Deploying IPFS Infrastructure

Take your IPFS game to the next level by learning how to deploy and manage your very own IPFS node in the cloud.

Trainers

Matt Ober

@obo20

What you will learn with this Course

How to deploy an IPFS node using a cloud provider
How to configure that node for your specific use case
Tips and tricks for running IPFS infrastructure in the cloud

Preparation for the course

We will use Digital Ocean, a Cloud service to host our remote and public IPFS node. To successfully complete this course, you will need to create a Digital Ocean account:

Sign up for an account preloaded with $50 in free credits with this link: https://do.co/pinata - (Requires a credit card but you won't be charged)

Course walkthrough / commands

The following commands are provided for easy copy / pasting during the node deployment part of the course. During the course, we will go over when and why to use these commands when setting up your infrastructure.

SSH Setup

Creating your SSH key with OpenSSH

Open up your terminal
Type in ssh-keygen
Hit enter to accept the recommended default path. DO NOT CHOOSE TO OVERWRITE IF A KEY ALREADY EXISTS
Optionally provide a password to require each time you use your key or just hit enter twice to avoid requiring a password

Copying your SSH key

To copy your SSH Key, do either of these:

Type: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Travel to your public key with: cd ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub and open the file to copy the contents

( The above instructions are assuming your key is saved in the default location )

Connecting to your droplet

In your terminal type: ssh root@your_droplet_ip

( You'll need to type yes when ssh-ing into your node for the first time )

You should now be connected to your droplet!

Updating your droplet

Now, in your terminal type:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

2.1. If you get a pink screen asking whether to automatically restart, hit LEFT ARROW and then ENTER

2.2. If you get another pink screen asking for a confirmation, hit ENTER
apt autoremove
shutdown -r 0

Your droplet should now be updated and rebooted.

Securing your droplet

Installing IPFS

Installing IPFS-update

In your terminal:

Download ipfs-update with: curl -O https://dist.ipfs.io/ipfs-update/v1.5.2/ipfs-update_v1.5.2_linux-amd64.tar.gz
Unzip it with: tar -xzf ipfs-update_v1.5.2_linux-amd64.tar.gz
Go into the ipfs-update folder with: cd ipfs-update
Install ipfs-update with: ./install.sh

Use IPFS-update to install IPFS

Install the latest ipfs version with: ipfs-update install latest
Initialize ipfs with ipfs init --profile server
Check that IPFS was installed with: ipfs daemon
Hit CTRL + C to end the process

Keeping IPFS running

Create a system service

Create a system service with: nano /etc/systemd/system/ipfs.service
Enter the following instructions:

[Unit]
Description=IPFS Daemon
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/ipfs daemon --enable-gc
Restart=always
Environment="IPFS_PATH=/root/.ipfs"
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save your new service by hitting CTRL + X, then y, then ENTER

Enable the system service

Reload your system with: systemctl daemon-reload
Enable your new service with: systemctl enable ipfs
Start your new service with: systemctl start ipfs
Test that this succeeded with: systemctl status ipfs

Pinning content

In your terminal type: ipfs pin add -r --progress QmWcLKHWqrRB95zQnb4vX8RRgoGsVm5YAUHyZyiAw4mCMQ

Viewing that content with your own gateway

In your terminal expose your gateway with: ipfs config Addresses.Gateway /ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/8080
Now restart ipfs with: systemctl restart ipfs
Now in your browser go to http://yourDropletIp:8080/ipfs/QmWcLKHWqrRB95zQnb4vX8RRgoGsVm5YAUHyZyiAw4mCMQ

Bonus written guide for attendees to refer back to

https://medium.com/pinata/how-to-deploy-an-ipfs-node-on-digital-ocean-c59b9e83098e

PinataCloud / Deploying-IPFS-Infrastructure