Quick way to CarrIOTA Bolero node

5 min readApr 7, 2018

Since Roman Semko launched CarrIOTA Bolero I’ve tried multiple times to set it up on a Windows 10 machine. I think I went through most errors that are reported when it comes to install CarrIOTA Bolero on a Windows computer. Most of the errors turned out to be my fault. One error, however, proved to be extremely persistent: IRI was never fully synchronized.

It was sort of annoying and after many many tries I almost gave up. It was early February when Roman Semko came up with CarrIOTA Field which he integrated in CarrIOTA Bolero by 13th of March. The crucial thing about Field is the possibility to get a bounty by providing a IOTA node. That aroused my curiosity again. So I started looking for an affordable solution without Windows 10 and still easy enough to install for a Linux novice.

Configuration:

Here is the configuration I have chosen:

Barebone: Intel NUC (NUC6CAYH) 1.5 GHz Celeron Processor (108€)
RAM: Kingston HyperX Impact 2 x 4 GB 1866 MHz DDR3L CL11 (68€)
Harddisk: Samsung EVO 850 250 GB SSD SATA 6 GBit/s (85€)
Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS (0€)

After having ordered the parts I went on downloading the Ubuntu. From the .iso file I created a bootable USB stick. I also prepared another USB stick containing the file for updating the NUC BIOS and a simple text file containing two command line instructions:

> sudo apt-get install default-jre
...
> sudo apt-get install libgconf-2-4
...

The first will later install Java Runtime Environment, the second one will install a configuration database system for storing application settings.

Installation steps:

Before installation can proceed you need a TV (HDMI) or a monitor (VGA possible with this NUC), a keyboard and a mouse.

Install the RAM and the SSD in the Intel NUC barebone.

Connect the NUC to the internet via cable and to the display via HDMI or VGA.

Connect keyboard and mouse and the bootable USB stick containing the Ubuntu.

Turn on the NUC.

Select Install Ubuntu and follow the instructions on the screen.

After Ubuntu installation has finished, login to Ubuntu, open a terminal window and enter

> sudo apt-get install default-jre

You will be promped to enter your password and Java Runtime Environment will be installed. When finished enter

> sudo apt-get install libgconf-2-4

which will install the necessary library.

Before you proceed to the installation of CarrIOTA Bolero you have to make sure that your internet router has the following ports open and forwarded to the IP of your NUC:

UDP 14600
TCP 15600
TCP 16600
TCP 21310

Please refer to the instruction of your internet router on how to do this. Ubuntu provides the IP of your NUC in system settings -> network.

When the ports are open and forwarded to the IP of your NUC you can proceed with the download of CarrIOTA Bolero. Now you only need to unzip the downloaded file, navigate to the directory and run bolero.fun.

First CarrIOTA Bolero will download the IRI database, which can be quite timeconsuming. But once this has finished, everything should run smoothly.

In the settings tab of CarrIOTA Bolero you can name your IOTA node and provide either an IOTA seed or an IOTA address. Please keep in mind, that all this great work is still not in productive mode. If you want to provide an IOTA seed, make sure it is a newly generated one only for your IOTA node. The seed and/or the address serves a your wallet where you will receive the bounty.

BIOS Update

The following steps are not mandatory but recommended in order to keep your system up to date:

Turn off your NUC and plug in the USB stick containing the BIOS update file.

Turn on the NUC.

Press F7 to enter BIOS update mode and select the .bio file on your memory stick (be sure to have the right file for your NUC). The BIOS will then be updated.

After successful BIOS update the NUC will restart automatically. By pressing F2 you can enter the BIOS menu and check the system. Most providers recommend this step after having done a BIOS update. Save and Exit and the system will reboot.

Check the work done by your node

field.carriota.com provides a nice interface where you can check the status of your node. Here is the status of mine after 24h of working:

First impressions

After 24h I can say that the system runs stable, time will show how stable it really is. But for now, I’m in with my IOTA node and it feels great to give something back to the great IOTA community.

The installation took about 2h in total. And somewhat tricky was the selection of the correct keyboard layout. But since this is always tricky for people living in Switzerland, I did not emphasize this in the present report. (Actually it only required me to go to system settings -> keyboard layout and change the setting; In my defense, I must say, that keyboard layout is terribly translated to ‘Text Eingabe’ in the german version that I have installed).

What I like most is, that the system is abolutely quiet, no fan, no harddisk, nothing. Something else I like with this installation is, that I don’t need to set up a static IP since I use CarrIOTA Bolero. And power consumption of the NUC alone is 10 Watts only.

Some may say, that such a system is oversized, especially for an IOTA node. Considering the RAM this is correct; 4GB would have been enough. But who knows, maybe I will try to get an IOTA node on a Raspberry Pi next. However, for me it was a nice opportunity to learn something and to have a try with Linux.

Now it’s your turn.

Thanks to

Roman Semko for his hard work on CarrIOTA, Bolero, Field and Romeo

Sabri Goldberg for providing great IOTA wallpapers

IOTA Community for being the best community in cryptoverse

IOTA Donations welcome:

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