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How to Set Up Your Own Hedera Local Network Using Docker
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Jun 14, 2022
by Abi Castro

A great way to learn to test and build on the Hedera network is setting up your own Hedera local nodes. The local network consists of one local mirror node and one local consensus node and can be started using Docker or using the CLI tool. You can find the official GitHub repository for Hedera Local Node here.

This article is focused on how to set up your own local network using Docker and how to test that it is operating correctly.

What Can I Accomplish With My Own Local Network?

  • Create and submit transactions to your consensus node
  • Query transactions on your consensus node
  • Interact with your local mirror node through Rest API's 
  • Test and debug your application while using tools like hardhat

Why Should I Set Up My Own Local Network?

Application testing and debugging should be done on your own local network. A benefit of having your own local network is ensuring your work isn't being interrupted by others throttling the network while conducting their own testing/debugging. It is also a great way to start to learn how to build on the Hedera network.

You may be wondering, when should I use the public networks like testnet and previewnet? You should use testnet when your application is almost ready for production and are thinking of transitioning to mainnet soon. Testnet nodes run the same codebase as the Hedera mainnet nodes.

How to Set Up My Local Network

Requirements:

  • Node.js >= v16.x
  • Npm >= v8.5
  • Docker >= v20.10.x
  • Docker Compose >= v1.29.2

See hardware requirements here.

Note: If you are using a mac with a Silicon Chip and need to install Docker please go here.

Once docker is installed go to Settings > General and ensure that use gRPC FUSE for file sharing is not checked.

Ensure g RPC fuse is not checked
Code Snippet Background 
git clone https:://github.com/hashgraph/hedera-local-node.git

CD into the hedera-local-node directory.

Code Snippet Background 
cd hedera-local-node

Start the network using docker compose which will configure and start up multiple docker containers.

Code Snippet Background 
docker-compose up -d

Great! Once you've got the containers running you will see the following output.

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[+] Running 11/11
[+] Running 13/14storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/14storage                Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 13/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 13/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 13/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 13/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 12/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 14/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 14/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 14/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 14/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 14/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
[+] Running 15/15-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network cloud-storage                Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network mirror-node                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Network network-node-bridge          Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Volume "mirror-node-postgres"        Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Volume "minio-data"                  Created                                                     0.0s
 ⠿ Container mirror-node-db             Started                                                     1.0s
 ⠿ Container minio                      Started                                                     1.0s
 ⠿ Container haveged                    Started                                                     0.7s
 ⠿ Container account-balances-uploader  Started                                                     1.6s
 ⠿ Container record-streams-uploader    Started                                                     1.4s
 ⠿ Container mirror-node-importer       Started                                                     1.6s
 ⠿ Container network-node               Started                                                     2.1s
 ⠿ Container mirror-node-web3           Started                                                     2.2s
 ⠿ Container mirror-node-rest           Started                                                     2.2s
 ⠿ Container mirror-node-grpc           Started                                                     2.5s

You can list which containers are currently running by typing the following command.

Code Snippet Background 
docker container ls
Code Snippet Background 
// Output
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                COMMAND                  CREATED              STATUS                        PORTS                                             NAMES
876da819ad8a   gcr.io/mirrornode/hedera-mirror-grpc:0.57.2          "java org.springfram…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute (healthy)   0.0.0.0:5600->5600/tcp                            mirror-node-grpc
50cdd0b4f830   gcr.io/hedera-registry/main-network-node:0.26.2      "/opt/hgcapp/service…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute             50111/tcp, 0.0.0.0:50211-50212->50211-50212/tcp   network-node
0be902a7ba69   gcr.io/mirrornode/hedera-mirror-rest:0.57.2          "node server.js"         About a minute ago   Up About a minute (healthy)   0.0.0.0:5551->5551/tcp                            mirror-node-rest
2e2f501712d1   gcr.io/mirrornode/hedera-mirror-web3:0.57.2          "java org.springfram…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute (healthy)   0.0.0.0:8545->8545/tcp                            mirror-node-web3
03e5236690cc   gcr.io/mirrornode/hedera-mirror-importer:0.57.2      "java org.springfram…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute (healthy)                                                     mirror-node-importer
8f481bfce674   gcr.io/hedera-registry/uploader-mirror:0.5.0         "/usr/bin/env python…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute                                                               record-streams-uploader
d45bae1bb9da   gcr.io/hedera-registry/uploader-mirror:0.5.0         "/usr/bin/env python…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute                                                               account-balances-uploader
5efcbd44018e   postgres:13.5-alpine                                 "docker-entrypoint.s…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute             5432/tcp                                          mirror-node-db
0ccd6696972c   minio/minio                                          "sh -c 'mkdir -p /da…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute             0.0.0.0:9000-9001->9000-9001/tcp                  minio
c04dae19a4e5   gcr.io/hedera-registry/network-node-haveged:0.26.2   "/usr/bin/env havege…"   About a minute ago   Up About a minute                                                               haveged

Setting Up Your Client

In order to start interacting with your local network you will need to set up your client by configuring it to point to your local network. You can do this by using any project of your choice and ensuring you have your language specific Hedera SDK as a dependency and imported into your project. If you need a quick refresher you can reference the environment set-up instructions. 

The first step is to configure your client to point to your local network. Client.forNetwork() allows you to set a custom consensus network by providing the IP address and port. Client.setMirrorNetwork() allows you to set a custom mirror node.

