Blockchain4Students (B4S)

Blockchain4Students (B4S) is a simple blockchain with focus on understandability, tailored to teach blockchain technology.

Requirements:

Python 3.8.3 Docker version 19 (tested with version 19.03.8, build afacb8b7f0)

This project has been tested with Ubuntu 20.04

Running Blockchain4Students (B4S)

Via Docker

Run ./setup-docker. This creates a blockchain with one node, runnning on default port 5000, mapped to the local machine port 8001. You can access the node's endpoints by opening a browser at: http://0.0.0.0:8001. For example, to get the peers, go to http://0.0.0.0:8001/getPeers

To run more nodes, run docker run --name NAME -p "LOCAL_HOST:DOCKER_HOST" -e node_port=DOCKER_HOST -e miner_address=MINER_ADDRESS -e host=HOST_ADDRESS blockchain4students/blockchain-node:0.1 , replacing the variables. Examples:

docker run --name "blockchain-node-2" -p "5001:5001" -e node_port=5001 -e miner_address="default_address-1" -e host="0.0.0.0" blockchain4students/blockchain-node:0.1

docker run --name "blockchain-node-3" -p "5002:5002" -e node_port=5002 -e miner_address="default_address-2" -e host="0.0.0.0" blockchain4students/blockchain-node:0.1

If you want to add a host, add the option -e host="HOST_NAME".

To debug the containers, run docker ps -a to list your containers. Copy the ID of your container and run docker logs CONTAINER_ID

Via Venv

First, define env variables: duplicate the file .env-example, and rename it to .env. Change the variables value accordingly

Run ./setup-venv

You are now in a virtual env After the initial setup, you can run python3 node.py to run the default node.

To run other nodes: python3 app.py -p ${node_port} -a ${miner_address} -ho ${host}

Teardown