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Nginx Server

To access your archive node from outside, you need to install a server and setup a certificate. In this guide, we will use the Nginx server as an example.

Firewall​

Your server will communicate through HTTP ports, you need to enable ports 80 (http) and 443 (https) in your firewall.

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At the end of the configuration, you can close port 80 since only port 443 will be used to access the node. See the section below, Self-signed certificate.

Domain name​

This guide assumes that you have a domain name and control over the DNS. In this case, you need to add the A record with the sub domain you will use and the IP address of your node into you DNS provider console.

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If you don't have a domain name, you will have to generate a self-signed certificate and access your node through the raw ip address of your server.

Installation​

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In the following steps, don't forget to update {SUB_DOMAIN} with your full sub domain name. Example: ws.astar.awesomedappproject.io

First, install Nginx and Certbot:

sudo apt-get install nginx snapd
sudo snap install core; sudo snap refresh core
sudo snap install --classic certbot
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

Create and enable the site:

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available
sudo cp default {SUB_DOMAIN}
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/{SUB_DOMAIN} /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Edit the site file:

sudo nano {SUB_DOMAIN}

Change the root and server_name to get a file like this:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    root /var/www/{SUB_DOMAIN}/html;
    index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    server_name {SUB_DOMAIN};

    location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Generate SSL certificate​

Issue the Certbot certificate:

sudo certbot certonly --nginx

Certbot will issue the SSL certificate into /etc/letsencrypt/live.

Switch to https​

Edit again the site file:

sudo nano {SUB_DOMAIN}

Delete the existing lines and set the content as below:

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default upgrade;
    '' close;
}

server {

    # SSL configuration
    #
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;

    root /var/www/{SUB_DOMAIN}/html;

    server_name {SUB_DOMAIN};
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/{SUB_DOMAIN}/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/{SUB_DOMAIN}/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_session_timeout 5m;
    ssl_protocols SSLv2 SSLv3 TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_ciphers   HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:9944;
        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
    }

}

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In the example above, note that port 9944 is used in proxy_pass. This is the WS port. Change this to 9944 to pass the RPC port.

Check and restart nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Usage​

This is it, your arcive node is set and available from outside.

If you set a WS endpoint, you can explore the chain from the Polkadot.js portal using the format wss://{SUB_DOMAIN}

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If you set a RPC endpoint, you can it through https://{SUB_DOMAIN}

Self-signed certificate​

In case you do not have a domain name, you need to issue yourself a self-signed certificate:

sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/nginx-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/nginx-selfsigned.crt
sudo openssl dhparam -out /etc/ssl/certs/dhparam.pem 2048

Then in the https site config file, you will have to replace the following values:

ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/nginx-selfsigned.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/nginx-selfsigned.key;
ssl_dhparam /etc/ssl/certs/dhparam.pem;

In all steps, the {SUB_DOMAIN} value will be the node server ip address.