Create Besu Nodes

This guide covers creating validator, bootnode, and fullnode instances for your Besu network.

Prerequisites

• ChainLaunch running at http://localhost:8100
• A Besu network created

Node Types

Type	Purpose	Consensus	Stores state
Validator	Creates and validates blocks	Yes	Yes
Bootnode	Peer discovery entry point	No	No
Fullnode	Syncs chain, serves RPC queries	No	Yes

Create Nodes via UI

1. Go to Nodes in the left sidebar
2. Click Besu Node
3. Fill in the configuration:

Field	Description	Example
Name	Unique node name	validator-0
Network	Select your Besu network	my-besu-network
Node Type	Validator, Bootnode, or Fullnode	Validator
P2P Port	Peer-to-peer communication	30303
RPC HTTP Port	JSON-RPC endpoint	8545
RPC WebSocket Port	WebSocket endpoint	8546
Metrics Port	Prometheus metrics	9545

4. Click Create Node

The node starts automatically and connects to the network.

Create Nodes via CLI

# Create a Besu testnet with 4 validators in one command
chainlaunch testnet besu --name my-besu --nodes 4 --mode docker

# Individual node creation is done through the API (see below)

Create Nodes via API

Validator Node

curl -X POST http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "validator-0",
    "platform": "BESU",
    "nodeType": "BESU_FULLNODE",
    "networkId": 1,
    "config": {
      "p2pPort": 30303,
      "rpcHttpPort": 8545,
      "rpcWsPort": 8546,
      "metricsPort": 9545
    }
  }'

Bootnode

curl -X POST http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "bootnode-0",
    "platform": "BESU",
    "nodeType": "BESU_FULLNODE",
    "networkId": 1,
    "config": {
      "p2pPort": 30303,
      "isBootnode": true
    }
  }'

Node Lifecycle

Start / Stop / Restart

# Start a node
curl -X POST http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes/{nodeId}/start

# Stop a node
curl -X POST http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes/{nodeId}/stop

# Restart a node
curl -X POST http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes/{nodeId}/restart

View Logs

curl http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes/{nodeId}/logs?tail=100

Check Status

curl http://localhost:8100/api/v1/nodes/{nodeId} | jq '.status'

Connecting to a Node

Once a validator or fullnode is running, connect to it via JSON-RPC:

# Get latest block number
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'

# Get peer count
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"net_peerCount","params":[],"id":1}'

# Get sync status
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'

Resource Planning

Node Type	CPU	Memory	Disk
Validator	2 cores	4 GB	20 GB+
Bootnode	1 core	1 GB	5 GB
Fullnode	2 cores	4 GB	50 GB+

tip

For QBFT/IBFT consensus, you need at least 4 validators to tolerate 1 Byzantine fault (3f + 1 where f is the number of faulty nodes).

Next Steps

• Manage Validators to add/remove validators from a running network
• Configure Monitoring for Prometheus metrics
• Besu Overview for consensus mechanism details