Azure started supporting a number of distributed ledger technologies that fulfill business requirements in security domains and much more. Azure has started Blockchain as a Service (BaaS). It will emerge as a platform for rapidly creating applications on cloud technologies. Azure has come up with many blockchain solutions, like Ethereum Consortium, STRATO Blockchain LTS, Emercoin Blockchain etc.
In this article, we are going to discuss Ethereum Consortium Blockchain template solution by Azure. The template will be used to deploy and configure a private Consortium Ethereum Network quickly.
To create blockchain network, go to the Azure portal and log in with your Admin account. Click ‘+ New’ on the home page.
Search for ‘Ethereum Consortium Blockchain’. Select the template, then click ‘Create’.
It will open "
Basics" blade with input parameters as follows. After filling all the parameters, click OK.
- Resource Prefix: Prefix for naming the deployed resources.(1 to 6 characters long)
- VM user name: Administrator of all virtual machines created.It is also used while creating the Ethereum account.(1 to 64 characters long)
- Authentication type: The method to authenticate to the virtual machine username/password or username/ssh key.(Password or SSH public key)
- Password: The password for the administrator account.(12 to 72 characters long)
After clicking on OK, it will open “Network size and performance” blade with input parameters as follows. After filling all the parameters, click OK.
Number of Consortium Members
The number of mining members in the network. Subnet will be formed for each mining member. (2 to 12 members)
Number of mining nodes per member
The number of mining nodes deployed per member.Total mining nodes = Members * Nodes Per Member. (1 to 15 nodes/member)
Mining node storage performance
Storage type for transaction db. (Standard or Premium)
Number of transaction nodes
The number of transaction nodes to be created. (1 to 5)
Transaction node storage performance
Storage type for transaction db. (Standard or Premium)
Transaction node storage replication
The storage replication policy. (LRS, GRS, RAGRS)
Transaction node virtual machine size
Size of transactional nodes VMs. (Standard A, Standard D, Standard D-v2,Standard F series, Standard DS, and Standard FS)
After clicking on OK, it will open “Ethereum settings” blade with input parameters as follow. After filling all the parameters, click OK.
Network ID
Each Ethereum network has ID.It is recommended to use a large number to prevent collisions. (5 to 2,147,483,647)
Account Password
Password used to secure the Ethereum account.This account is setup done in the genesis block; allocated with one trillion Ether. (minimum 12 characters)
private key passphrase
Passphrase used to generate the ECC private key associated with the default Ethereum account. (minimum 12 characters) After clicking on OK, it will open “Summary” blade. Here, we can review the Ethereum Network settings.
After review, you can click ‘Purchase’ to deploy the blockchain network. It will provision specified VMs for transaction and mining nodes. To understand the architecture of this deployed network, please refer article "Architecture of Azure Ethereum Consortium network - Simplified".
This is all about Ethereum Consortium Blockchain template in Azure Marketplace. In our next article, we will look into creating applications on top of this network. Till then, keep mining for blockchain.
Nithya MathanPosted Dec 4, 2017, 10:36 AM
Nice Article, Sir. But How can I use them like Visualize or in action...
Mahesh ChandPosted Sep 21, 2017, 7:49 AM
This is great Akshay. Perhaps, you may want to explain, why as a developer I should use this. Blockchain being a new technology, many people don't understand what, why, and how. Before how, its important to cover what and why :). Cheers!