Prerequisites

Everything you need before deploying CapSign blockchain infrastructure.

📋 Account Requirements

AWS Account

Billing enabled with valid payment method
IAM permissions to create resources (or admin access)
Service limits sufficient for EKS and EC2 instances
Region selection (we recommend us-west-2 or us-east-1)

GitHub Account

Organization access or ability to create repositories
Actions enabled for CI/CD workflows
Secrets management permissions
Package registry access (for container images)

Optional Accounts

Slack workspace (for notifications)
Discord account (for community support)
Domain registrar (for custom domains)

🛠️ Required Tools

Core Tools

# Terraform (Infrastructure as Code)
terraform --version  # Should be >= 1.5.0

# Helm (Kubernetes package manager)
helm version         # Should be >= 3.12.0

# kubectl (Kubernetes CLI)
kubectl version      # Should be >= 1.27.0

# AWS CLI (AWS management)
aws --version        # Should be >= 2.13.0

Installation Commands

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install terraform helm kubectl awscli

Ubuntu/Debian:

# Terraform
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install terraform

# Helm
curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install helm

# kubectl
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

# AWS CLI
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip && sudo ./aws/install

Windows (Chocolatey):

choco install terraform helm kubernetes-cli awscli

💳 Cost Considerations

Typical Monthly Costs

Setup Type

Components

Estimated Cost

Development

1x t3.medium, minimal storage

$50-100/month

Small Production

3x m5.large, HA setup

$300-500/month

Enterprise

Multi-AZ, dedicated nodes

$1000+/month

Cost Optimization Options

Spot Instances - Save 60-70% on compute costs
Reserved Instances - Save 30-60% with commitment
Auto-scaling - Reduce costs during low usage
Storage optimization - Use appropriate storage classes

See our cost optimization guide for detailed strategies.

🔒 Security Requirements

AWS Security

MFA enabled on root and IAM accounts
CloudTrail logging enabled
IAM roles instead of access keys (where possible)
VPC with private subnets for resources

GitHub Security

2FA enabled on all accounts
Branch protection rules for main branches
Secret scanning enabled
Dependabot alerts enabled

Network Security

SSH keys configured for Git operations
VPN access for private resources (optional)
Firewall rules for administrative access
SSL certificates for custom domains

📊 Resource Limits

AWS Service Limits

Check these limits in your AWS account:

# Check EC2 limits
aws service-quotas get-service-quota \
  --service-code ec2 \
  --quota-code L-1216C47A  # Running On-Demand instances

# Check EKS limits
aws service-quotas get-service-quota \
  --service-code eks \
  --quota-code L-1194D53C  # Clusters per account

Required minimums:

EC2 instances: 10+ running instances
EKS clusters: 2+ clusters (dev/prod)
EBS volumes: 20+ volumes
VPC: 2+ VPCs per region

GitHub Limits

Repository limit: Unlimited for organizations
Actions minutes: 2000/month (free tier)
Package storage: 500MB (free tier)
File size limit: 100MB per file

🌐 Network Requirements

Internet Connectivity

Stable connection for downloading large blockchain data
Bandwidth: 100+ Mbps recommended for initial sync
Data transfer: Expect 100GB+ monthly for active nodes

Firewall Rules

# Outbound (required)
443/tcp   # HTTPS (AWS API, GitHub, package downloads)
80/tcp    # HTTP (package repositories)
53/udp    # DNS resolution

# Blockchain P2P (configurable)
30303/tcp # Ethereum P2P (can be customized)
9000/tcp  # Prysm P2P (can be customized)

📚 Knowledge Requirements

Recommended Experience

AWS basics - Understanding of EC2, VPC, IAM
Kubernetes fundamentals - Pods, services, deployments
Command line - Comfortable with terminal/bash
Git/GitHub - Basic version control knowledge

Learning Resources

Not Required (But Helpful)

Blockchain/Ethereum knowledge
Advanced Kubernetes operations
Terraform module development
Golang or Rust programming

✅ Readiness Checklist

Before proceeding to installation:

Accounts & Access

AWS account with billing enabled
GitHub account with organization access
Domain registered (optional)
Slack workspace configured (optional)

Tools Installed

Terraform >= 1.5.0
Helm >= 3.12.0
kubectl >= 1.27.0
AWS CLI >= 2.13.0

Credentials Configured

AWS credentials configured (aws sts get-caller-identity)
GitHub SSH keys or personal access token
Domain DNS access (if using custom domains)

Resource Planning

AWS region selected
Instance types chosen
Cost budget estimated
Network architecture planned

🚀 Next Steps

Once all prerequisites are met:

Repository Setup - Create GitHub repositories
Secrets Configuration - Configure CI/CD secrets
Quick Start Guide - Deploy your infrastructure

🆘 Having Issues?

Common Problems:

Tool installation failures - Check your package manager and permissions
AWS credential issues - Verify IAM permissions and MFA settings
Network connectivity - Check firewall and proxy settings

Get Help:

FAQ - Common questions and solutions
Discord Community - Real-time support
GitHub Issues - Bug reports

All set? Continue to repository setup!