Code Snippet Background 
//Create your local client
const node = {"127.0.0.1:50211": new AccountId(3)};
const client = Client.forNetwork(node).setMirrorNetwork("127.0.0.1:5600");

Next you will need to set an account to pay for the fees associated with each transaction and query that is submitted to your local network. You’ll need an account ID and key which you will get from the local node on startup.

Code Snippet Background 
client.setOperator(AccountId.fromString("0.0.2"),PrivateKey.fromString("302e020100300506032b65700422042091132178e72057a1d7528025956fe39b0b847f200ab59b2fdd367017f3087137"));

Instructions to complete your client setup can be found here.

Testing your client with your local network

Once you have configured your client to point to your local network by completing the instructions above you are going to create a transaction.

In your client project open a terminal and execute your client code. In this example we will be executing a javascript file.

Code Snippet Background 
node my-client-file.js

You can view the transactions you created by querying your local mirror node at http://localhost:5551/api/v1/transactions.

Code Snippet Background 
curl http://localhost:5551/api/v1/transactions
Code Snippet Background 
{"transactions":[{"bytes":null,"charged_tx_fee":0,"consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977590","entity_id":"0.0.1001","max_fee":"200000000","memo_base64":"","name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT","node":"0.0.3","nonce":0,"parent_consensus_timestamp":null,"result":"SUCCESS","scheduled":false,"transaction_hash":"ITm+7STfl6TBfFrURcGRWiHSRLmleQ3nPq2W+d2SoaT076uMuIykCju/gSxyucDO","transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281","transfers":[{"account":"0.0.2","amount":-100000000,"is_approval":false},{"account":"0.0.1001","amount":100000000,"is_approval":false}],"valid_duration_seconds":"120","valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"},{"bytes":null,"charged_tx_fee":0,"consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977589","entity_id":"0.0.800","max_fee":"0","memo_base64":"","name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT","node":null,"nonce":1,"parent_consensus_timestamp":null,"result":"SUCCESS","scheduled":false,"transaction_hash":"ebYw3lJl2cQHjdpk6pIV9xB5hPN6MoyBNXCtR6Mtm0y8QQC5IntcumPr1rmP5l05","transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281","transfers":[],"valid_duration_seconds":null,"valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"},{"bytes":null,"charged_tx_fee":0,"consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977588","entity_id":"0.0.801","max_fee":"0","memo_base64":"","name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT","node":null,"nonce":2,"parent_consensus_timestamp":null,"result":"SUCCESS","scheduled":false,"transaction_hash":"vvU3q2drpDzX88bUT5QIlSQp0oPBuD+bHjRTqqyCLaiTnRyAoo6hwcfmek/Pm5Es","transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281","transfers":[],"valid_duration_seconds":null,"valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"}],"links":{"next":null}}%

You can use an online json formatting tool to make the output more readable.

Code Snippet Background 
{
   "bytes":null,
   "charged_tx_fee":0,
   "consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977590",
   "entity_id":"0.0.1001",
   "max_fee":"200000000",
   "memo_base64":"",
   "name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT",
   "node":"0.0.3",
   "nonce":0,
   "parent_consensus_timestamp":null,
   "result":"SUCCESS",
   "scheduled":false,
   "transaction_hash":"ITm+7STfl6TBfFrURcGRWiHSRLmleQ3nPq2W+d2SoaT076uMuIykCju/gSxyucDO",
   "transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281",
   "transfers":[
      {
         "account":"0.0.2",
         "amount":-100000000,
         "is_approval":false
      },
      {
         "account":"0.0.1001",
         "amount":100000000,
         "is_approval":false
      }
   ],
   "valid_duration_seconds":"120",
   "valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"
},
{
   "bytes":null,
   "charged_tx_fee":0,
   "consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977589",
   "entity_id":"0.0.800",
   "max_fee":"0",
   "memo_base64":"",
   "name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT",
   "node":null,
   "nonce":1,
   "parent_consensus_timestamp":null,
   "result":"SUCCESS",
   "scheduled":false,
   "transaction_hash":"ebYw3lJl2cQHjdpk6pIV9xB5hPN6MoyBNXCtR6Mtm0y8QQC5IntcumPr1rmP5l05",
   "transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281",
   "transfers":[
      
   ],
   "valid_duration_seconds":null,
   "valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"
},
{
   "bytes":null,
   "charged_tx_fee":0,
   "consensus_timestamp":"1655270647.389977588",
   "entity_id":"0.0.801",
   "max_fee":"0",
   "memo_base64":"",
   "name":"CRYPTOCREATEACCOUNT",
   "node":null,
   "nonce":2,
   "parent_consensus_timestamp":null,
   "result":"SUCCESS",
   "scheduled":false,
   "transaction_hash":"vvU3q2drpDzX88bUT5QIlSQp0oPBuD+bHjRTqqyCLaiTnRyAoo6hwcfmek/Pm5Es",
   "transaction_id":"0.0.2-1655270639-102160281",
   "transfers":[
      
   ],
   "valid_duration_seconds":null,
   "valid_start_timestamp":"1655270639.102160281"
}

How to Stop Your Local Network

It is important to stop and remove containers, volumes and clean up any generated files. If you would like to keep any files generated inside your working directory please save them before executing the below command.

Code Snippet Background 
docker-compose down -v; git clean -xfd; git reset --hard

This concludes learning how to set up your local network, start it using docker, and interact with it.

For any feedback on this article or future articles you would like to see, let us know via the Hedera Discord Server.

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