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How to deploy a Data Availability Server (DAS)

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AnyTrust chains rely on an external Data Availability Committee (DAC) to store data and provide it on-demand instead of using its parent chain as the Data Availability (DA) layer. The members of the DAC run a Data Availability Server (DAS) to handle these operations.

In this how-to, you'll learn how to deploy a DAS that exposes:

  1. An RPC interface that the sequencer uses to store batches of data on the DAS.
  2. An HTTP REST interface that lets the DAS respond to requests for those batches of data.

For more information related to configuring a DAC, refer to the Introduction.

This how-to assumes that you're familiar with:

  • The DAC's role in the AnyTrust protocol. Refer to Inside AnyTrust for a refresher.
  • Kubernetes. The examples in this guide use Kubernetes to containerize your DAS.

How does a DAS work?​

A Data Availability Server (DAS) allows storage and retrieval of transaction data batches for an AnyTrust chain. It's the software that the members of the DAC run in order to provide the Data Availability service.

DA servers accept time-limited requests to store data batches from the sequencer of an AnyTrust chain, and return a signed certificate promising to store that data during the established time. They also respond to requests to retrieve the data batches.

Configuration options​

When setting up a DAS, there are certain options you can configure to suit your infrastructure needs:

Interfaces available in a DAS​

There are two main interfaces that can be enabled in a DAS: an RPC interface to store data in the DAS, intended to be used only by the AnyTrust sequencer; and a REST interface that supports only GET operations and is intended for public use.

DA servers listen on two primary interfaces:

  1. Its RPC interface listens for das_store RPC messages coming from the sequencer. Messages are signed by the sequencer, and the DAS checks this signature upon receipt.
  2. Its REST interface respond to HTTP GET requests pointed at /get-by-hash/<hex encoded data hash>. This uses the hash of the data batch as a unique identifier, and will always return the same data for a given hash.

IPFS is an alternative interface that serves requests for batch retrieval. A DAS can be configured to sync and pin batches to its local IPFS repository, then act as a node in the IPFS peer-to-peer network. The advantage of using IPFS is that the Nitro node will use the batch hashes to find the batch data on the IPFS peer-to-peer network. Depending on the network configuration, that Nitro node may then also act as an IPFS node serving the batch data.

Storage options​

A DAS can be configured to use one or more of four storage backends:

If more than one option is selected, store requests must succeed to all of them for it to be considered successful, while retrieve requests only require one of them to succeed.

If there are other storage backends you'd like us to support, send us a message on Discord, or contribute directly to the Nitro repository.

Caching​

An in-memory cache can be enabled to avoid needing to access underlying storage for retrieve requests.

Requests sent to the REST interface (to retrieve data from the DAS) always return the same data for a given hash, so the result is cacheable. It also contains a cache-control header specifying that the object is immutable and to cache it for up to 28 days.

State synchronization​

DA servers also have an optional REST aggregator which, when a data batch is not found in cache or storage, requests that batch to other REST servers defined in a list and stores that batch upon receiving it. This is how a DAS that misses storing a batch (the AnyTrust protocol doesn't require all of them to report success in order to post the batch's certificate to the parent chain) can automatically repair gaps in the data it stores, and also how a mirror DAS can sync its data. A public list of REST endpoints is published online, which the DAS can be configured to download and use, and additional endpoints can be specified in the configuration.

How to deploy the DAS​

Step 0: Prerequisites​

Gather the following information:

Step 1: Generate the BLS keypair​

Next, we'll generate a BLS keypair. The private key will be used to sign the Data Availability Certificates (DACert) when receiving requests to store data, and the public key will be used to prove that the DACert was signed by the DAS. The BLS private key is sensitive and care must be taken to ensure it is generated and stored in a safe environment.

The BLS keypair must be generated using the datool keygen utility. Later, it will be passed to the DAS by file or command line.

When running the key generator, we'll specify the --dir parameter with the absolute path to the directory inside the volume to store the keys in.

Here's an example of how to use the datool keygen utility inside Docker and store the key that will be used by the DAS in the next step.

docker run -v $(pwd)/bls_keys:/data/keys --entrypoint datool \
offchainlabs/nitro-node:v2.3.4-b4cc111 keygen --dir /data/keys

Step 2: Deploy the DAS​

To run the DAS, we'll use the daserver tool and we'll configure the following parameters:

ParameterDescription
--data-availability.parent-chain-node-urlRPC endpoint of a parent chain node
--data-availability.sequencer-inbox-addressAddress of the SequencerInbox in the parent chain
--data-availability.key.key-dirThe absolute path to the directory inside the volume to read the BLS keypair ('das_bls.pub' and 'das_bls') from
--enable-rpcEnables the HTTP-RPC server listening on --rpc-addr and --rpc-port
--rpc-addrHTTP-RPC server listening interface (default "localhost")
--rpc-port(Optional) HTTP-RPC server listening port (default 9876)
--enable-restEnables the REST server listening on --rest-addr and --rest-port
--rest-addrREST server listening interface (default "localhost")
--rest-port(Optional) REST server listening port (default 9877)
--log-levelLog level: 1 - ERROR, 2 - WARN, 3 - INFO, 4 - DEBUG, 5 - TRACE (default 3)

