Deploy on Paseo TestNet¶

Introduction¶

Previously, you learned how to build and run a blockchain locally. Now, you'll take the next step towards a production-like environment by deploying your parachain to a public test network.

This tutorial guides you through deploying a parachain on the Paseo network, a public TestNet that provides a more realistic blockchain ecosystem. While public testnets have a higher barrier to entry compared to private networks, they are crucial for validating your parachain's functionality and preparing it for eventual mainnet deployment.

Get Started with an Account and Tokens¶

To perform any action on Paseo, you need PAS tokens, which can be requested from the Polkadot Faucet. To store the tokens, you must have access to a Substrate-compatible wallet. Go to the Wallets and Extensions page on the Polkadot Wiki to view different options for a wallet, or use the Polkadot.js browser extension, which is suitable for development purposes.

Warning

Development keys and accounts should never hold assets of actual value and should not be used for production.

The Polkadot.js Apps interface can be used to get you started for testing purposes.

To prepare an account, follow these steps:

Open the Polkadot.js Apps interface and connect to the Paseo network. Alternatively use this link to connect directly to Paseo: Polkadot.js Apps: Paseo
Navigate to the Accounts section
1. Click on the Accounts tab in the top menu
2. Select the Accounts option from the dropdown menu
Copy the address of the account you want to use for the parachain deployment
Visit the Polkadot Faucet and paste the copied address in the input field. Ensure that the network is set to Paseo and click on the Get some PASs button

After a few seconds, you will receive 100 PAS tokens in your account.

Reserve a Parachain Identifier¶

You must reserve a parachain identifier (ID) before registering your parachain on Paseo. You'll be assigned the next available identifier.

To reserve a parachain identifier, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Parachains section
1. Click on the Network tab in the top menu
2. Select the Parachains option from the dropdown menu
Register a ParaId
1. Select the Parathreads tab
2. Click on the + ParaId button
Review the transaction and click on the + Submit button

For this case, the next available parachain identifier is 4508.
After submitting the transaction, you can navigate to the Explorer tab and check the list of recent events for successful registrar.Reserved

Generate the Chain Specification¶

The files required to register a parachain must specify the correct relay chain to connect to and the parachain identifier you have been assigned. To make these changes, you must build and modify the chain specification file for your parachain. In this tutorial, the relay chain is paseo, and the parachain identifier is 4508.

To modify the chain specification:

Generate the plain chain specification for the parachain template node by running the following command. You should find your runtime's Wasm file inside target/release/wbuild:
```
chain-spec-builder create --relay-chain paseo \
--para-id 4508 \
-r <runtime.compact.compressed.wasm> \
default
```
Info

Make sure to use the *.compact.compressed.wasm version of your file when generating your chain specification.
Open the plain text chain specification for the parachain template node in a text editor

Set the parachainId to the parachain identifier that you previously reserved:

{
    "...": "...",
"genesis": {
    "runtime": {
        "...": {},
        "parachainInfo": {
            "parachainId": 4508
        },
        },
        "...": {}
    }
}

Add the public key for your account to the session keys section. Each configured session key will require a running collator:

{
    "...": "...",
"genesis": {
    "runtime": {
        "...": {},
            "session": {
                "keys": [
                    [
                        "5HErbKmL5JmUKDVsH1aGyXTGZb4i9iaNsFhSgkNDr8qp2Dvj",
                        "5HErbKmL5JmUKDVsH1aGyXTGZb4i9iaNsFhSgkNDr8qp2Dvj",
                        {
                            "aura": "5HErbKmL5JmUKDVsH1aGyXTGZb4i9iaNsFhSgkNDr8qp2Dvj"
                        }
                    ]
                ]
            }
        },
        "...": {}
    }
}

Save your changes and close the plain text chain specification file
Convert the modified plain chain specification file to a raw chain specification file:
```
chain-spec-builder convert-to-raw plain-parachain-chainspec.json
```
You should now see your chain specification containing SCALE-encoded hex values versus plain text.

Export Required Files¶

To prepare the parachain collator to be registered on Paseo, follow these steps:

Export the Wasm runtime for the parachain by running a command similar to the following:

polkadot-omni-node export-genesis-wasm \
--chain raw-parachain-chainspec.json para-wasm

Export the genesis state for the parachain by running a command similar to the following:

polkadot-omni-node export-genesis-state \
--chain raw-parachain-chainspec.json para-state

Register a Parathread¶

Once you have the genesis state and runtime, you can now register these with your parachain ID.

Go to the Parachains > Parathreads tab, and select + Parathread
You should see fields to place your runtime Wasm and genesis state respectively, along with the parachain ID. Select your parachain ID, and upload para-wasm in the "code" field and para-state in the "initial state" field:

Confirm your details and + Submit button, where there should be a new Parathread with your parachain ID and an active Deregister button:

Your parachain's runtime logic and genesis are now part of the relay chain. The next step is to ensure you are able to run a collator to produce blocks for your parachain.

Start the Collator Node¶

Before starting a collator, generate a node key. A node key is responsible for communicating with other nodes over Libp2p:

polkadot-omni-node key generate-node-key \
--base-path /tmp/parachain/pubs-demo \
--chain raw-parachain-chainspec.json

After running the command, you should see the following output, indicating the base path now has a suitable node key:

polkadot-omni-node key generate-node-key --base-path /tmp/parachain/pubs-demo --chain raw-parachain-chainspec.json
2024-09-11 09:48:15 Building chain spec Generating key in "/tmp/parachain/pubs-demo/chains/live/network/secret_ed25519" 12D3KooWJH816dWizsft7MXVrv1nH3dHnGsHxD1qdyQm9mMAbo7Z

You must have the ports for the collator publicly accessible and discoverable to enable parachain nodes to peer with Paseo validator nodes to produce blocks. You can specify the ports with the --port command-line option. For example, you can start the collator with a command similar to the following:

polkadot-omni-node --collator \
--chain raw-parachain-chainspec.json \
--base-path /tmp/parachain/pubs-demo \
--port 50333 \
--rpc-port 8855 \
-- \
--chain paseo \
--port 50343 \
--rpc-port 9988

In this example, the first --port setting specifies the port for the collator node and the second --port specifies the embedded relay chain node port. The first --rpc-port setting specifies the port you can connect to the collator. The second --rpc-port specifies the port for connecting to the embedded relay chain.

Producing Blocks¶

With your parachain collator operational, the next step is acquiring coretime. This is essential for ensuring your parachain's security through the relay chain. Agile Coretime enhances Polkadot's resource management, offering developers greater economic adaptability. Once you have configured your parachain, you can follow two paths:

Bulk coretime is purchased via the Broker pallet on the respective coretime system parachain. You can purchase bulk coretime on the coretime chain and assign the purchased core to the registered ParaID
On-demand coretime is ordered via the OnDemandAssignment pallet, which is located on the respective relay chain

Once coretime is correctly assigned to your parachain, whether bulk or on-demand, blocks should be produced (provided your collator is running).

For more information on coretime, refer to the Coretime documentation.

Where to Go Next¶

Tutorial Obtain Coretime

Get coretime for block production now! Follow this guide to explore on-demand and bulk options for seamless and efficient operations.

Get Started

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Last update: December 17, 2024
| Created: November 21, 2024