(Out of date) BYoN — Setting Up Your Domain

7 min readDec 17, 2020

*** NOTE: BYoN nodes are on hold till further notice and can’t be submitted. Document for historical use only…….

Part 2: Preparing the Web end of your new BYoN nodes.

Estimated Completion Time: 30–45 min

This is the second of three pieces created to assist you in the process of preparing your own BYoN node for the StrongBlock.com platform. This section includes the steps necessary to prepare your new node to connect with StrongBlock. Here we will be using NameCheap as the domain and shared hosting provider. NameCheap is not only one of the easiest to use, but also one of the most affordable. You may use another service if you like, but make sure your chosen service provides hosting and as many subdomains as you will need for nodes. (One subdomain per node…)

(At this point you we will assume you have already arranged for a VPS server provider, and have the VPS IP address that will be used in these instructions.)

Let’s Get Started on Part 2

For our examples, we will be using the “Stellar Plus” shared hosting package from NameCheap. It includes your domain (e.g. strongnodes.com), as well as 20GB of space to host a website, or files (which is what we’ll be using it for.)

Note, when choosing your name and extension(.com) be careful to note what the renewal price will be after the first year as some can be quite expensive.
Because they are relatively inexpensive, most charge the first year in advance, and do offer nice discounts for multiple years.

Steps to setup your domain

Once you have paid, and selected your domain.name, you will now have access to “cPanel”, which is the dashboard for managing your web services. Next, you will create the subdomains for each of your node(s.)

It is recommended to use consistent naming (e.g. node1, node 2, node 3, etc.) as they will then list alphabetically later on…

So, go ahead and log into your cPanel:

1. Click on ‘Subdomains’ in the Domains section. On the following page, chose a name for your node, and place it in the ‘Subdomain’ field (e.g. node1) and click ‘Create.’ Once you receive the ‘Success’ and ‘Enabling HTTPS in progress’ messages, then select ‘Go Back’, and now your subdomain will appear in the list of subdomains, as seen below.

2. Continue the process in Step #1, creating as many subdomains(one per node) as you think you will have. Setting them up now is best, even if you don’t know you’ll use them. So create at least a few, it only takes a few minutes. Once these all are created, continue to step #3.

3. We are now ready to create ‘endpoints’ for each of your nodes. Click the ‘cPanel’ icon, on the upper left part of the screen (to return to the main menu.) Click on ‘Zone Editor’ in the Domains section. On the following screen, click on ‘+A RECORD’.(Strong uses the Endpoints to access your node to verify that is it operating as expected.)

4. Next you will want to have your VPS information ready, as well as the node names you have chosen for each VPS. In the ‘Name’ field you will add a word to the front of your subdomain, and in the ‘Address’ field you will put the nodes VPS IP address. So, using our example, you will put ‘strong.node1’ in Name, and you will put ‘196.5.123.21’ (use your VPS IP) in Address. Click ‘Add An A Record’. (See below)

It will automatically enter the full web address in the name field for you.
A ‘Success’ pop-up will show in the upper right corner, and quickly disappear.
The ‘A RECORD’ you created will not display on the page after it has been created…. don’t worry, it’s there.)

5. Repeat step #4 for all of your nodes. For our example, we would have created ‘A Records’ for; strong.node1 / strong.node2 / strong.node3 etc.

6. You are now ready to create the ‘sbEtheruem.json’ file for node. Visit https://app.strongblock.com/sbEthereum.json and copy the example text from that page(including all brackets as seen below) to your text editor.

Since you may be making one ‘sbEthereum.json’ file per node, its best to create a separate folder (node 1, node 2, etc.) for each to save the files in.
Note: Now that the “1 Wallet” solution is available you can create as many nodes in a wallet as you would like. This greatly reduces your gas fees, so it is highly recommended to use one wallet. This includes both NaaS and BYoN...

7. Using a standard text editor (notepad), paste the copied text to an empty notepad. To ensure the formatting is not altered, it is easiest to simply update the example information with your info. Once finished, use ‘Save As’, and filename ‘sbEthereum.json’ into the correct nodes folder.

I find using the ‘Replace’ function of notepad ensures the formatting of the file is not altered. Very small spacing errors in the file can cause errors to occur.
For the ‘logo’ web address, you can use https://imgbb.com/ to store your logo and create a web address (using the ‘direct link’ address option.)

8. Repeat step #7 for each of your nodes. Remember, once again, save each in its own folder.

9. You are now ready to upload your ‘sbEthereum.json’ files to your webhosting platform using cPanel. On cPanel, click ‘File Manager’, then you will see the file tree on the left hand side.

You can check your ‘sbEthereum.json’ with an online formatting tool here.

10. Click on the name of your first node (e.g. node1.kryptolex.com). Next, click ‘Upload’ and upload the ‘sbEthereum.json’ file you created for node1. Continue doing this for each node by clicking on the correct node name on the left hand side, and then upload the corresponding file.

11. Once you have finished, it is a good idea to verify you have the correct ‘sbEthereum.json’ information attached to the correct nodes folder. Do this by simply selecting the node on the left hand side, and right click on the ‘sbEthereu.json’ file, and selecting ‘‘view’).

You’re now finished with Part 2, but let’s get ready first…

In PUTTY, you can name and save each VPS units IP information for easier access later if you choose.

Before you head to either of the ‘VPS setup’ options below, you will need to download PUTTY to be able to log into your VPS server unit remotely. Check your email “Your login data!” from Contabo. You’ll need the following info from that…..

IP Address
username : root
password : dbgJFY45MfYd (example only..)

Don’t get these confused with the VNC user & VNC password
Hint: When entering password, no characters will show…
Hint: If you will have multiple nodes, create a spreadsheet with you login data...

For the last section, VPS setup, you have a choice to make…

Automated Setup: We have created an easy to use automated setup system. To use this method, visit here. (Est Time: 10 min)
Manual Setup: You will enter commands, line by line, into PUTTY to prepare your VPS unit. To do this visit here. (Est Time: 30–120 min)

After you have finished the full ‘VPS Setup’ above…..

BYoN nodes need to be fully synced before submitting to StrongBlock.
If you complete the ‘manual’ setup, don’t forget to add your VPS Dashboard, found in part #4 ‘Tips & Tricks’ below.