Nym Node Troubleshooting

Binary Build Problems

I am trying to build from the GitHub archive files and the build fails

GitHub automatically includes .zip and tar.gz files of the Nym repository in its release. You cannot extract these and build - you’ll see something like this:

  process didn't exit successfully: `/build/nym/src/nym-0.12.1/target/release/build/nym-socks5-client-c1d0f76a8c7d7e9a/build-script-build` (exit status: 101)
  --- stderr
  thread 'main' panicked at 'failed to extract build metadata: could not find repository from '/build/nym/src/nym-0.12.1/clients/socks5'; class=Repository (6); code=NotFound (-3)', clients/socks5/build.rs:7:31
  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...
error: build failed

Why does this happen?

We have scripts which automatically include the Git commit hash and Git tag in the binary for easier debugging later. If you download a .zip and try building from that, it’s not a Git repository and build will fail as above.

What to do?

  • Open terminal in the directory where you want to have a git repository
  • To get Nym repository for the first time, run:
git clone https://github.com/nymtech/nym.git
  • Follow the instructions to build the platform
  • To upgrade, pause your nodes, in the same terminal window run git pull, follow the upgrade instructions and re-start your nodes.

General Node Config

Where can I find my private and public keys and config?

All config and keys files are stored in a directory named after your id which you chose during the init process, and can be found at the following PATH: $HOME/.nym/<NODE_TYPE>/<NODE_ID> where $HOME is a home directory of the user (your current user in this case) that launched the node or client.

The directory structure for each node will be roughly as follows:

bob@desktop:~/nym/target/release# tree ~/.nym/nym-nodes/
~/.nym/nym-nodes/
└── default-nym-node
    ├── config
    │   └── config.toml
    └── data
        ├── aes128ctr_ipr_ack
        ├── aes128ctr_nr_ack
        ├── clients.sqlite
        ├── cosmos_mnemonic
        ├── description.toml
        ├── ed25519_identity
        ├── ed25519_identity.pub
        ├── ed25519_ipr_identity
        ├── ed25519_ipr_identity.pub
        ├── ed25519_nr_identity
        ├── ed25519_nr_identity.pub
        ├── ipr_gateways_info_store.sqlite
        ├── nr_gateways_info_store.sqlite
        ├── nr_persistent_reply_store.sqlite
        ├── x25519_ipr_dh
        ├── x25519_ipr_dh.pub
        ├── x25519_noise
        ├── x25519_noise.pub
        ├── x25519_nr_dh
        ├── x25519_nr_dh.pub
        ├── x25519_sphinx
        └── x25519_sphinx.pub

If you cat the public_sphinx.pem key, the output will be different from the public key you will see on Nym dashboard. The reason for this is that .pem files are encoded in base64, however on the web they are in base58. Don’t be confused if your keys look different. They are the same keys, just with different encoding :)

Mixnode Mode

How can I tell my node is up and running and mixing traffic?

First of all check the ‘Mixnodes’ section of either of the Nym Network Explorers:

Enter your identity key to find your node. Check the contents of the Mixnode stats and Routing score sections.

There are 2 community explorers currently, which have been created by Nodes Guru:

You can run Node API Check CLI to query all API endpoints of your node at once.

Here is a dictionary with Nyx chain registry entry regarding all explorers.

If you want more information, or if your node isn’t showing up on the explorer of your choice and you want to double-check, here are some examples on how to check if the node is configured properly.

Check from your VPS

Additional details can be obtained via various methods after you connect to your VPS:

Socket statistics with ss
sudo ss -s -t | grep 1789 # if you have specified a different port in your Mix Node config, change accordingly

This command should return a lot of data containing ESTAB. This command should work on every unix based system.

