Would you like to build an app with the Storj network as backend? Let's create a local test network with Storj-Sim on Windows!

If you want to try it on Linux, you can read this article: https://github.com/storj/storj/wiki/Test-network

In addition, we have an article for freeBSD: Getting started with Storj Testnet on FreeNAS (freeBSD)

See also our docker-compose based setup: https://github.com/storj/up 

Install the necessary dependencies

It is recommended to install Notepad++ for easy config file editing.

1. Install the latest Go (version 1.18.x or later), the executable can be found here. Documentation for the installation can be found here.
2. Install Msys2, which can be found here. Please, select the x86_64 package.

Run the MSYS2 MinGW 64-bit program from the Start menu and execute:

pacman -S git make mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc

Now close the MinGW terminal.

Install NodeJS LTS (Optional)

You can do this in several different ways:

• https://nodejs.org/en/download/
• using Chocolatey https://chocolatey.org/ 

  choco install nodejs-lts

Check the installation

node --version

Install VisualStudio 2017 build tools for C++

Install using a Chocolatey:

choco install visualstudio2017-workload-vctools -y

Install Python

Install using a Chocolatey:

choco install python -y

Disable the app execution alias for python installer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/66409838, because otherwise you will get this error:

python --version
Python was not found; run without arguments to install from the Microsoft Store, or disable this shortcut from Settings > Manage App Execution Aliases.

Finish setup by restarting the terminal.

Now check the installation:

python --version

Confirm dependencies were installed correctly

Start a PowerShell or cmd terminal and execute:

setx path "C:\msys64\mingw64\bin;C:\msys64\usr\bin"

Please restart your terminal to apply the changes.

You should now be able to execute the following commands, please note that for each command a version number should be returned:

go version
git version
gcc --version

Storj installation and setup instructions

Compile Storj from Source

To compile Storj from main, please execute the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/storj/storj -b main
cd storj
go install ./...

cd .\web\satellite\
$env:GOOS="js"; $env:GOARCH="wasm"; go build -o ./static/wasm/access.wasm storj.io/storj/satellite/console/wasm
cp "$(go env GOROOT)/misc/wasm/wasm_exec.js" ./static/wasm
get-item .\static\wasm\* | %{brotli -k $_.FullName}
npm install
npm run build

cd ..\storagenode
npm install
npm run build

cd ..\multinode
npm install
npm run build

cd ..\..\satellite\admin\ui
npm install
npm run build

cd ..\..\..

go install -race -v storj.io/gateway@latest
go install ./...

Run PostgreSQL

We can install PostgreSQL either locally, in the WSL, or in a Docker container. In this example, we will create a teststorj DB and will use the database user postgres.

Run PostgreSQL in a Docker container

The easiest way is to run it in a Docker container, but it requires Docker installed.

PS C:\Users\USER> docker pull postgres

PS C:\Users\USER> docker run --rm -p 5432:5432 --name postgres postgres

In a new terminal, create the teststorj database:

PS C:\Users\USER> docker exec -it postgres createdb -U postgres teststorj

To run your own queries in the PostgreSQL, you can use the following command to open an interactive terminal:

PS C:\Users\USER> docker exec -it postgres psql -h localhost -U postgres teststorj

Install PostgreSQL in the WSL

If you have a WSL enabled, then you can install PostgreSQL in the Ubuntu shell.

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install postgresql -y
$ sudo service postgresql start

To create the teststorj database for the satellite:

$ sudo -u postgres psql
postgres=# create database teststorj;
CREATE DATABASE
postgres=# \q

To run your own queries in PostgreSQL you can use these command to open an interactive terminal:

$ sudo -u postgres psql teststorj
teststorj=# 

Enable access for postgres user by host

Edit /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf:

$ sudo nano /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf

Add this line above all lines that start with host:

host teststorj postgres 0.0.0.0/0 trust

Save the configuration file and restart the PostgreSQL:

$ sudo service postgresql restart

Install the native PostgreSQL locally

https://www.postgresql.org/download/

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/tutorial-install.html

Setup a local Storj Network

First we have to make sure we are able to call the compiled Storj binaries. To do so, please execute the following on the command line:

setx path "C:\msys64\mingw64\bin;C:\msys64\usr\bin;%USERPROFILE%\go\bin"

