Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation Release 0.4.0 Blockchain Automation Framework Sep 07, 2021 Table of Contents: 1 Introduction 3 2 Release notes 5 3 Key Concepts 7 4 Getting Started 13 5 Operations Guide 15 6 Developer Guide 105 7 Sample Usage 209 8 BAF current roadmap 213 9 Compability Matrix 217 10 Architecture Reference 219 11 Commands Reference 249 12 Frequently Asked Questions 255 13 Glossary 261 14 Contributing 275 15 Maintainers for the Blockchain Automation Framework 277 i ii Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation, Release 0.4.0 The Blockchain Automation Framework is an accelerator for delivering production-ready blockchain solutions, en- abling teams to deliver without the need to architect the solution from scratch. What is the Blockchain Automation Framework? The Blockchain Automation Framework is an automation framework for delivering consistent production ready DLT networks on cloud based infrastructures. The Blockchain Automation Framework (BAF) provides 3 key features: • Security: BAF provides a secure environment for DLT development. BAF has best practices of key management and other security features available by default. • Scalability: BAF has a scalable network implementation, a user can easily scale the environment and resources according to his/her needs. • Acceleration: BAF will help in providing a blockchain solution that drives acceleration up to de- ployment providing an oppourtunity to participate in those deliveries and drive more services. It is an accelerator for all the developers to be able to use a DLT network right away. So with the Blockchain Automation Framework, users are able to create a DLT environment and know that it is something that will continue to be used as project management. Table of Contents: 1 Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation, Release 0.4.0 2 Table of Contents: CHAPTER 1 Introduction At its core, blockchain is a new type of data system that maintains and records data in a way that allows multiple stakeholders to confidently share access to the same data and information. A blockchain is a type of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), meaning it is a data ledger that is shared by multiple entities operating on a distributed network. This technology operates by recording and storing every transaction across the network in a cryptographically linked block structure that is replicated across network participants. Every time a new data block is created, it is appended to the end of the existing chain formed by all previous transactions, thus creating a chain of blocks called the blockchain. This blockchain format contains records of all transactions and data, starting from the inception of that data structure. Setting up a new DLT/Blockchain network or maintaining an existing DLT/Blockchain network in a production-scale environment is not straightforward. For the existing DLT/Blockchain platforms, each has its own architecture, which means the same way of setting up one DLT/Blockchain network cannot be applied to others. Therefore, when blockchain developers are asked to use an unfamiliar DLT/Blockchain platform, it requires significant effort for even experienced technicians to properly setup the DLT/Blockchain network. This is especially true in large-scale production projects across heterogeneous corporate environments which require other key aspects such as security and service availability. Being aware of the potential difficulty and complexity of getting a production-scale DLT/Blockchain network ready, cloud vendors such as AWS and Azure have provisioned their own managed Blockchain services (aka Blockchain as a Service or BaaS) to help alleviate various pain-points during the process. However, limitations can still be identified in their BaaS solutions, e.g. limited network size, locked to all nodes on a single cloud provider, or limited choice of DLT/Blockchain platform, etc. 1.1 The Blockchain Automation Framework (BAF) Platform The objective of BAF is to provide a consistent means by which developers can deploy production-ready distributed networks across public and private cloud providers. This enables developers to focus on building business applications quickly, knowing that the framework upon which they are building can be adopted by an enterprise IT production operations organization. BAF is not intended solely to quickly provision development environments which can be done more efficiently with other projects/scripts. Likewise, Blockchain Automation Framework is not intended to 3 Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation, Release 0.4.0 replace BaaS offerings in the market, but instead, BAF is an alternative when existing BaaS offerings do not support a consortium’s current set of requirements. 1.2 How is it different from other BaaS? • The Blockchain Automation Framework deployment scripts can be reused across cloud providers like AWS, Azure, GCP, DigitalOcean and OpenShift • Can deploy networks and smart contracts across different DLT/Blockchain platforms • Supports heterogeneous deployments in a multi-cloud, multi-owner model where each node is completely owned and managed by separate organizations • Bring Your Own Infrastructure (BYOI) - You provide GIT, Kubernetes cluster(s), and Hashicorp Vault services provisioned to meet your specific requirements and enterprise standards • No network size limit • Specifies only the number of organizations and the number of nodes per organization in a network.yaml file uniquely designed in the Blockchain Automation Framework for a new DLT/Blockchain network set-up and its future maintenance • Provides a sample supply chain application which runs on multiple DLT/Blockchain platforms that can be used as a reference pattern for how to safely abstract application logic from the underlying DLT/Blockchain platform 1.2.1 What next? We have been actively searching for partners who need and understand the value of Blockchain Automation Frame- work, who share the vision of building and owning well architected solutions. We wish to work together so as to identify the market needs for those partners, to further reduce the barriers in adoption. 4 Chapter 1. Introduction CHAPTER 2 Release notes Release notes have been moved to GitHub here. 5 Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation, Release 0.4.0 6 Chapter 2. Release notes CHAPTER 3 Key Concepts This section introduces the key concepts along with their features used within the Blockchain Automation Framework. This section works as step one that will pave the way for new users to understand the key conceptual building blocks used in the Blockchain Automation Framework’s architecture design. 3.1 Ansible Ansible is an automation command line tool that helps IT technicians easily achieve system configuration, software deployment and other complex tasks in orchestration. Ansible provisions several types of command line tools such as ansible, ansible-playbook and ansible-galaxy, etc. Each serves different scenarios so that a user can choose the most appropriate one or more to be adopted in the chosen scenario(s). Below gives a simple description of the three mentioned above, and a user can use the link to find more information for each of them. • ansible: it is the simplistic command line tool that enables a user to quickly achieve simple IT tasks, e.g. list one or more local/remote machines’ information. • ansible-playbook: it is an advanced command line that will run one or more Ansible playbooks (i.e. YAML files that have all the steps configured to achieve one or more complex tasks). Ansible roles are defined to group relavant configurations together that can be resuable in multi playbooks. • ansible-galaxy: it is an advanced command line that can run existing Ansible roles predefined by other users in the Ansible community. The Blockchain Automation Framework extensively uses Ansible playbooks along with roles to spin up a DLT/Blockchain network. For instance, to issue certificates for each node in the DLT/Blockchain network, and then put the certificates to HashiCorp Vaults. In the Blockchain Automation Framework, there are different Ansi- ble playbooks being designed, and the key player that makes the whole DLT/Blockchain network set-up to happen automatically is the roles defined in the playbooks following a specific order. 7 Blockchain Automation Framework Documentation, Release 0.4.0 3.2 Kubernetes Services 3.2.1 Container A Docker Container is an ephermeral running process that has all the necessary package dependencies within it. It differentiates from a Docker Image that is a multi-layered file. A container is much more light-weighted, standalone and resuable compared to a Virtual Machine (VM). 3.2.2 Cluster A cluster of containers is grouped by one or more running containers serving different purposes with their duplicates that can ensure high availability of services. One example of a cluster is Docker Swarm. 3.2.3 Kubernetes Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling and maintaining containerized appli- cations. Kubernetes provisions more advanced configurations and features to set up a cluster compared to Docker Swarm, which make it a very strong candidate in any production-scale environment. 3.2.4 Managed Kubernetes Services The open-source K8s services requires technicians to set up an underlying infrastructure and all initial K8s clusters, but the setting-up process is normally time-consuming and error-prone. This is why K8s is well known for its deep learning curves. To alleviate this complex process for users, many