Using jussi as a Multiplexer

By the end of this recipe you should know how to install jussi on your local subnet to take advantage of its features.

This recipe will take you through the process of setting up jussi for a small infrastructure like a home network.

Intro

What is a Multiplexer? In this context, a multiplexer an appliance that accepts API requests from multiple applications running on the same subnet and passes them to an upstream node. This means, for example, if you have two applications that request the same block from API, your local jussi instance will make a single upstream request for the block and return it to both applications.

Deploying jussi on your own local subnet will help improve efficiency because your local applications won’t require SSL and jussi can take care of gzipping requests that go out over the Internet.

Steps

1. Setting Up Docker In order to run jussi, docker is recommended
2. Install jussi Clone jussi from the repository and build
3. Configure Your Apps Point all of your applications to this node

1. Setting Up Docker

Although it’s possible to set up jussi to run natively without virtualization, docker is recommended. Setting up docker depends on your operating system:

• Docker for Linux
• Docker for macOS
• Docker for Windows

2. Install jussi

git clone https://github.com/steemit/jussi.git
cd jussi

Edit the file DEV_config.json and change all:

https://steemd.steemitdev.com

… to …

https://api.steemit.com

Also consider adding the retries element to your DEV_config.json.

Then build and run:

docker build -t="$USER/jussi:$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" .
docker run -itp 9000:8080 "$USER/jussi:$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"

3. Configure Your Apps

Now, you can use your new jussi node as if it’s a full node running locally. For example:

curl -s --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "method":"condenser_api.get_block", "params":[8675309], "id":1}' http://localhost:9000

In this case, http://localhost:9000 will act like a full node. In reality, it’s passing all of its request to its upstream, https://api.steemit.com.

Once you’ve implemented your own jussi node in this manner, you should notice an improvement in bandwidth utilization. If you’re internet provider implements packet shaping strategies, this will have a positive impact because you are no longer streaming the entire blockchain once for each application.

Troubleshooting / Updating

Error: invalid argument "/jussi:master" for t=/jussi:master: invalid reference format

Solution:

You’re probably trying to run on a raspberry pi. Just replace $USER in the command with the current user.

If you would like to update jussi to the latest version, here’s a quick way:

git stash && git pull && git stash pop

If there are git errors due to structural changes to DEV_config.json, just start over from step 2 and reclone jussi to a fresh location. Otherwise, you should be able to rebuild and run.