Node Configuration Examples

This guide provides detailed steps to configure a nwaku node for different use cases.

Connect to other peers

To join the Waku Network, nodes must bootstrap for an entry point before discovering more peers. Nwaku provides multiple peer discovery mechanisms:

• Configure Static Peers
• Configure DNS Discovery
• Configure Discv5
• Configure Peer Exchange

Configure a domain name

You can set up an IPv4 DNS domain name that resolves to the public IPv4 address of a node using the dns4-domain-name option. This allows the node's publicly announced multiaddrs to use the /dns4 scheme.

./build/wakunode2 --dns4-domain-name=[DOMAIN NAME]

For example, consider the domain name nwakunode.com, which resolves to a nwaku node:

./build/wakunode2 --dns4-domain-name=nwakunode.com

Browser nodes can only connect to nodes with a domain name and secure WebSocket (wss) configured. These nodes will generate a discoverable ENR with /wss as the multiaddr and /dns4 as the domain name. This configuration is essential for verifying domain certificates when establishing a secure connection.

info

This example describes configuring a domain name that resolves to your node's IP address and is unrelated to DNS Discovery.

tip

You can use the domain name provided by your cloud provider to configure the domain name for your node.

Configure store protocol and message store

To enable message caching and serve them to network peers, enable the Store protocol using the following configuration options:

• store: Enables storing messages to serve them to peers (disabled by default).
• store-message-retention-policy: Retention policy of the store node (how long messages will be stored). Three different retention policies are supported:
  • Time retention policy: time:<duration-in-seconds> (e.g., time:14400)
  • Capacity retention policy: capacity:<messages-count> (e.g, capacity:25000)
  • Size retention policy: size:<storage-in-MB/GB> (e.g, size:512MB or size:10GB)
  • Set this option to none to disable the retention policy. If you omit this option, it will default to time:172800 (48 hours).
• store-message-db-url: Database connection URL for storing messages in the SQLAlchemy database URL format. Setting this option to an empty string will instruct the node to use the fallback in-memory message store. If you omit this option, it will default to sqlite://store.sqlite3.

./build/wakunode2 \
  --store=true \
  --store-message-retention-policy=[MESSAGE RETENTION POLICY] \
  --store-message-db-url=[DATABASE CONNECTION URL]

For example, consider a nwaku node that is configured to be a Store protocol and retain messages received in the last 21600 seconds (6 hours):

./build/wakunode2 \
  --store=true \
  --store-message-retention-policy=time:21600 \
  --store-message-db-url=sqlite://store.sqlite3

You can configure nwaku as a Store client using the storenode option. This allows the node to query peers for historical messages but not store any message itself.

./build/wakunode2 --storenode=[STORE PEER MULTIADDR]

For example, consider a nwaku node that does not store messages but can query peers for historical messages:

./build/wakunode2 --storenode=/dns4/node-01.ac-cn-hongkong-c.waku.sandbox.status.im/tcp/30303/p2p/16Uiu2HAmSJvSJphxRdbnigUV5bjRRZFBhTtWFTSyiKaQByCjwmpV

Generate and configure a node key

Nodes generate new random key pairs at each boot, leading to different multiaddrs. To maintain consistency, you can use a pre-generated private key with the nodekey option:

./build/wakunode2 --nodekey=[NODE PRIVATE KEY]

This option takes a Secp256k1 private key (64-char hex string). On Linux, you can use the OpenSSL rand command for a pseudo-random 32-byte hex string:

openssl rand -hex 32

# 286cae9f2990bfc49dafdd3a9e737f56ddba3656e5e427108cef456fb67680e8

On Linux, you can create a reusable key file using OpenSSL. To get the 32-byte private key in hex format, use the ecparam command and some standard utilities:

# Generate key file
openssl ecparam -genkey -name secp256k1 -out my_private_key.pem

# Extract 32-byte private key
openssl ec -in my_private_key.pem -outform DER | tail -c +8 | head -c 32| xxd -p -c 32

# read EC key
# writing EC key
# 286cae9f2990bfc49dafdd3a9e737f56ddba3656e5e427108cef456fb67680e8

You can use the output 286cae9f2990bfc49dafdd3a9e737f56ddba3656e5e427108cef456fb67680e8 as a Node Key for nwaku:

./build/wakunode2 --nodekey=286cae9f2990bfc49dafdd3a9e737f56ddba3656e5e427108cef456fb67680e8

Configure WebSocket transport

WebSocket is the only transport method browser nodes support using @waku/sdk. To enable WebSocket in nwaku to serve browser peers, use the following configuration options:

• websocket-support: Enables WebSocket (ws) on the node (disabled by default).
• websocket-port (optional): WebSocket listening port. If you omit this option, it will default to 8000.
• websocket-secure-support: Enables Secure WebSocket (wss) on the node (disabled by default).
• websocket-secure-key-path: Secure WebSocket key path.
• websocket-secure-cert-path: Secure WebSocket Certificate path.

