I started from scratch a few days ago…my Ubuntu install had system issues. I should have backed it up so I wouldn’t have to do a fresh install. My old install had gotten just past metadata part of course.
In this new install I’ve been using relative paths all along like my old install, and they’ve worked for me as long as I run them from the correct directory, “relay/”. The reason I’ve avoided using absolute path…I don’t know if this reason is legitimate because I haven’t used absolute path before, but my guess is with absolute path you can accidentally start generating files in unintended directories, and sorta accidentally clutter you home directory a little bit. I’ve caught myself using commands to generate files only to realize the command didn’t work because I was in the wrong directory, so relative path keeps me from creating files in the wrong places I suppose.
If you look at the stake pool course, the command for running your pool as a slot leader candidate has several errors:
https://cardano-foundation.gitbook.io/stake-pool-course/stake-pool-guide/stake-pool/corenode-start
cardano-node run \
–topology shelley_testnet-topology.json \
–database-path /db \
–socket-path /db/node.socket \
–host-addr PUBLIC IP \
–port PORT \
–config shelley_testnet-config.json \
–shelley-kes-key kes.skey \
–shelley-vrf-key vrf.skey \
–shelley-operational-certificate node.cert
- In the third line, database path points to the root directory
- In the fourth line the same problem: node-socket path points to root directory
- I don’t know if this is a mistake or not, but if core host address is ‘external IP’, you’re ‘advertising’ or at least making your external IP available to the rest of the web. I guess this is OK if your relays are outside your LAN, but in my situation, my relay node is on my LAN along with my block producer, so I just use an internal IP for the core node to talk to my relay and use an internal IP for my relay to talk to my core node, but my relay also talks to IOHK nodes externally, but both start-up scripts use internal IPs…don’t know if that’s a mistake on my part, but I think things are working so far.
Also, 2nd and 7th lines use and underscore “_” in the filenames which doesn’t work when you download the topology files from ‘hydra’ location for use on your pool.
I don’t see need to use hydra files when they are essentially the same testnet files we’ve been using all along since the beginning of the course - they just have the name “shelley” in them, but their content is essentially the same.
Anyway, I don’t think I’m getting any errors now:
I think it’s working, the core node, but all I get is the message…
[2020-09-13 19:35:34.00 UTC] fromList
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.Forge:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:34.00 UTC] Not leading slot 5656518
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.ForgeTime:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:34.00 UTC] fromList
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.Forge:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:35.00 UTC] {“kind”:“TraceStartLeadershipCheck”,“slot”:5656519,“utxoSize”:51160}
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.ForgeTime:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:35.00 UTC] fromList
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.Forge:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:35.00 UTC] Not leading slot 5656519
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.ForgeTime:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:35.00 UTC] fromList
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.Forge:Info:45] [2020-09-13 19:35:36.00 UTC] {“kind”:“TraceStartLeadershipCheck”,“slot”:5656520,“utxoSize”:51160}
Every so often, I do get a message (which must come from my relay) letting my core node know about the latest slot:
[bp-01-64:cardano.node.ChainDB:Notice:35] [2020-09-13 19:48:50.45 UTC] Chain extended, new tip: bc3763ae4b3ba1e3e947deb3a7b72c9496d988b74ad638ff2a010c6b3926c7d4 at slot 5657314
lol…anyway, most of the message are about not being a slot leader. I guess it’s not easy to become a slot leader. 
Anyway, I have regular internet and my two laptops are connect via cat 5 cable to a linksys router which in turn is bridged to my main Asus router because I wanted static IPs for my relay and BP and I’m having trouble setting those up over wifi…only ethernet seems to accept that. I’m leaving wifi for use for my other home devices, like smart tv, other computers, etc. I’m pretty sure my connection is slow compared to most, but I guess these messages I’m getting are not error messages either, I hope.
I had too much trouble with my 2nd relay on the cloud - it always had subscription issues. To port forward on AWS it’s a complicated procedure. You need “session manager”, you need to install apps/packages and dependencies on your linux machine at home. There’s a list of things that need to be done to get it to work and the directions given are very confusing, and I haven’t seen any youtube videos of people port-forwarding from home to an AWS instance. My belief is that AWS makes it deliberately difficult because they don’t want a hybrid deployment in which your network is both at home and on their servers. I feel like they want the whole deployment on their servers or at your home, but not both.
Anyway, I’m ready for that metadata part of the course again. Scary stuff, to work your way all the way to the end of the course, just for things to fail. 