Discovery Manager

In the previous tutorial, we built a custom protocol using protobuf and spread informations (some metrics) on the network using gossipsub. For this tutorial, on the other hand, we'll go back on a simple example we'll try to discover a specific peers to greet on the network.

First, as usual, we import the dependencies:

import sequtils
import chronos
import stew/byteutils

import libp2p
import libp2p/protocols/rendezvous
import libp2p/discovery/rendezvousinterface
import libp2p/discovery/discoverymngr

We'll not use newStandardSwitch this time as we need the discovery protocol RendezVous to be mounted on the switch using withRendezVous.

Note that other discovery methods such as Kademlia or discv5 exist.

proc createSwitch(rdv: RendezVous = RendezVous.new()): Switch =
  SwitchBuilder.new()
    .withRng(newRng())
    .withAddresses(@[ MultiAddress.init("/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/0").tryGet() ])
    .withTcpTransport()
    .withYamux()
    .withNoise()
    .withRendezVous(rdv)
    .build()

# Create a really simple protocol to log one message received then close the stream
const DumbCodec = "/dumb/proto/1.0.0"
type DumbProto = ref object of LPProtocol
proc new(T: typedesc[DumbProto], nodeNumber: int): T =
  proc handle(conn: Connection, proto: string) {.async, gcsafe.} =
    echo "Node", nodeNumber, " received: ", string.fromBytes(await conn.readLp(1024))
    await conn.close()
  return T.new(codecs = @[DumbCodec], handler = handle)

Bootnodes

The first time a p2p program is ran, he needs to know how to join its network. This is generally done by hard-coding a list of stable nodes in the binary, called "bootnodes". These bootnodes are a critical part of a p2p network, since they are used by every new user to onboard the network.

By using libp2p, we can use any node supporting our discovery protocol (rendezvous in this case) as a bootnode. For this example, we'll create a bootnode, and then every peer will advertise itself on the bootnode, and use it to find other peers

proc main() {.async, gcsafe.} =
  let bootNode = createSwitch()
  await bootNode.start()

  # Create 5 nodes in the network
  var
    switches: seq[Switch] = @[]
    discManagers: seq[DiscoveryManager] = @[]

  for i in 0..5:
    let rdv = RendezVous.new()
    # Create a remote future to await at the end of the program
    let switch = createSwitch(rdv)
    switch.mount(DumbProto.new(i))
    switches.add(switch)

    # A discovery manager is a simple tool, you can set it up by adding discovery
    # interfaces (such as RendezVousInterface) then you can use it to advertise
    # something on the network or to request something from it.
    let dm = DiscoveryManager()
    # A RendezVousInterface is a RendezVous protocol wrapped to be usable by the
    # DiscoveryManager.
    dm.add(RendezVousInterface.new(rdv))
    discManagers.add(dm)

    # We can now start the switch and connect to the bootnode
    await switch.start()
    await switch.connect(bootNode.peerInfo.peerId, bootNode.peerInfo.addrs)

    # Each nodes of the network will advertise on some topics (EvenGang or OddClub)
    dm.advertise(RdvNamespace(if i mod 2 == 0: "EvenGang" else: "OddClub"))

We can now create the newcomer. This peer will connect to the boot node, and use it to discover peers & greet them.

  let
    rdv = RendezVous.new()
    newcomer = createSwitch(rdv)
    dm = DiscoveryManager()
  await newcomer.start()
  await newcomer.connect(bootNode.peerInfo.peerId, bootNode.peerInfo.addrs)
  dm.add(RendezVousInterface.new(rdv, ttr = 250.milliseconds))

  # Use the discovery manager to find peers on the OddClub topic to greet them
  let queryOddClub = dm.request(RdvNamespace("OddClub"))
  for _ in 0..2:
    let
      # getPeer give you a PeerAttribute containing informations about the peer.
      res = await queryOddClub.getPeer()
      # Here we will use the PeerId and the MultiAddress to greet him
      conn = await newcomer.dial(res[PeerId], res.getAll(MultiAddress), DumbCodec)
    await conn.writeLp("Odd Club suuuucks! Even Gang is better!")
    # Uh-oh!
    await conn.close()
    # Wait for the peer to close the stream
    await conn.join()
  # Queries will run in a loop, so we must stop them when we are done
  queryOddClub.stop()

  # Maybe it was because he wanted to join the EvenGang
  let queryEvenGang = dm.request(RdvNamespace("EvenGang"))
  for _ in 0..2:
    let
      res = await queryEvenGang.getPeer()
      conn = await newcomer.dial(res[PeerId], res.getAll(MultiAddress), DumbCodec)
    await conn.writeLp("Even Gang is sooo laaame! Odd Club rocks!")
    # Or maybe not...
    await conn.close()
    await conn.join()
  queryEvenGang.stop()
  # What can I say, some people just want to watch the world burn... Anyway

  # Stop all the discovery managers
  for d in discManagers:
    d.stop()
  dm.stop()

  # Stop all the switches
  await allFutures(switches.mapIt(it.stop()))
  await allFutures(bootNode.stop(), newcomer.stop())

waitFor(main())