List open files and reliant processes with lsof
# check if lsof is installed:
lsof -v
# install if not installed
sudo apt install lsof
# run against nym-mix-node node port
sudo lsof -i TCP:1789 # if you have specified a different port in your mixnode config, change accordingly

This command should return something like this:

nym-node 103349 root   53u  IPv6 1333229972      0t0  TCP [2a03:b0c0:3:d0::ff3:f001]:57844->[2a01:4f9:c011:38ae::5]:1789 (ESTABLISHED)
nym-node 103349 root   54u  IPv4 1333229973      0t0  TCP nym:57104->194.5.78.73:1789 (ESTABLISHED)
nym-node 103349 root   55u  IPv4 1333229974      0t0  TCP nym:48130->static.236.109.119.168.clients.your-server.de:1789 (ESTABLISHED)
nym-node 103349 root   56u  IPv4 1333229975      0t0  TCP nym:52548->vmi572614.contaboserver.net:1789 (ESTABLISHED)
nym-node 103349 root   57u  IPv6 1333229976      0t0  TCP [2a03:b0c0:3:d0::ff3:f001]:43244->[2600:1f18:1031:2401:c04b:2f25:ca79:fef3]:1789 (ESTABLISHED)
Query systemd journal with journalctl
sudo journalctl -u nym-node -o cat | grep "Since startup mixed"

If you have created nym-node.service file (i.e. you are running your Ny, Node via systemd) then this command shows you how many packets have you mixed so far, and should return a list of messages like this:

2021-05-18T12:35:24.057Z INFO  nym_node::node::metrics                      > Since startup mixed 233639 packets!
2021-05-18T12:38:02.178Z INFO  nym_node::node::metrics                      > Since startup mixed 233739 packets!
2021-05-18T12:40:32.344Z INFO  nym_node::node::metrics                      > Since startup mixed 233837 packets!
2021-05-18T12:46:08.549Z INFO  nym_node::node::metrics                      > Since startup mixed 234081 packets!
2021-05-18T12:56:57.129Z INFO  nym_node::node::metrics                      > Since startup mixed 234491 packets!

You can add | tail to the end of the command to watch for new entries in real time if needed.

build-info

A build-info command prints the build information like commit hash, rust version, binary version just like what command --version does. However, you can also specify an --output=json flag that will format the whole output as a json, making it an order of magnitude easier to parse.

For example ./target/debug/nym-node --no-banner build-info --output json will return:

{"binary_name":"nym-network-requester","build_timestamp":"2023-07-24T15:38:37.00657Z","build_version":"1.1.23","commit_sha":"c70149400206dce24cf20babb1e64f22202672dd","commit_timestamp":"2023-07-24T14:45:45Z","commit_branch":"feature/simplify-cli-parsing","rustc_version":"1.71.0","rustc_channel":"stable","cargo_profile":"debug"}

Check from your local machine

Scan ports with nmap:
nmap -p 1789 <IP ADDRESS> -Pn

If your Nym Node is configured properly it should output something like this:

bob@desktop:~$ nmap -p 1789 95.296.134.220 -Pn

Host is up (0.053s latency).

PORT     STATE SERVICE
1789/tcp open  hello
Check with telnet

Your node should connect to telnet when running:

telnet <IP_ADDRESS> <PORT>
Query online nodes:
curl --location --request GET 'https://validator.nymtech.net/api/v1/mixnodes/'

Will return a list all nodes currently online.

You can query Gateways by replacing nym-mixnodes with nym-gateways in the above command, and can query for the Mix Nodes and Gateways on the Sandbox testnet by replacing validator with sandbox-validator.

Check with Network API

We currently have an API set up returning our metrics tests of the network. There are two endpoints to ping for information about your Mix Node, report and history. Find more information about this in the Mixnodes metrics documentation.

For more information about available endpoints and their status, you can refer to:

# for http
http://<IP>:8080/api/v1/swagger/#/

# for https reversed proxy
https://<DOMAIN>/api/v1/swagger/#/

Why is my node not mixing any packets?

If you are still unable to see your node on the dashboard, or your node is declaring it has not mixed any packets, there are several potential issues:

  • The firewall on your host machine is not configured properly. Checkout the instructions.
  • You provided incorrect information when bonding your node.
  • You are running your node from a VPS without IPv6 support.
  • You did not configure your router firewall while running the node from your local machine behind NAT, or you are lacking IPv6 support
  • Your Mix Node is not running at all, it has either exited / panicked or you closed the session without making the node persistent. Check out the instructions.