Now restart the terminal and execute the following:

# This will create a local test network containing the Satellite, Uplink, S3 gateway and 10 storage nodes
storj-sim network setup --postgres=postgres://postgres@localhost/teststorj?sslmode=disable

# This will run the created network
storj-sim network run

At the moment it's assigning ports as follows:

• Gateways start from port 11000
• Version control is at port 12000
• Bootstrap server is at port 13000
• Satellites start from port 10000
• Satellite Console starts on port 10002
• Storage Nodes public ports start from port 14000
• Storage Nodes private ports start from port 14001
• Storage Nodes web dashboard start from port 13002, 13012, 13022, ..., 13092

Getting environment variables for the Local test network

storj-sim network env

Setup the uplink

In Powershell:

uplink import $(storj-sim network env GATEWAY_0_ACCESS)

If the command throws an error such as

PS C:\Users\USER> uplink import $(storj-sim network env GATEWAY_0_ACCESS)
Error: accepts between 1 and 2 arg(s), received 0
Usage:
 C:\Users\USER\go\bin\uplink.exe import [NAME] (ACCESS | FILE) [flags]

Flags:
 -h, --help help for import

Global Flags:
 --advanced if used in with -h, print advanced flags help
 --config-dir string main directory for uplink configuration (default "C:\\Users\\USER\\AppData\\Roaming\\Storj\\Uplink")

Then stop storj-sim (Ctrl-C) and run it back (storj-sim network run). After that, the configuration of uplink should work.

More info you can read at https://github.com/storj/storj/wiki/Test-network

Up- and Download Files

# This will list all buckets in your network. If the network is new, nothing should be returned.
uplink ls 

# This is where we create bucket(mb = make bucket), e.g. uplink mb sj://Myfiles
uplink mb sj://test

# Now the bucket should appear in the list.
uplink ls

# This command is used to upload a file (cp = copy file) to your bucket.
uplink cp bigfile.avi sj://test/

# This will list all files in a specific bucket.
uplink ls sj://test/

# This is the command to download a file from your bucket to your machine. 
uplink cp sj://test/bigfile.avi bigfile.avi

# This command will delete a file from a specific bucket.
uplink rm sj://test/bigfile.avi

S3 Gateway

The S3 gateway, which also is being run by storj-sim, allows users to quickly and easily upload files to the Storj network through a S3 gateway (Minio). Furthermore, this gateway is accessible via localhost in the browser.

Copy your S3 keys from the Getting environment variables for the Local test network of storj-sim and configure the AWS CLI:

aws configure set default.aws_access_key_id eUXZt66VWTTpcwgBazQnPsuSYri
aws configure set default.aws_secret_access_key xDkJKUqJVhAj69CGH1VPqDPi47Q
aws configure set default.s3.multipart_threshold 1TB

Here are the commands to make a bucket, upload the file, make an external link for sharing:

aws s3 --endpoint http://localhost:11000 mb s3://test3
aws s3 --endpoint http://localhost:11000 cp C:\bigvideo.avi s3://bigvideo.avi
aws s3 --endpoint http://localhost:11000 ls
aws s3 --endpoint http://localhost:11000 ls s3://test3
aws s3 --endpoint http://localhost:11000 presign s3://test3/bigvideo.avi

You can configure your AWS CLI to include an endpoint URL to the config: Define an endpoint with AWS CLI.

S3 gateway video streaming

Video streaming is possible with the S3 endpoint by executing the following command:

aws s3 --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:11000 mb S3://Bucket
aws s3 --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:11000 cp c:\StorjIntro.mp4 S3://Bucket/StorjIntro.mp4
aws s3 --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:11000 presign s3://Bucket/StorjIntro.mp4

After the last command you will get an URL to your video file, which you can open in your browser or VLC player.

You can read more about S3 Gateway.

Relevant directories on Windows

#This is where the Storj code from github is stored:
C:\Users\USER\storj

#Stores the config files.
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Storj

#Stores compiled binaries.
C:\Users\USER\go\bin

To revert the entire installation, deleting the directories above will do the trick.