./build/wakunode2 \
  --websocket-support=true \
  --websocket-port=[WEBSOCKET LISTENING PORT] \
  --websocket-secure-support=true \
  --websocket-secure-key-path=[SECURE WEBSOCKET KEY PATH] \
  --websocket-secure-cert-path=[SECURE WEBSOCKET CERTIFICATE PATH]

For example, consider a nwaku node that enabled WebSocket (unencrypted) for local testing on port 8001:

./build/wakunode2 \
  --websocket-support=true \
  --websocket-port=8001

Consider a nwaku node that enabled Secure WebSocket (encrypted) using its key and certificate (privkey.pem and fullchain.pem) on port 8002:

./build/wakunode2 \
  --websocket-secure-support=true \
  --websocket-secure-key-path=privkey.pem \
  --websocket-secure-cert-path=fullchain.pem \
  --websocket-port=8002

tip

You can use Let's Encrypt or Certbot to generate a valid certificate for your nwaku node:

sudo certbot certonly -d <your.domain.name>

Configure REST API server

Nwaku provides a REST API to interact with the node and Waku Network. To enable the REST API, use the following configuration options:

• rest: Enables the REST API server on the node (disabled by default).
• rest-address (optional): Listening address of the REST API server. If you omit this option, it will default to 127.0.0.1.
• rest-port (optional): Listening port of the REST API server. If you omit this option, it will default to 8645.
• rest-relay-cache-capacity (optional): Capacity of the Relay REST API message cache. If you omit this option, it will default to 30.
• rest-admin (optional): Enables access to REST admin API (disabled by default).
• rest-private (optional): Enables access to REST private API (disabled by default).

./build/wakunode2 \
  --rest=true \
  --rest-address=[REST SERVER LISTENING ADDRESS] \
  --rest-port=[REST SERVER LISTENING PORT] \
  --rest-relay-cache-capacity=[MESSAGE CACHE CAPACITY] \
  --rest-admin=[true|false] \
  --rest-private=[true|false]

For example, consider a nwaku node that enabled the REST API server on port 9000:

./build/wakunode2 \
  --rest=true \
  --rest-port=9000 \
  --rest-address=127.0.0.1

Consider a nwaku node that enabled the REST admin and private API with a message cache capacity of 100:

./build/wakunode2 \
  --rest=true \
  --rest-admin=true \
  --rest-private=true \
  --rest-relay-cache-capacity=100

Configure filter protocol

To enable nwaku to serve light clients, enable the Filter protocol using filter option:

./build/wakunode2 --filter=true

You can configure nwaku as a Filter client using the filternode and filter-timeout options. This allows the node to request content filtering of messages from peers.

./build/wakunode2 \
  --filternode=[FILTER PEER MULTIADDR] \
  --filter-timeout=[FILTER PEER TIMEOUT]

For example, consider a nwaku node that requests content filtering of messages from peers with a timeout of 21600 seconds (6 hours):

./build/wakunode2 \
  --filternode=/dns4/node-01.ac-cn-hongkong-c.waku.sandbox.status.im/tcp/30303/p2p/16Uiu2HAmSJvSJphxRdbnigUV5bjRRZFBhTtWFTSyiKaQByCjwmpV \
  --filter-timeout=21600

info

If you omit the filter-timeout option, it will default to 14400 seconds (4 hours).

Configure light push protocol

To enable nwaku to serve light clients, enable the Light Push protocol using the lightpush option:

./build/wakunode2 --lightpush=true

You can configure nwaku as a Light Push client using the lightpushnode option. This allows the node to request lightpush of published messages from peers.

./build/wakunode2 --lightpushnode=[LIGHT PUSH PEER MULTIADDR]

For example, consider a nwaku node that requests lightpush of published messages from peers:

./build/wakunode2 --lightpushnode=/dns4/node-01.ac-cn-hongkong-c.waku.sandbox.status.im/tcp/30303/p2p/16Uiu2HAmSJvSJphxRdbnigUV5bjRRZFBhTtWFTSyiKaQByCjwmpV

Run nwaku behind a reverse proxy

When using a reverse proxy server for SSL/TLS encryption, you only want to announce the proxy server's IP or domain. Nwaku provides the ext-multiaddr-only and ext-multiaddr options for specifying published multiaddr:

./build/wakunode2 \
  --ext-multiaddr-only=true \
  --ext-multiaddr=[MULTIADDR TO PUBLISH]

info

The ext-multiaddr-only option takes precedence over the nat and dns4-domain-name options, using the values provided by the ext-multiaddr option instead.