Your Nym Node must speak both IPv4 and IPv6 in order to cooperate with other nodes and route traffic. This is a common reason behind many errors we are seeing among node operators, so check with your provider that your VPS is able to do this!

Check IPv6 Connectivity

You can always check IPv6 address and connectivity by using some of these methods:

# locally listed IPv6 addresses
ip -6 addr

# globally reachable IPv6 addresses
ip -6 addr show scope global

# with DNS
dig -6 TXT +short o-o.myaddr.l.google.com @ns1.google.com
dig -t aaaa +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com

# https check
curl -6 https://ifconfig.co
curl -6 https://ipv6.icanhazip.com

# using telnet
telnet -6 ipv6.telnetmyip.com

If your connection doesn’t work make sure to follow VPS IPv6 setup. If there is more troubleshooting needed, check out VPS IPv6 troubleshooting page.

Incorrect bonding information

Check that you have provided the correct information when bonding your Nym Node in the web wallet interface. When in doubt, un-bond and then re-bond your node!

All delegated stake will be lost when un-bonding! However the Nym Node must be operational in the first place for the delegation to have any effect.

Running on a local machine behind NAT with no fixed IP address

Your ISP has to be IPv6 ready if you want to run a Nym Node on your local machine. Sadly, in 2020, most of them are not and you won’t get an IPv6 address by default from your ISP. Usually it is an extra paid service or they simply don’t offer it.

Before you begin, check if you have IPv6 here or by running command explained in the section above. If not, then don’t waste your time to run a node which won’t ever be able to mix any packet due to this limitation. Call your ISP and ask for IPv6, there is a plenty of it for everyone!

If all goes well and you have IPv6 available, then you will need to init the Nym Node with an extra flag, --announce-host. You will also need to edit your config.toml file each time your IPv4 address changes, that could be a few days or a few weeks. Check the your IPv4 in the section above.

Additional configuration on your router might also be needed to allow traffic in and out to port 1789 and IPv6 support.

  • --host 0.0.0.0 should work every time even if your local machine IPv4 address changes. For example on Monday your router gives your machine an address 192.168.0.13 and on Wednesday, the DHCP lease will end and you will be assigned 192.168.0.14. Using 0.0.0.0 should avoid this without having to set any static IP in your router’s configuration.

  • you can get your current IPv4 address by either using curl ipinfo.io if you’re on MacOS or Linux or visiting whatsmyip site. Simply copy it and use it as --anounce-host address.

Make sure you check if your node is really mixing. We are aiming to improve the setup for operators running locally, however you may need a bit of patience to set this up from your home behind NAT.

Accidentally killing your node process on exiting session

When you close your current terminal session, you need to make sure you don’t kill the Mix Node process! There are multiple ways on how to make it persistent even after exiting your ssh session, the easiest solution is to use tmux or nohup, and the more elegant solution is to run the node with systemd. Read the automation manual here.

Common errors and warnings

Most of the ERROR and WARN messages in your node logs are benign - as long as your node outputs since startup mixed X packets! (X bust be > 0) in your logs (and this number increases over time), your node is mixing packets. If you want to be sure, check the Nym dashboard or see other ways on how to check if your node is mixing properly as outlined in the section How can I tell my node is up and running and mixing traffic? above.

More specific errors and warnings are covered below.

What is verloc and do I have to configure my Nym Node to implement it?

verloc is short for verifiable location. Mix Nodes and Gateways now measure speed-of-light distances to each other, in an attempt to verify how far apart they are. In later releases, this will allow us to algorithmically verify node locations in a non-fake-able and trustworthy manner.

You don’t have to do any additional configuration for your node to implement this, it is a passive process that runs in the background of the mixnet from version 0.10.1 onward.