To enable caching, you can use the following parameters:

ParameterDescription
--data-availability.local-cache.enableEnables local in-memory caching of sequencer batch data
--data-availability.local-cache.capacityMaximum number of entries (up to 64KB each) to store in the cache. (default 20000)

To enable the REST aggregator, use the following parameters:

ParameterDescription
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.enableEnables retrieval of sequencer batch data from a list of remote REST endpoints
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.online-url-listA URL to a list of URLs of REST DAS endpoints that is checked at startup. This option is additive with the urls option
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.urlsList of URLs including 'http://' or 'https://' prefixes and port numbers to REST DAS endpoints. This option is additive with the online-url-list option
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage.check-already-existsWhen using a REST aggregator, checks if the data already exists in this DAS's storage. Must be disabled for fast sync with an IPFS backend (default true)
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage.eagerWhen using a REST aggregator, eagerly syncs batch data to this DAS's storage from the REST endpoints, using the parent chain as the index of batch data hashes; otherwise only syncs lazily
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage.eager-lower-bound-blockWhen using a REST aggregator that's eagerly syncing, starts indexing forward from this block from the parent chain. Only used if there is no sync state.
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage.retention-periodWhen using a REST aggregator, period to retain the synced data (defaults to forever)
--data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage.state-dirWhen using a REST aggregator, directory to store the sync state in, i.e. the block number currently synced up to, so that it doesn't sync from scratch each time

Finally, for the storage backends you wish to configure, use the following parameters. Toggle between the different options to see all available parameters.

ParameterDescription
--data-availability.s3-storage.enableEnables storage/retrieval of sequencer batch data from an AWS S3 bucket
--data-availability.s3-storage.access-keyS3 access key
--data-availability.s3-storage.bucketS3 bucket
--data-availability.s3-storage.regionS3 region
--data-availability.s3-storage.secret-keyS3 secret key
--data-availability.s3-storage.object-prefixPrefix to add to S3 objects
--data-availability.s3-storage.discard-after-timeoutWhether to discard data after its expiry timeout (setting it to false, activates the “archive” mode)

Here's an example daserver command for a DAS that:

  • Enables both interfaces: RPC and REST
  • Enables local cache
  • Enables a REST aggregator
  • Enables AWS S3 bucket storage
  • Enables local Badger database storage
daserver
    --data-availability.parent-chain-node-url "<YOUR PARENT CHAIN RPC ENDPOINT>"
    --data-availability.sequencer-inbox-address "<ADDRESS OF SEQUENCERINBOX ON PARENT CHAIN>"
    --data-availability.key.key-dir /home/user/data/keys
    --enable-rpc
    --rpc-addr '0.0.0.0'
    --log-level 3
    --enable-rest
    --rest-addr '0.0.0.0'
    --data-availability.local-cache.enable
    --data-availability.rest-aggregator.enable
    --data-availability.rest-aggregator.online-url-list "<URL TO LIST OF REST ENDPOINTS>"
    --data-availability.s3-storage.enable
    --data-availability.s3-storage.access-key "<YOUR ACCESS KEY>"
    --data-availability.s3-storage.bucket "<YOUR BUCKET>"
    --data-availability.s3-storage.region "<YOUR REGION>"
    --data-availability.s3-storage.secret-key "<YOUR SECRET KEY>"
    --data-availability.s3-storage.object-prefix "<YOUR OBJECT KEY PREFIX>/"
    --data-availability.local-db-storage.enable
    --data-availability.local-db-storage.data-dir /home/user/data/badgerdb

