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Connecting to JOC Nodes

This document describes the steps to set up a Geth node in the user's environment and connect it to the Japan Open Chain Mainnet and Testnet. For connecting dApps using RPC Endpoints, please refer here.

Connecting a Node to JOC Mainnet​

The process for connection is as follows:

1. Install Required Packages​

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y curl openssl

# Amazon Linux 2023 / RHEL-based
sudo dnf install -y curl openssl

2. Create Data Directories​

sudo mkdir -p /data/ethereum
sudo mkdir -p /data/ethereum/consensus/config

3. Download Configuration Files​

Download the files below and copy them to the correct locations:

FileLink
genesis.jsonView
config.yamlView
genesis.sszDownload
deposit_contract.txtView
deposit_contract_block.txtView
# genesis.json -> /data/ethereum/genesis.json
# config.yaml -> /data/ethereum/consensus/config/config.yaml
# genesis.ssz -> /data/ethereum/consensus/config/genesis.ssz
# deposit_contract_block.txt -> /data/ethereum/consensus/config/deposit_contract_block.txt

4. Install Client​

Geth (Execution Client, verified working with v1.13.5):

https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/getting-started/installing-geth

caution

Geth v1.14.0 or later is not currently supported.

Lighthouse (Consensus Client, verified working with v7.0.1):

https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/installation.html

5. Generate JWT Secret​

The JWT secret authenticates internal communication between Geth and Lighthouse. Generate it once:

openssl rand -hex 32 | tr -d "\n" > /data/ethereum/jwtsecret
chmod 644 /data/ethereum/jwtsecret

6. Initialize Geth​

geth init \
  --datadir=/data/ethereum \
  /data/ethereum/genesis.json

Run this only once.

7. Run Geth​

The current BootNode list is fetched from enodes.yaml.

geth --datadir=/data/ethereum \
  --networkid=81 \
  --http \
  --authrpc.vhosts="*" \
  --authrpc.addr=127.0.0.1 \
  --authrpc.jwtsecret=/data/ethereum/jwtsecret \
  --bootnodes="$BOOTNODES"

8. Run Lighthouse​

The current boot ENR list is fetched from bootstrap_nodes.yaml.

lighthouse beacon_node \
  --datadir=/data/ethereum/consensus \
  --http \
  --execution-endpoint=http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
  --execution-jwt=/data/ethereum/jwtsecret \
  --testnet-dir=/data/ethereum/consensus/config \
  --boot-nodes="$BOOT_ENRS"

9. Verification​

Check Geth sync status:

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'
# false  → fully synced
# object → syncing, shows currentBlock / highestBlock

Check Lighthouse sync status:

curl -s http://localhost:5052/eth/v1/node/peer_count

If the "Looking for peers" message continues, the connection is not successful. Check the bootnode/ENR values and your firewall settings (ports 30303 TCP+UDP for Geth, port 9000 TCP+UDP for Lighthouse).

Explorer​