Table of Contents

Crypto - Chia - CLI - Farm - Farming on many machines

Run a harvester on each machine, without having to run a full node, wallet, and farmer on each one.

This keeps the system simpler, uses less bandwidth, space, CPU, and also keeps the keys safer.

This should also make the overall farming process quicker and more efficient when replying to challenges.

On Main PC

Shut down Chia on the main computer

chia stop -d all

Find the IP address on the main computer

ip a

Make a copy of the main machine CA directory

The CA directory is located in ~/.chia/mainnet/config/ssl/ca.

NOTE: Copy the CA file.

This file can be shared via USB stick, or through a network copy to each harvester.

The new ssl/ca directory must be copied with each version of chia-blockchain.

WARNING: Do not copy the entire config/ssl directory from one machine to another.

Each harvester must have a different set of TLS certificates for your main machine to recognize it as different harvesters.

In the new Harvester

Install Chia

NOTE: Use the regular 24 word mnemonic key from the main PC.

Shut down Chia

chia stop -d all

Modify Chia Config

Edit the ~/.chia/mainnet/config/config.yaml file.

Search for enable_upnp:

~/.chia/mainnet/config/config.yaml
enable_upnp: true

and change to

~/.chia/mainnet/config/config.yaml
enable_upnp: false

Search for harvester: and the farmer_peer section:

~/.chia/mainnet/config/config.yaml
harvester:
  farmer_peer:
    host: localhost

and change the localhost to the IP address of the main PC.

~/.chia/mainnet/config/config.yaml
harvester:
  farmer_peer:
    host: 192.168.1.51

NOTE: The 192.168.1.51 is the IP address of the main PC.

Initialize Chia

chia init -c [directory]

NOTE: This creates a new certificate signed by the CA of the main machine.

  • [directory] is the copy of the main machine CA directory and its network location.

    WARNING: DO NOT replace the /ca directory on the harvester with this copy of the CA from the main machine!

    • Place the copy of the main machine /ca directory into a temp directory on the harvester.
    • The harvester will use these files temporarily.
    • This temporary directory can then be deleted.

For example, assuming the main PC CA was placed into \main_ca: 

chia init -c \main_ca

Start Chia on the main PC

chia start farmer

Start the new harvester

On the new PC. 

chia start harvester -r

NOTE: The new harvester may take up to 20 minutes to start the sync process.

It will make a full copy of the blockchain to get to normal sync.

Ensure that firewall rules allow the harvester to connect to the main machine.

Check the new harvester is working

On the main PC:

NOTE: Another method to check:

On the main PC Farm tab:

  • Last Attempted Proof: The number of plots on the harvester will also be included in the Plots Passed Filter total.

Create Plots

New plots can now be created on the new machine. 

chia plots create -f farmer_key -p pool_key

NOTE:

  • farmer_key: From the main machine.
  • pool_key: From the main machine.

Plots can also be copied over.

Farming will only happen once full sync is completed.

NOTE: After creating a plot, check everything is working correctly: 

chia plots check

References

https://github.com/Chia-Network/chia-blockchain/wiki/Farming-on-many-machines