And here's an example of how to use a k8s deployment to run that command:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: das-server
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
    matchLabels:
    app: das-server
strategy:
    rollingUpdate:
    maxSurge: 0
    maxUnavailable: 50%
    type: RollingUpdate
template:
    metadata:
    labels:
        app: das-server
    spec:
    containers:
    - command:
        - bash
        - -c
        - |
        mkdir -p /home/user/data/badgerdb
        /usr/local/bin/daserver --data-availability.parent-chain-node-url "<YOUR PARENT CHAIN RPC ENDPOINT>" --data-availability.sequencer-inbox-address "<ADDRESS OF SEQUENCERINBOX ON PARENT CHAIN>" --data-availability.key.key-dir /home/user/data/keys --enable-rpc --rpc-addr '0.0.0.0' --log-level 3 --enable-rest --rest-addr '0.0.0.0' --data-availability.local-cache.enable --data-availability.rest-aggregator.enable --data-availability.rest-aggregator.online-url-list "<URL TO LIST OF REST ENDPOINTS>" --data-availability.s3-storage.enable --data-availability.s3-storage.access-key "<YOUR ACCESS KEY>" --data-availability.s3-storage.bucket "<YOUR BUCKET>" --data-availability.s3-storage.region "<YOUR REGION>" --data-availability.s3-storage.secret-key "<YOUR SECRET KEY>" --data-availability.s3-storage.object-prefix "<YOUR OBJECT KEY PREFIX>/" --data-availability.s3-storage.discard-after-timeout false --data-availability.local-db-storage.enable --data-availability.local-db-storage.data-dir /home/user/data/badgerdb --data-availability.local-db-storage.discard-after-timeout false
        image: offchainlabs/nitro-node:v2.3.4-b4cc111
        imagePullPolicy: Always
        resources:
        limits:
            cpu: "4"
            memory: 10Gi
        requests:
            cpu: "4"
            memory: 10Gi
        ports:
        - containerPort: 9876
        hostPort: 9876
        protocol: TCP
        - containerPort: 9877
        hostPort: 9877
        protocol: TCP
        volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /home/user/data/
        name: data
        readinessProbe:
        failureThreshold: 3
        httpGet:
            path: /health/
            port: 9877
            scheme: HTTP
        initialDelaySeconds: 5
        periodSeconds: 5
        successThreshold: 1
        timeoutSeconds: 1
    volumes:
    - name: data
        persistentVolumeClaim:
        claimName: das-server

Archive DA servers​

Archive DA servers are servers that don't discard any data after expiring. Each DAC should have at the very least one archive DAS to ensure all historical data is available.

To activate the "archive mode" in your DAS, set the parameter discard-after-timeout to false in your storage method. For example:

--data-availability.s3-storage.discard-after-timeout=false
--data-availability.local-db-storage.discard-after-timeout=false

Note that local-file-storage and ipfs-storage don't discard data after expiring, so the option discard-after-timeout is not available.

Archive servers should make use of the --data-availability.rest-aggregator.sync-to-storage options described above to pull in any data that they don't have.

Helm charts​

A helm chart is available at ArtifactHUB. It supports running a DAS by providing the BLS key and the parameters for your server. Find more information in the OCL community Helm charts repository.

Testing the DAS​

Once the DAS is running, we can test if everything is working correctly using the following methods.

Test 1: RPC health check​

The RPC interface enabled in the DAS has a health check for the underlying storage that can be invoked by using the RPC method  das_healthCheck that returns 200 if the DAS is active.

Example:

curl -X POST \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":0,"method":"das_healthCheck","params":[]}' \
     <YOUR RPC ENDPOINT>

Test 2: Store and retrieve data​

The RPC interface of the DAS validates that requests to store data are signed by the sequencer's ECDSA key, identified via a call to the SequencerInbox contract on the parent chain. It can also be configured to accept store requests signed with another ECDSA key of your choosing. This could be useful for running load tests, canaries, or troubleshooting your own infrastructure.

Using this facility, a load test could be constructed by writing a script to store arbitrary amounts of data at an arbitrary rate; a canary could be constructed to store and retrieve data on some interval. We show here a short guide on how to do that.

Step 1: Generate an ECDSA keypair​

First we'll generate an ECDSA keypair with datool keygen. Create a folder inside /some/local/dir to store the ECDSA keypair, for example /some/local/dir/keys. Then run datool keygen:

datool keygen --dir /some/local/dir/keys --ecdsa

You can also use the docker run command as follows:

docker run --rm -it -v /some/local/dir:/home/user/data --entrypoint datool offchainlabs/nitro-node:v2.3.4-b4cc111 keygen --dir /home/user/data/keys --ecdsa

Step 2: Change the DAS configuration and restart the server​

Add the following configuration parameter to daserver:

--data-availability.extra-signature-checking-public-key /some/local/dir/keys/ecdsa.pub

OR

--data-availability.extra-signature-checking-public-key "0x<contents of ecdsa.pub>"

And then restart it.

Step 3: Store data signed with the ECDSA private key​

Now you can use the datool utility to send store requests signed with the ECDSA private key:

datool client rpc store  --url http://localhost:9876 --message "Hello world" --signing-key /some/local/dir/keys/ecdsa

OR

datool client rpc store  --url http://localhost:9876 --message "Hello world" --signing-key "0x<contents of ecdsa>"

You can also use the docker run command:

docker run --rm -it -v /some/local/dir:/home/user/data --network="host" --entrypoint datool offchainlabs/nitro-node:v2.3.4-b4cc111 client rpc store --url http://localhost:9876 --message "Hello world" --signing-key /home/user/data/keys/ecdsa

The above command will output the Hex Encoded Data Hash which can then be used to retrieve the data in the next step.

