Nym Node

Note

If you are a nym-mixnode or nym-gateway operator and you are not familiar with the binary changes called Project Smoosh, you can read the archived Smoosh FAQ page.

NYM NODE is a tool for running a node within the Nym network. Nym Nodes containing functionality such as mixnode, entry-gateway and exit-gateway are fundamental components of Nym Mixnet architecture. Nym Nodes are ran by decentralised node operators.

To setup any type of Nym Node, start with either building Nym’s platform from source or download pre-compiled binaries on the configured server (VPS) where you want to run the node. Nym Node will need to be bond to Nym’s wallet. Follow preliminary steps page before you initialise and run a node.

Info

Migrating an existing node to a new nym-node is simple. The steps are documented on the next page

Steps for Nym Node Operators

Once VPS and Nym wallet are configured, binaries ready, the operators of nym-node need to:

  1. Setup & Run the node

  2. Configure the node (and optionally WSS, reversed proxy, automation)

  3. Bond the node to the Nym API, using Nym wallet

Quick nym-node --mode exit-gateway Setup

During the testing events series Fast and Furious we found out, that after introducing IP Packet Router and Nym exit policy as default features, only a fragment of Exit Gateways routes correctly through IPv4 and IPv6. We built a useful monitor to check out your Gateway (nym-node --mode exit-gateway) at harbourmaster.nymtech.net.

Below is a fast - ten commands - deployment for seasoned operators to migrate and setup the node, configure networking and connectivity and verify that it all works as it should by getting two free jokes through the Mixnet.

Caution

If you are not well familiar with nym-node setup, automation, and nymtun0 configuration, follow the steps above page by page. You can use this flow as a reference later on.

  1. Get or build the latest nym-node binary

  2. Get network_tunnel_manager.sh script and grant permissions

curl -o network_tunnel_manager.sh -L https://gist.githubusercontent.com/tommyv1987/ccf6ca00ffb3d7e13192edda61bb2a77/raw/9d785d6ee3aa2970553633eccbd89a827f49fab5/network_tunnel_manager.sh && chmod +x network_tunnel_manager.sh
  1. If you have a running nym-node or nym-gateway (alone or service), stop the process
  1. Check Nymtun IP tables:
sudo ./network_tunnel_manager.sh check_nymtun_iptables
  • if there’s no process running it shouldn’t get anything
  1. Display IPv6:
sudo ./network_tunnel_manager.sh fetch_and_display_ipv6
  • If you have a global ipv6 address this is good, if not the next step should fix it

Correct ./network_tunnel_manager.sh fetch_and_display_ipv6 output:

 
iptables-persistent is already installed.
Using IPv6 address: 2001:db8:a160::1/112 #the address will be different for you
operation fetch_ipv6_address_nym_tun completed successfully.
  1. Apply the rules:
sudo ./network_tunnel_manager.sh apply_iptables_rules
  • and check them again like in point 4.

  1. (If you didn’t have a nym-node service yet) Create systemd automation and configuration file, reload and enable the service

  2. Start nym-node service:

sudo service nym-node start && journalctl -u nym-node -f -n 100
  • If you don’t run this as an upgrade but started a fresh new node, you need to bond the gateway now. After that finish the verification steps below.
  1. After a minute of running properly, check nymtun0:
ip addr show nymtun0

Correct ip addr show nymtun0 output:

 
# your addresses will be different
8: nymtun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1420 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN group default qlen 500
    link/none
    inet 10.0.0.1/16 scope global nymtun0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 2001:db8:a160::1/112 scope global
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::ad08:d167:5700:8c7c/64 scope link stable-privacy
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever`
  1. Validate your IPv6 and IPv4 networking by running a joke via Mixnet:
sudo ./network_tunnel_manager.sh joke_through_the_mixnet

Make sure that you get the validation of IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, in case of problems, check troubleshooting page. After proceed to bonding.