Set-up Production Environment

Use the following information to set up and manage your production-level XPLA Chain full node.

For information about running a validator node, visit the validator guide.

Create a Dedicated User #

Although xplad does not require a super user account, during the setup process you’ll need super user permission to create and modify some files. It is strongly recommended using a normal user when running xplad.

Increase the Maximum Files xplad Can Open #

xplad is set to open 1024 files by default. It is recommended that you increase this amount.

Modify /etc/security/limits.conf* to increase the amount, where nofile is the number of files xplad can open.

# If you have never changed this system config or your system is fresh, most of this file will be commented
# ...
*                soft    nofile          65535   # Uncomment the following two lines at the bottom
*                hard    nofile          65535   # Change the default values to ~65535
# ...

Run the Server as a Daemon #

xplad must be running at all times. It is recommended that you register xplad as a systemd service so that it will be started automatically when the system reboots.

Register xplad as a Service #

1. Create a service definition file in /etc/systemd/system/xplad.service.

   Example:

   [Unit]
   Description=XPLA Chain Daemon
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   User=<XPLA_USER>
   ExecStart=<PATH_TO_XPLAD>/xplad start
   Restart=on-abort
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   
   [Service]
   LimitNOFILE=65535
   

2. Modify the Service section according to your environment:

   • Enter the user (likely your username, unless you created a user specifically for xplad)
   • Enter the path to the xplad executable. <PATH_TO_XPLAD> is likely /home/<YOUR_USER>/go/bin/xplad or /usr/go/bin. Confirm this with whereis xplad
   • Make sure you made the correct edits to /etc/security/limits.conf

3. Run systemctl daemon-reload followed by systemctl enable xplad. This will register xplad as a system service and turn it on upon startup.

4. Now start the service with systemctl start xplad.

Controlling the Service #

Use systemctl to start, stop, and restart the service:

# Check health
systemctl status xplad
# Start
systemctl start xplad
# Stop
systemctl stop xplad
# Restart
systemctl restart xplad

Access Logs #

Use journalctl -t to access entire logs, entire logs in reverse, and the latest and continuous log.

# Entire log reversed
journalctl -t xplad -r
# Entire log
journalctl -t xplad
# Latest and continuous
journalctl -t xplad -f