Step 4: Retrieve the stored data​

Use again the datool to retrieve the stored data. Notice that to perform this step you must have the REST interface enabled in the DAS:

datool client rest getbyhash --url http://localhost:9877 --data-hash 0xDataHash

You can also use the docker run command:

docker run --rm -it --network="host" --entrypoint datool offchainlabs/nitro-node:v2.3.4-b4cc111 client rest getbyhash --url http://localhost:9877 --data-hash 0xDataHash

If we set 0xDataHash to 0x052cca0e379137c975c966bcc69ac8237ac38dc1fcf21ac9a6524c87a2aab423 (from the previous step), then the result should be: Message: Hello world

The retention period defaults to 24 hours, but can be configured when calling datool client rpc store with the parameter --das-retention-period and the number of milliseconds for the retention period.

Test 3: REST health check​

The REST interface has a health check on the path /health which will return 200 if the underlying storage is working, otherwise 503.

Example:

curl -I <YOUR REST ENDPOINT>/health

Running a mirror DAS​

To avoid exposing the REST interface of your main DAS to the public in order to prevent spamming attacks (as explained in Security considerations), you can choose to run a mirror DAS to complement your setup. The mirror DAS will handle all public REST requests, while reading information from the main DAS via its (now private) REST interface.

In general, mirror DA servers serve two main purposes:

  1. Prevent the main DAS from having to serve requests for data, allowing it to focus only on storing the data received.
  2. Provide resiliency to the network in the case of a DAS going down.

Find information about how to setup a mirror DAS in How to deploy a mirror DAS.

Security considerations​

Keep in mind the following information when running the DAS.

A DAS should strive not to miss any batch of information sent by the sequencer. Although it can use a REST aggregator to fetch missing information from other DA servers, it should aim to synchronize all received information directly. To facilitate this, avoid placing any load balancing layer before the DAS, enabling it to handle all incoming traffic.

Taking that into account, there's a risk of Denial of Service attacks on those servers if the endpoint for the RPC interface is publicly known. To mitigate this risk, ensure the RPC endpoint's URL is not easily discoverable. It should be known only to the sequencer. Share this information with the chain owner through a private channel to maintain security.

Finally, as explained in the previous section, if you're also running a mirror DAS, there's no need to publicly expose the REST interface of your main DAS. Your mirrors can synchronize over your private network using the REST interface from your main DAS and other public mirrors.

Other considerations​

  • When using nginx in the networking stack, a DAS might fail receiving batches that are over a certain size. If this happens, the DAS won't be able to sign any more certificates and the batch poster will receive an error 413 Request Entity Too Large. To prevent this behavior, the parameter client_max_body_size from nginx configuration should be configured with a higher value than the default 1M. It's recommended to set it to at least 50M.

What to do next?​

Once the DAS is deployed and tested, you'll have to communicate the following information to the chain owner, so they can update the chain parameters and configure the sequencer:

  • Public key
  • The https URL for the RPC endpoint which includes some random string (e.g. das.your-chain.io/rpc/randomstring123), communicated through a secure channel
  • The https URL for the REST endpoint (e.g. das.your-chain.io/rest)

Optional parameters​

Besides the parameters described in this guide, there are some more options that can be useful when running the DAS. For a comprehensive list of configuration parameters, you can run daserver --help.

ParameterDescription
--conf.dumpPrints out the current configuration
--conf.fileAbsolute path to the configuration file inside the volume to use instead of specifying all parameters in the command

Metrics​

The DAS comes with the option of producing Prometheus metrics. This option can be activated by using the following parameters:

ParameterDescription
--metricsEnables the metrics server
--metrics-server.addrMetrics server address (default "127.0.0.1")
--metrics-server.portMetrics server port (default 6070)
--metrics-server.update-intervalMetrics server update interval (default 3s)

When metrics are enabled, several useful metrics are available at the configured port, at path debug/metrics or debug/metrics/prometheus.

RPC metrics​

MetricDescription
arb_das_rpc_store_requestsCount of RPC Store calls
arb_das_rpc_store_successSuccessful RPC Store calls
arb_das_rpc_store_failureFailed RPC Store calls
arb_das_rpc_store_bytesBytes retrieved with RPC Store calls
arb_das_rpc_store_duration (p50, p75, p95, p99, p999, p9999)Duration of RPC Store calls (ns)

REST metrics​

MetricDescription
arb_das_rest_getbyhash_requestsCount of REST GetByHash calls
arb_das_rest_getbyhash_successSuccessful REST GetByHash calls
arb_das_rest_getbyhash_failureFailed REST GetByHash calls
arb_das_rest_getbyhash_bytesBytes retrieved with REST GetByHash calls
arb_das_rest_getbyhash_duration (p50, p75, p95, p99, p999, p9999)Duration of REST GetByHash calls (ns)