Gateways Mode

My exit-gateway is running but appears offline in the explorer

Let your Gateway run and follow these steps:

  1. Check if your firewall configuration is active and if the necessary ports are open / allowed, including the ones for Swagger page and Reversed proxy/WSS if this is your case.
  2. See if the Gateway is not on the list of blacklisted Gateways
  3. If it’s blacklisted, check out the point below

My Gateway is blacklisted

Nym API measures performance by routing traffic through the Mixnet. If the average of a Gateway’s routing score in past 24h is less than 50%, the Gateway gets blacklisted and it remains so until its performance is higher than 50%.

In case your Gateway appeared on the blacklist, it’s because there is some flaw in the configuration. The most common sources of problems are:

  • Outdated version of nym-node
  • Bonding before starting the node/service
  • Bonding before opening needed ports
  • VPS restarted without operator having a systemd automation or some alert notification flow setup (so the operator doesn’t know the node was stopped)
  • IP address or host is incorrectly configured
  • Process logs grew too big
  • Node is wrapped in systemd service and the operator forgot to run systemctl daemon-reload after last changes

What to do

Begin with a sanity check by opening harbourmaster.nymtech.net and check your node there. To query all API endpoints of your node at once, you can run Node API Check CLI. To see IPv4 and IPv6 routing in real time (harbourmaster can have a cache up to 90 min), run Gateway Probe CLI.

Then follow these steps:

  1. Make sure your node is on the latest version and it’s running . Do not stop it if there is no need!
  2. Open all needed ports
  3. Check your config.toml - often people have filled hostname without the domain being registered to nym-node IP, or a wrong IP address after moving their node.
  4. Check Gateway Connectivity
  5. See logs of your Gateway and search for errors - if you find any unusual one, you can ask in the Element Node Operators channel
  • If your logs show that your Node has cover down: 0.00 that means that the embedded IPR and NR is not sending any cover traffic.
  1. Check out if your syslogs aren’t eating all your disk space and prune them
  2. When all problems are addressed: Restart the node/service (don’t forget systemctl daemon-reload) and wait until your node gets above 50% of performance (average of last 24h) - this will likely take 24-48 hours. During this time your node is tested by nym-api and every positive response picks up your routing score.
  3. If your node doesn’t pick up the routing score within 24h at all and it was running in --mode exit-gateway, run it as --mode entry-gateway. When your node is above 75% performance (past 24h), switch back to --mode exit-gateway.

Do not repeatedly restart your Nym Node without reason, your routing score will only get worse!

Check Gateway connectivity

1. Check out the API endpoints

Start with checking if your Gateway IPR and NR is active. To determine which mode your node is running, you can check the :8080/api/v1/roles endpoint. For example:

# sustitude <NODE_IP_ADDRESS> or <NODE_DOMAIN> with a real one
# for http
http://<NODE_IP_ADDRESS>:8080/api/v1/roles
# or
http://<NODE_IP_ADDRESS>/api/v1/roles

# for reversed proxy/WSS
https://<NODE_DOMAIN>/api/v1/roles

Everything necessary will exist on your node by default. For instance, if you’re running a mixnode, you’ll find that a NR (Network Requester) and IPR (IP Packet Router) address exist, but they will be ignored in mixnode mode.

For more information about available endpoints and their status, you can refer to:

# sustitude <NODE_IP_ADDRESS> or <NODE_DOMAIN> with a real one
# for http
http://<NODE_IP_ADDRESS>:8080/api/v1/swagger/#/
# or
http://<NODE_IP_ADDRESS>/api/v1/swagger/#/

# for reversed proxy/WSS
https://<NODE_DOMAIN>/api/v1/swagger/#/

2. Configure IPv4 and IPv6 tables and rules

3. Test connectivity

  • Telnet - from your local machine try to connect to your VPS bu running:
telnet <IP_ADDRESS> <PORT>

sudo apt install node-ws
  • Run wscat pointing to the IP of your VPS with port 9000:
wscat -c ws://<IP>:<PORT>

My exit Gateway “is still not online…”

The Nyx chain epoch takes up to 60 min. To prevent the Gateway getting blacklisted, it’s essential to start it before the bonding process and let it running. In case it already got blacklisted check the steps above.