The Chaincode Lifecycle on Hyperledger Fabric v2

In this story, we will examine how the chaincode process is operated. We can use the Fabric chaincode lifecycle by creating a new channel and setting the channel capabilities to v2. The new chaincode lifecycle must be used instead of the old lifecycle such as install, instantiate, or update a chaincode. After we enable v2 capabilities, we can use chaincode invoke as we did in v1.4

In Hyperledger Fabric documentation, it says “Chaincodes are invoked when a network member wants to transfer or change an asset on the ledger.”

According to documentation, the Fabric chaincode lifecycle requires that organizations agree to the parameters that define a chaincode, such as a name, version, and the chaincode endorsement policy. Channel members come to an agreement using the following four steps (Not every organization on a channel needs to complete each step). I examined all steps on my custom network whose name is be-network and there are 2 peers which are peer0.be.be-network.com and peer0.beyond.be-network.com so the commands we will examine the steps below are modified by considering this situation.

We will use peer lifecycle chaincode command with several subcommands. These subcommands accept several flags and parameters. You can use other flags that you want if you need them. You can find the details of flags from here.

Before we examine these steps, you must know that you do these operations by entering the CLI container. We use -e to add the environment variables of each organization that we have by the following command;

docker exec -e "CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID=BurakcanEkiciMSP" -e "CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=/opt/gopath/fabric-samples/be-network/crypto-config/peerOrganizations/be.be-network.com/peers/peer0.be.be-network.com/tls/ca.crt" -e "CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=/opt/gopath/fabric-samples/be-network/crypto-config/peerOrganizations/be.be-network.com/users/Admin@be.be-network.com/msp" -e "CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=peer0.be.be-network.com:7051" -it cli bash

Also, in another terminal we can enter CLI container for other organizations by changing environment variables according to the organization we want.

docker exec -e "CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID=BeyondMSP" -e "CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=/opt/gopath/fabric-samples/be-network/crypto-config/peerOrganizations/beyond.be-network.com/peers/peer0.beyond.be-network.com/tls/ca.crt" -e "CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=/opt/gopath/fabric-samples/be-network/crypto-config/peerOrganizations/beyond.be-network.com/users/Admin@beyond.be-network.com/msp" -e "CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=peer0.beyond.be-network.com:7051" -it cli bash

We must see the following if it is successful;

bash-5.0#

So what the steps are (I mention the definitions of each step that placed in the documentation);

Step 1: Package the chaincode

This step can be completed by one organization. Before installing each peer, the chaincode needs to be packaged. We use peer lifecycle chaincode package command. It will be executed by peer0.be.be-network.com peer.

peer lifecycle chaincode package <PACKAGE_NAME> --path <PATH> --lang <LANG> --label <LABEL>

In here;

• PACKAGE_NAME must be a tar file so it must be ending with tar.gz file extension => I entitled as becc.tar.gz
• PATH refers to chaincode path and must be located under the /opt/gopath/src/ directory due to we enter CLI container => I created my chaincode under /opt/gopath/src/chain/mediumchaincode/go/ directory and wrote just chain/mediumchaincode/go/ part due to my chaincode has been written by go, we don’t use /opt/gopath/src/ path if the chaincode is written by go
• LANG refers to language that we have used to write the chaincode => I chose golang
• LABEL can be any text you want => I entitled as becc_1

peer lifecycle chaincode package

Step 2: Install the chaincode on your peers

Every organization that will use the chaincode to endorse a transaction or query the ledger needs to complete this step. We use peer lifecycle chaincode install and peer lifecycle chaincode queryinstall commands orderly. They will be executed by peer0.be.be-network.com and peer0.beyond.be-network.com peers.

peer lifecycle chaincode install <PACKAGE_NAME>

In here;

• PACKAGE_NAME must be the same as what we gave in the previous step => I entitled as becc.tar.gz

peer lifecycle chaincode install

peer lifecycle chaincode queryinstalled

With this command, we approve a chaincode definition to our organizations and it generates the PACKAGE_ID that will be needed at the next step. It looks like in the image below.

the generated Package ID

Step 3: Approve a chaincode definition for your organization

Every organization that will use the chaincode needs to complete this step. The chaincode definition needs to be approved by a sufficient number of organizations to satisfy the channel’s LifecycleEndorsment policy (a majority, by default) before the chaincode can be started on the channel. We use peer lifecycle chaincode approvemyorg command after setting the ORDERER_CA and PACKAGE_ID variables for each organization. It will be executed by peer0.be.be-network.com and peer0.beyond.be-network.com peers.

export ORDERER_CA=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem
export PACKAGE_ID={Enter the package id that has been generated at previous step}
peer lifecycle chaincode approveformyorg  -o orderer.be-network.com:7050 --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA --channelID <CHANNEL_NAME> --name <CHAINCODE_NAME> --version <VERSION_TAG> --init-required --package-id $PACKAGE_ID --sequence 1 --signature-policy "OR('BurakcanEkiciMSP.peer', 'BeyondMSP.peer')"

In here;

• CHANNEL_NAME refers to channel name that we created=> I entitled as channeldemo
• CHAINCODE_NAME refers to channel name that we gave=> I entitled as becc
• VERSION_TAG refers to channel name that we gave=> I entitled as 1
• --signature-policy can be changed by the organizations in the network (we have just 2 organizations which are BurakcanEkici and Beyond)

You must get the following message if the chaincode definitions have been made successfully;

peer lifecycle chaincode approvemyorg

Step 4: Commit the chaincode definition to the channel

The commit transaction needs to be submitted by one organization once the required number of organizations on the channel have approved. The submitter first collects endorsements from enough peers of the organizations that have approved and then submits the transaction to commit the chaincode definition. We use peer lifecycle chaincode checkcommitreadness and peer lifecycle chaincode check command in this step. They will be executed by peer0.be.be-network.com peer.

The peer lifecycle chaincode checkcommitreadness command is not necessary but we need to check whether we make chaincode definitions successfully for all organizations.

peer lifecycle chaincode checkcommitreadiness -o orderer.be-network.com:7050 --channelID <CHANNEL_NAME> --name <CHAINCODE_NAME> --version <VERSION_TAG> --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA --init-required --sequence 1

In here;

• CHANNEL_NAME, CHAINCODE_NAME and VERSION_TAG must be the same as what we wrote at previous steps.

You must get the following message if the chaincode is ready to commit. We can see that BurakcanEkici and Beyondare ready to commit.

peer lifecycle chaincode checkcommitreadness

If we get the message above, we will execute peer lifecycle chaincode checkcommand.

peer lifecycle chaincode commit -o orderer.be-network.com:7050 ----channelID <CHANNEL_NAME> --name <CHAINCODE_NAME> --version <VERSION_TAG> --sequence 1 --init-required --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA --peerAddresses <PEER_ADDRESS> --tlsRootCertFiles <TLS_ROOT_CERT_FILES>

In here;

• CHANNEL_NAME, CHAINCODE_NAME and VERSION_TAG must be the same as what we wrote at previous steps.
• PEER_ADDRESS and TLS_ROOT_CERT_FILES refer to peer address and .crt file’s path of each peer that we will commit so write — peerAddress and — tlsRootCertFiles as much as the number of our peers.

peer lifecycle chaincode check

If we get the message above, everything is ok. We will able to query or invoke whatever peer we want.

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