Quick Start Guide

Deploy production-ready CMX Protocol infrastructure in 30 minutes using our automated tools.

🎯 What You'll Deploy

By the end of this guide, you'll have infrastructure ready for the CapSign ecosystem:

✅ AWS EKS cluster optimized for CMX Protocol and CMX Network
✅ Reth Ethereum client for L1 connectivity
✅ Prysm consensus client with validator support
✅ Optimism-ready infrastructure for CMX Network deployment
✅ Monitoring stack with Prometheus and Grafana for protocol monitoring
✅ Production security with encrypted storage and network policies

📋 Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

AWS Account with billing enabled
GitHub Account for repository access
Domain name (optional, for custom endpoints)
30 minutes of focused time

Required Tools

# Install required CLI tools
brew install terraform helm kubectl awscli

# Or using package managers:
# Ubuntu: apt-get install terraform helm kubectl awscli
# Windows: choco install terraform helm kubectl awscli

AWS Credentials

Set up AWS access using one of these methods:

Option A: AWS CLI

aws configure
# Enter your Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, and region

Option B: Environment Variables

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-west-2"

🚀 Step 1: Deploy Infrastructure

Clone Infrastructure Repository

git clone https://github.com/capsign/infrastructure.git
cd infrastructure

Configure Variables

# Copy the example configuration
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars

# Edit with your preferences
nano terraform.tfvars

Key variables to customize:

# terraform.tfvars
project_name = "my-blockchain"
environment  = "production"
region       = "us-west-2"

# Node configuration
node_desired_size = 3
node_instance_types = ["m5.large"]

# Enable blockchain-specific features
enable_blockchain_dedicated_nodes = true
enable_monitoring = true

Deploy Infrastructure

# Initialize Terraform
terraform init

# Review the deployment plan
terraform plan

# Deploy (takes ~15 minutes)
terraform apply

☕ Coffee break! This creates your VPC, EKS cluster, security groups, and IAM roles.

Configure kubectl

# Connect to your new cluster
aws eks update-kubeconfig --region us-west-2 --name my-blockchain-cluster

# Verify connection
kubectl get nodes

🚢 Step 2: Deploy Blockchain Stack

Clone Helm Charts Repository

cd ..
git clone https://github.com/capsign/helm-charts.git
cd helm-charts

Deploy Everything at Once

# Deploy all components to production
./scripts/deploy-all.sh production

This script deploys:

Monitoring stack (Prometheus, Grafana, AlertManager)
Reth execution client
Prysm consensus client
Network policies and RBAC

Monitor Deployment Progress

# Watch deployments
kubectl get pods -A --watch

# Check specific services
kubectl get pods -n blockchain
kubectl get pods -n monitoring

📊 Step 3: Access Your Infrastructure

Grafana Dashboard

# Get Grafana admin password
kubectl get secret --namespace monitoring monitoring-stack-grafana \
  -o jsonpath="{.data.admin-password}" | base64 --decode ; echo

# Port forward to access locally
kubectl port-forward svc/monitoring-stack-grafana 3000:80 -n monitoring

Open: http://localhost:3000

Username: admin
Password: [from command above]

Blockchain Node Endpoints

# Get Reth RPC endpoint
kubectl get svc reth -n blockchain

# Test RPC connection
kubectl exec -n blockchain deployment/reth -- \
  curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}' \
  http://localhost:8545

Consensus Client Status

# Check Prysm beacon node
kubectl logs -n blockchain deployment/prysm-beacon --tail=50

# Check sync status
kubectl exec -n blockchain deployment/prysm-beacon -- \
  curl http://localhost:8080/healthz

✅ Verification Checklist

Confirm your deployment is working:

Infrastructure: All Terraform resources created successfully
Kubernetes: All pods are Running or Completed
Reth: Execution client is syncing Ethereum mainnet
Prysm: Consensus client is syncing beacon chain
Monitoring: Grafana dashboards show live metrics
Security: Network policies and RBAC are active

Health Check Commands

# Overall cluster health
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A | grep -v Running

# Blockchain sync status
kubectl logs -n blockchain deployment/reth --tail=10
kubectl logs -n blockchain deployment/prysm-beacon --tail=10

# Monitoring stack
kubectl get pods -n monitoring

🎉 Success! What's Next?

Your blockchain infrastructure is now live! Here are recommended next steps:

Immediate Actions

Configure alerting for production monitoring
Set up backups for critical data
Review security settings for production hardening

Optional Enhancements

Add validators to earn staking rewards
Deploy Optimism L2 for Layer 2 scaling
Set up custom domains for external access
Configure CI/CD for automated deployments

Learning Resources

Architecture Overview - Understand your infrastructure
Monitoring Guide - Key metrics to watch
Troubleshooting - Common issues and fixes
Best Practices - Production optimization

🆘 Need Help?

Something not working? We're here to help:

Troubleshooting Guide - Common solutions
Discord Community - Real-time support
GitHub Issues - Bug reports
Enterprise Support - Commercial assistance

💰 Cost Estimation

Typical monthly costs for this setup:

Component

Instance Type

Monthly Cost

EKS Control Plane

$73

Worker Nodes

3x m5.large

$195

Storage (EBS)

500GB gp3

$40

Load Balancer

ALB

$25

Total

~$333/month

💡 Cost optimization tips:

Use Spot instances for 60% savings
Enable cluster autoscaling to reduce idle costs
Monitor with Infracost for detailed breakdowns

🚀 Congratulations! You've deployed enterprise-grade infrastructure ready for the CMX Protocol and CMX Network. Welcome to the CapSign community!