quickstart.md

Quickstart of the Simulator

Table of Contents

1. Configuration
2. Running locally
   1. Build the Simulator
   2. Run the Server first
   3. Run the Simulator
   4. Run the Simulator with Debug
3. Viewing Metrics

Configuration

Refer to the Configuration for configuration options.

Running locally

• Simulator subproject qualifier::simulator
• Assuming your working directory is the repo root

NOTE: one may use the -p flag for ./gradlew in order to avoid specifying the target subproject repeatedly on each task when running multiple tasks. When running only a single task, however, it is recommended to use the project qualifier (i.e. :simulator:) for both simplicity and clarity.

Build the Simulator

NOTE: if you have not done so already, it is generally recommended to build the entire repo first:

./gradlew clean build -x test

1. To quickly build the Simulator sources (without running tests), do the following:

   ./gradlew -p simulator clean build -x test

Run the Server first

Usually, you would want to run the Server first, refer to the Quickstart of the Server for a quick guide on how to get started with the application.

Run the Simulator

1. To start the Simulator, do the following:

   ./gradlew :simulator:run

Run the Simulator with Debug

1. To start the Simulator with debug enabled, do the following:

   ./gradlew :simulator:run --debug-jvm

2. Attach your remote jvm debugger to port 5005.

Viewing Metrics

The simulator can run in two modes (Publisher and Consumer) and provides metrics for both configurations. To view the metrics:

1. Start the Block Node server and simulator first:

   ./gradlew startDockerContainer

2. Access the metrics:

   • Open Grafana at http://localhost:3000
   • Navigate to Dashboards
   • You'll find two dashboards:
     • Block Stream Simulator Publisher: Shows metrics for the publisher instance
     • Block Stream Simulator Consumer: Shows metrics for the consumer instance