Introduction

Kotal extended Kubernetes with Node and Network custom resource in the ethereum.kotal.io/v1alpha1 group version.

Node#

Node is a single Ethereum node joining a public or private network.

Example of Go Ethereum (Geth) Node joining Ethereum main network:

apiVersion: ethereum.kotal.io/v1alpha1
kind: Node
metadata:
  name: mainnet-node
spec:
  client: geth
  join: mainnet
  rpc: true

Network#

Network is a set of Ethereum nodes sharing same network config like genesis block and connecting to each other and joining public or private network.

Network controller will create nodes from the nodes in the network .spec.nodes array, you can verify this by getting nodes after network creation.

$ kubectl get networks.ethereum.kotal.io
$ kubectl get nodes.ethereum.kotal.io

Kotal supports joining Ethereum public networks like mainnet, ropsten, rinkeby, goerli and creating private consortium networks using different consensus algorithms like proof of work, proof of authority and IBFT2.

Example of multi-client Ethereum Network of 2 nodes running geth and besu clients respectively joining rinkeby testnet:

apiVersion: ethereum.kotal.io/v1alpha1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: network-sample
spec:
  join: rinkeby
  nodes:
    - name: node-1
      client: geth
      bootnode: true
      nodekey: "0x0x608e9b6f67c65e47531e08e8e501386dfae63a540fa3c48802c8aad854510b4e"
    - name: node-2
      client: besu

Multi-client Support#

Kotal supports the following Ethereum 1 clients:

apiVersion: ethereum.kotal.io/v1alpha1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: network-sample
spec:
  join: rinkeby
  nodes:
    - name: node-1
      client: besu
      bootnode: true
      nodekey: "0x0x608e9b6f67c65e47531e08e8e501386dfae63a540fa3c48802c8aad854510b4e"
    - name: node-2
      client: geth
    - name: node-2
      client: parity

A single network deployed by kotal can run both hyperledger Besu and Go-ethereum as long as the network underlying consensus algorithm is supported by both clients. Both Hyperledger Besu, Go-Ethereum (Geth) and Parity (OpenEthereum) supports PoA and PoW public and private networks.