bin_common::logging::setup_logging();
// Passing no config makes the client fire up an ephemeral session and figure shit out on its own
let mut client = mixnet::MixnetClient::connect_new().await.unwrap();
let starting_topology = client.read_current_topology().await.unwrap();
// but we don't like our default topology, we want to use only those very specific, hardcoded, nodes:
let mut mixnodes = BTreeMap::new();
mixnodes.insert(
1,
vec![mix::Node {
mix_id: 63,
owner: None,
host: "172.105.92.48".parse().unwrap(),
mix_host: "172.105.92.48:1789".parse().unwrap(),
identity_key: "GLdR2NRVZBiCoCbv4fNqt9wUJZAnNjGXHkx3TjVAUzrK"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
sphinx_key: "CBmYewWf43iarBq349KhbfYMc9ys2ebXWd4Vp4CLQ5Rq"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
layer: Layer::One,
version: "1.1.0".into(),
}],
);
mixnodes.insert(
2,
vec![mix::Node {
mix_id: 23,
owner: None,
host: "178.79.143.65".parse().unwrap(),
mix_host: "178.79.143.65:1789".parse().unwrap(),
identity_key: "4Yr4qmEHd9sgsuQ83191FR2hD88RfsbMmB4tzhhZWriz"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
sphinx_key: "8ndjk5oZ6HxUZNScLJJ7hk39XtUqGexdKgW7hSX6kpWG"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
layer: Layer::Two,
version: "1.1.0".into(),
}],
);
mixnodes.insert(
3,
vec![mix::Node {
mix_id: 66,
owner: None,
host: "139.162.247.97".parse().unwrap(),
mix_host: "139.162.247.97:1789".parse().unwrap(),
identity_key: "66UngapebhJRni3Nj52EW1qcNsWYiuonjkWJzHFsmyYY"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
sphinx_key: "7KyZh8Z8KxuVunqytAJ2eXFuZkCS7BLTZSzujHJZsGa2"
.parse()
.unwrap(),
layer: Layer::Three,
version: "1.1.0".into(),
}],
);
// but we like the available gateways, so keep using them!
// (we like them because the author of this example is too lazy to use the same hardcoded gateway
// during client initialisation to make sure we are able to send to ourselves : ) )
let custom_topology = NymTopology::new(mixnodes, starting_topology.gateways().to_vec());
client.manually_overwrite_topology(custom_topology).await;
// and everything we send now should only ever go via those nodes
let our_address = client.nym_address();
println!("Our client nym address is: {our_address}");
// Send a message through the mixnet to ourselves
client
.send_plain_message(*our_address, "hello there")
.await
.unwrap();
println!("Waiting for message (ctrl-c to exit)");
client
.on_messages(|msg| println!("Received: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&msg.message)))
.await;
}