How to ACTUALLY make the Hyperledger test-network docs work

‍

Background

Hyperledger is a complicated animal, hence the managed services that have come out such as Chainstack and AWS Managed Blockchain for Hyperledger. This extends to their docs, where spinning up a network requires a series of docker commands and scripts. You'll see lots of code flying by on your Terminal, which will make you feel like you're in a Hollywood hacking movie.

In this tutorial, you'll set up a Dockerized network on your local machine, where two organizations (nodes) will share data between each other through chaincode (a smart contract). I'll be on a Mac.

‍

Getting started

I'll be setting this up to be Javascript focused. Follow the docs to install Docker, Node, and any other env dependencies (https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/release-2.2/test_network.html).

I'm just going to paste the steps that worked for me. Start by going to whatever directory you are comfortable with and creating a /hyperledger directory.

• mkdir hyperledger
• cd hyperledger
• curl -sSL https://bit.ly/2ysbOFE | bash -s -- 2.2.2 1.4.9 
• cd test-network
• touch test-network/docker/.env

At this point, you need to create a .env file via the above command, and in the test-network/docker folder, put in three env variables:

• COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=net
• IMAGE_TAG=latest
• SYS_CHANNEL=system-channel

Copy/paste without the bullets, and there is no need for commas in a .env file.

Create a .env file in the test-network/docker folder, and create three env variables: COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=net, IMAGE_TAG=latest, SYS_CHANNEL=system-channel

Here are the rest of the commands, though you can follow the remainder of the tutorial. Make sure you are in /test-network:

• ./network.sh up createChannel -c mychannel -ca       
• ./network.sh deployCC -ccn basic -ccp ../asset-transfer-basic/chaincode-javascript/ -ccl javascript
• export PATH=${PWD}/../bin:$PATH
• export FABRIC_CFG_PATH=$PWD/../config/

Commands for setting up the first organization (Org1) and interacting with it:

• export CORE_PEER_TLS_ENABLED=true
• export CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID="Org1MSP"
• export CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/peers/peer0.org1.example.com/tls/ca.crt
• export CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/users/Admin@org1.example.com/msp
• export CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=localhost:7051
• peer chaincode invoke -o localhost:7050 --ordererTLSHostnameOverride orderer.example.com --tls --cafile ${PWD}/organizations/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem -C mychannel -n basic --peerAddresses localhost:7051 --tlsRootCertFiles ${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/peers/peer0.org1.example.com/tls/ca.crt --peerAddresses localhost:9051 --tlsRootCertFiles ${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/peers/peer0.org2.example.com/tls/ca.crt -c '{"function":"InitLedger","Args":[]}'

Command for transferring ownership, will become relevant for the second organization:

• peer chaincode invoke -o localhost:7050 --ordererTLSHostnameOverride orderer.example.com --tls --cafile ${PWD}/organizations/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem -C mychannel -n basic --peerAddresses localhost:7051 --tlsRootCertFiles ${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/peers/peer0.org1.example.com/tls/ca.crt --peerAddresses localhost:9051 --tlsRootCertFiles ${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/peers/peer0.org2.example.com/tls/ca.crt -c '{"function":"TransferAsset","Args":["asset6","Christopher"]}'
  

Commands for setting up the second organization (Org2) and interacting with it:

• export CORE_PEER_TLS_ENABLED=true
• export CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID="Org2MSP"
• export CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/peers/peer0.org2.example.com/tls/ca.crt
• export CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=${PWD}/organizations/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/users/Admin@org2.example.com/msp
• export CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=localhost:9051

Test if the asset was transferred correctly:

• peer chaincode query -C mychannel -n basic -c '{"Args":["ReadAsset","asset6"]}'

Shut down the network:

• ./network.sh down

‍

Wrap up

Public blockchains are the obvious choice for the future of our financial infrastructure- whether it be insurance, sending money, or building the decentralized internet. But, if governments, government entities, healthcare systems, and private financial institutions are going to adopt blockchain as a means of infrastructure and data storage, private chains like Hyperledger are going to be needed.