Last week, we covered how to install a CLI to interface with the public NEO blockchain. However, we cannot develop our contract on this environment — it will cost us (~500 GAS or ~2.5k USD as of the writing of this article) to deploy here! Instead, it is good practice to deploy our own private NEO network and test the our smart contracts there. To do that, we need a server … where better to get one than Amazon Web Services! Lets get started!
Step 1: initiating an EC2 instance from AWS
Log into your AWS account, click on Services > EC2 > Launch Instance
choose the Amazon Linux 2 AMI
Select the t2.micro (free! if this is your first and only instance)
Click review and launch > launch! You will then be met with the following popup:
If this is your first instance, choose Create a new key pair from the drop down. Give the new key pair a name > Download Key Pair. Launch!
Step 2: Preparing the keypair for SSH
If you have not already done so, download putty here.
We need to first transform your .pem file, into something putty can use (.ppk). Go to Windows Start, search PuTTYgen.
Once open, click Load > drop down for All Files (*.*) > Choose myfirstkeypair.pem.
Click Save private key.
Are you sure you want to save this key without a passphrase? Yes
Step 3: Find your Public instance’s IP
Your instance should be up and running by now! Go back to the AWS console, Services > EC2. Click on Instances, you should see the following:
make note of the Public DNS (IPv4) and IPv4 Public IP.
Step 4: SSH time!
Start up PuTTY. under Category, Connection > SSH > click Auth. Browse for the .ppk file you generated through PuTTYgen.
Next go back to Session. Under Host Name, put the Public DNS of your sever from step 3. Under Saved Sessions, give your server a name! Click Save!
Click Open! username: ec2-user
We will stop here for now. If you’re new to Amazon Web Services, it is seriously an industry changing tool that we’ve only scratched the surface of today. Launching a single micro instance falls under “free tier” and shouldn’t cost you a dime! Do be careful: adding additional infrastructure (EBS volumes, increasing server sizes …) will incur cost!
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Next week’s guide: private NEO network on AWS (part 2). Stay tuned!