Updating Cardano Nodes to Version 1.35.3

The Vasil candidate version of Cardano node was released on August 11, 2022. Many SPO’s (Stake pool operators) chose to wait before upgrading, especially since the prior version was rolled back after a week. In the recent week, many of Cardano’s developers and even CEO Charles Hoskinson announced that they are confident that this will be the version to host the Vasil hard fork. The hard fork requires 75% of stake pools to be upgraded to version 1.35.3 to initiate.

We opted to wait until yesterday to update our nodes on our pool: White Lotus Pool.

Notes:

• Log into root user, if needed

• Cardano-Node version 1.35.3 requires

  • GHC version 8.10.7

  • Cabal version 3.6.2

• *Make sure to download, compile, and install libsecp256k1 BEFORE building the node!

  • Build will fail if you forget or skip this step.

First, set the updated GHC and Cabal versions

ghcup upgrade
ghcup set ghc 8.10.7
ghcup set cabal 3.6.2

#check version’s were properly updated with:
ghcup --version
ghc --version
cabal --version

Then, install the new config files

Download node config, node topology, Byron genesis, Shelly genesis, and Alonzo genesis config files from: https://book.world.dev.cardano.org/environments.html (section 10 of webpage

*Make sure to back up your current config files
*Only the node config file may have some differences, depending on how long ago since your last update.

Install libsecp*

*Failing to install libsecp first results in error: “Goals I’ve had most trouble fulfilling: cardano-crypto-class”

Install libsbsecp256k1 by following these directions from CoinCashew.

Build the new binaries

Update your cloned repository of cardano-node to version 1.35.3 and build. This step took around 30 minutes for us but could be more or less depending on specs.

Stop the node and restart

Stop the node, if still running at this point. Take this time to update & reboot the server as well.

• Back up and replace existing cardano node and cli binaries

• Verify the versions have been updated

Last things:

• Copy the new cardano-cli binary and libsecp to your air-gapped device.

• Once restarted, you should see the node replaying blocks or syncing. This step will take a while.

• Check progress with gLiveview or preferred viewer.

Upgrade was done following CoinCashew’s guide.