[Testnet-StressTest] March 14th - 3:00pm UTC Setup Workshop

[Chris4210]

Yes the goal of this stress test is max performance. After the 15th. I would like to set up the next stress test for 22th or so that we take a lesson learned and increase the performance. Goal should be way over 100k with some code optimization.

[Thom]

Thx @Fox. I took a look at your script and that addresses the docker / vagrant concerns to a large degree.

The idea of those tools is to create a consistent environment from which to run. It saves time. It can take a considerable amount of it to perform the steps your "build_BitSharesTESTNET.sh" does.

I've been looking at docker for a good part of the day today. Tomorrow I will spin up a new 8GB VPS and install docker on it. I will run your script to setup all prereqs, packages etc and then I will build a docker image and upload it to the docker repo for anyone else to use. All they would need to do to use it is install docker and say "docker run BitSharesTESTNET" or whatever name I give it.

This approach will be most useful for the flood clients. I'm not sure how much overhead the docker container requires from the VPS resources, so it may not be the best way to deploy a witness_node that we're trying to squeeze every last bit of performance out of. From the way you dewscribe the test it sounds like xeroc will manage the "fat" witness node server. I can spin up a 32GB vps and run your script the day of the test if that will help.

I'll know more tomorrow. Thanks for the answers, they help a lot!

[Fox]

Thanks for organizing the pre-party on Tuesday Chris4210. I'll drop in from time-to-time, but cannot commit to both days full time.

Thom, let me attempt to answer most of your question to the best of my knowledge. Others, please correct my ignorance. The test Wednesday is to achieve the maximum sustained transactions per second across a distributed and decentralized network of at least 11 witness nodes. Many times that number of transaction generating nodes (cli_wallet) will be required to flood the network with operations from around the globe. This is where we need the most help.

The $200 Azure credit does come with the requirement of a credit card number and a non-VOIP phone number. Some level of identity to mitigate against continually using their offering without payment. Upgrade to Pay-as-you-go to get additional cores for your subscription. Cancel at any time before your credit is exhausted and/or 30 days = 'free'.

Anyone can use this build script on any Ubuntu 16.04 LTS server (AWS, Digital Ocean, etc.). Nothing is Azure specific herein:

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https://github.com/ryanRfox/BitSharesTESTNET/blob/master/build_BitSharesTESTNET.sh
You will not need to import any balance for this testnet. Any BTS you hold are not applicable to this chain, as the genesis did not include any of those balances. Xeroc will transfer you a sufficient amount of TEST tokens for the test. Just send him a note when your account is registered. You may also ping me or GChicken for a started lot. That should cover the time zones.

As I have not yet hooked up a faucet to my Azure script, you should register a new account through the web wallet Xeroc setup for the testnet:

Code: [Select]

https://testnet.bitshares.eu
You will need to export the keys from that web wallet to import to your cli_wallet. The import can be found in step 12 of the README file:

Code: [Select]

https://github.com/ryanRfox/BitSharesTESTNET/blob/master/README.md
Sorry, I cannot answer the questions about Vagrant nor Docker.

Look forward to having you help crush this network!

[Thom]

I'll be there Chris, but I have a number of questions getting ready for Wednesday's testing:

1) Is the primary goal of our efforts for this testnet to determine highest TPS throughput?

2) The Azure platform appears to be an easy method that automates setting up a testnet node, but requires identity registration and a credit card.

3) I see that the vagrant file is STILL included in the release, is it being maintained? Is that also a viable approach to setting up for the testnet?
     If not why is it still included? If it's useful great, otherwise it needs to be deleted. I would like to see the use of vagrant as a deployment
     method for the testnet documented in the manor Fox did for Azure. Many details such as chainID are already included in the Azure setup that need
     to be declared as essential parameters for the testnet.

4) As I recall vagrant is a standard to encapsulate a virtual machine, OS, configuration etc. I've used it before but over a year ago, don't recall the details.

5) Would docker be a good deployment option instead of Vagrant? Seems it would be, as it eliminates the hardware virtualization VMs impose, however
    neither Vagrant nor docker eliminate virtualization overhead, which would impact performance, tho perhaps not terribly significantly. I'm not sure how
    much impact it will actually have tho. I'm reading up on docker now. If a suitable docker image isn't available for the testnet that would be a good thing
    to create one.

6) If measuring max TPS is primary goal of this testnet, shouldn't the production git repo be used as the codebase we build to test with?

7) One step required for testnet is to "import balances". It's been well over a year since I did that. I recall the process in general but I need a refresher,
     the list of steps and how much BTS is going to be required for testnet operation.

One of the frustrations I had in 2015 leading up to the official release on Oct 15th was the lack of timely information. It was a fast paced bee hive of activities. It will help A LOT to have a live mumble session during this test. My focus this weekend is getting an environment ready. Cost is always a factor. I will deploy a new VPS with 32GB RAM / 8 CPU early the day of the testing to minimize expenses. I have grown to prefer Debian over Ubuntu but to stay on par with everyone I will deploy a Ubuntu 16.04 OS for this testnet.

Looking forward to further details and answers to the above questions.

[Chris4210]

Dear BitShares Community,

I would like to invite all members to join us on Tuesday March 14th at 3 pm at the BitShares Mumble for a Stress Test Setup Workshop. This will help especially new people to join the stress test and give everybody the opportunity to participate. Here is a tutorial how to get started: https://github.com/ryanRfox/BitSharesTESTNET  . Big thanks to Fox for the tutorial!

The big live stress test will be on March 15th at 3pm UTC!

We will all meet at Mumble to coordinate the test and discuss latest adjustments.

Happy Fludding next week!!

Cheers Chris4210