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Start using Hyperledger Besu with plugins

If you have been deploying Besu using the Ansible Role on Galaxy, Kubernetes reference implementations, or Docker image, contact us for an equivalent version with the ConsenSys Quorum plugins for Hyperledger Besu.

important

If you are using a newer Besu version than is included in the distribution provided with your ConsenSys Quorum Support subscription, features added to Besu after the version included in the provided distribution will no longer be available.

If you require an upgraded version of the ConsenSys Quorum Support distribution built on a later version of Hyperledger Besu, contact us.

Upgrading node​

To upgrade your node:

  1. Obtain the binary distribution for the updated version. Contact us if you need more information.

  2. Stop Besu.

  3. Unpack the downloaded files and replace the existing Besu installation with the new distribution. To ensure the previous installation is replaced, options are:

    • Put the new distribution in a new directory and sym link a current directory to the new directory.
    • Delete the existing installation before replacing with the new distribution.
    caution

    If deleting the existing installation, ensure you delete only the installation files not the data directory or node keys.

  4. Start Besu.

important

We recommend storing your .toml configuration file under version control.

Besu plugins​

The additional steps required to start using specific plugins depends on the feature.

Encrypted storage​

The encrypted storage plugin must be enabled when the node is started for the first time and the blockchain database is created. That is, you must resynchronize your node to start using encrypted storage.

To start using encrypted storage:

  1. Upgrade your node but don't start Besu.
  2. Configure encrypted storage.
  3. Resynchronize your node.

Hardware security module (HSM)​

To ensure the security of your node key, we recommend starting a new node rather than adding the existing node key to the HSM.

  1. Start a new Besu node with Luna HSM configured.
  2. Synchronize the Besu node to the network.
  3. If required, vote the new node in as a validator.

Validator monitoring​

  1. Upgrade your node but don't start Besu.
  2. Configure validator monitoring.
  3. Start Besu.

Event streaming​

  1. Upgrade your node but don't start Besu.
  2. Configure event streaming.
  3. Start Besu.