5. Subnet Creation

caution

The Ash Console is currently in beta and not production-ready. It is under active development and subject to breaking changes.

In this section, we will create a Subnet resource on our local network.

Control key creation

Before creating a Subnet, we need to create a wallet secret. This wallet will be use to sign the Subnet transactions (creation, validator management, etc.) and the P-Chain address will be used as the control key of the Subnet.

To make things easier, we will use the ewoq address which is pre-funded on the local network.

Using the Ash Console

From the Ash Console project overview page, navigate to the Secrets tab:

• Click on the Create Secret button.
• Select the Wallet secret type.
• Set ewoq-key a name for your secret.
• Copy-paste the ewoq key in the Private Key field:

  PrivateKey-ewoqjP7PxY4yr3iLTpLisriqt94hdyDFNgchSxGGztUrTXtNN
• Copy-paste the ewoq address in the P-Chain Address field:

  P-fuji18jma8ppw3nhx5r4ap8clazz0dps7rv5u6wmu4t
• Choose cb58 in the Private Key Format field.
• Click on the Create button to add secret to the project.

Using the Ash CLI

Command

ash console secret create '{
  name: ewoq-key,
  secretType: wallet,
  pChainAddress: P-fuji18jma8ppw3nhx5r4ap8clazz0dps7rv5u6wmu4t,
  privateKey: PrivateKey-ewoqjP7PxY4yr3iLTpLisriqt94hdyDFNgchSxGGztUrTXtNN,
  privateKeyFormat: cb58
}'

Output

Secret created successfully!
+-------------+-------------+--------+------------------+---------+
| Secret name | Secret ID   | Type   | Created at       | Used by |
+=============+=============+========+==================+=========+
| ewoq-key    | 657b...949e | Wallet | 2024-01-30T13:40 | 0       |
+-------------+-------------+--------+------------------+---------+

danger

Do not use this wallet as control key in production!

Subnet creation

Using the Ash Console

From the Ash Console project overview page, navigate to the Ressources tab:

• Click on the Subnets tab.
• Click on the Create Subnet button.
• Pick a name for your Subnet, e.g., ash-subnet.
• Select the cloud region you added in the previous step.
• Select the ewoq-key secret you created in the previous step.
• (Optional) Configure the Subnet with custom configurations if needed. See the ash.avalanche.subnet reference doc for a list of all supported configuration keys.
• Click on the Create button.

tip

Make sure that all local-node-0x nodes are checked as Subnet validators.

Using the Ash CLI

The following command will create a Subnet EVM blockchain with a standard genesis configuration.

Command

ash console resource create '{
  name: ash-subnet,
  resourceType: avalancheSubnet,
  cloudRegionId: aws/us-east-1,
  subnetControlKeySecretId: ewoq-key,
  subnetNodesResourceIds: [
    local-node-01,
    local-node-02,
    local-node-03,
    local-node-04,
    local-node-05,
  ],
  subnetConfig: {
    avalancheSubnetConfig: {
      subnet_blockchains_list: [
          {
            name: AshLocalEVM,
            vm: subnet-evm,
            genesis_data: {
              "config": {
                "chainId": 66666,
                "homesteadBlock": 0,
                "eip150Block": 0,
                "eip150Hash": "0x2086799aeebeae135c246c65021c82b4e15a2c451340993aacfd2751886514f0",
                "eip155Block": 0,
                "eip158Block": 0,
                "byzantiumBlock": 0,
                "constantinopleBlock": 0,
                "petersburgBlock": 0,
                "istanbulBlock": 0,
                "muirGlacierBlock": 0,
                "subnetEVMTimestamp": 0,
                "feeConfig": {
                  "gasLimit": 8000000,
                  "minBaseFee": 25000000000,
                  "targetGas": 15000000,
                  "baseFeeChangeDenominator": 36,
                  "minBlockGasCost": 0,
                  "maxBlockGasCost": 1000000,
                  "targetBlockRate": 2,
                  "blockGasCostStep": 200000
                }
              },
              "alloc": {
                "8db97C7cEcE249c2b98bDC0226Cc4C2A57BF52FC": {
                  "balance": "0x295BE96E64066972000000"
                }
              },
              "nonce": "0x0",
              "timestamp": "0x0",
              "extraData": "0x00",
              "gasLimit": "0x7A1200",
              "difficulty": "0x0",
              "mixHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
              "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
              "number": "0x0",
              "gasUsed": "0x0",
              "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  },
}'

tip

The avalancheSubnetConfig field is following the same structure as the Ansible Avalanche Collection's ash.avalanche_subnet role. See Blockchain configuration for more information on how to generate a custom genesis configuration.

Output

Resource successfully created in project 'ash-devnet'!
+---------------+-------------+-----------------+---------------+-------+------------------+---------+-------------------+
| Resource name | Resource ID | Type            | Cloud region  | Size  | Created at       | Status  | Resource specific |
+===============+=============+=================+===============+=======+==================+=========+===================+
| ash-subnet    | 542c...f94e | AvalancheSubnet | aws/us-east-1 | Small | 2024-01-30T13:58 | Pending |  ID         |     |
|               |             |                 |               |       |                  |         |  Validators | 0   |
+---------------+-------------+-----------------+---------------+-------+------------------+---------+-------------------+

info

Unlike the avalancheNode resource, there is no concept of size for the avalancheSubnet resource. The Ash Console will create a small instance (e.g.: t2.small) that will serve as the Subnet control plane.

Subnet information

Using the Ash Console

After a few minutes, we can get the Subnet ID and attached nodes:

Notice that upon Subnet creation, the nodes' *uptime is 0%. This is because the Avalanche nodes' configuration has been updated to track the Subnet but they have not been restarted so it has not been taken into account yet.

We can confirm this by navigating to the Ressources tab and see that the Restart required field is set to Yes for each node:

After restarting every node by clicking on ... and then Restart button, the nodes will join the Subnet.

After a few minutes, we can see that the nodes' uptime is updated:

Using the Ash CLI

After a few minutes, we can get the Subnet ID, control keys, blockchains, and validator nodes information from the subnetStatus field returned by the console resource info command:

Command

ash console resource info ash-subnet --json | jq '.subnetStatus'

tip

We use the --json flag to get the extended information about the Subnet. All those information cannot be displayed in a table format.

Output

{
  "blockchains": [
    {
      "id": "RfX8YRUHePxFENBZFwaNt1tP6CR6RQ4hJJ5AqYv49LRoSKniK",
      "name": "AshLocalEVM",
      "vm_id": "srEXiWaHuhNyGwPUi444Tu47ZEDwxTWrbQiuD7FmgSAQ6X7Dy",
      "vm_type": "SubnetEVM"
    }
  ],
  "controlKeys": [
    "P-local18jma8ppw3nhx5r4ap8clazz0dps7rv5u00z96u"
  ],
  "id": "29uVeLPJB1eQJkzRemU8g8wZDw5uJRqpab5U2mX9euieVwiEbL",
  "pendingValidators": [],
  "subnetType": "Permissioned",
  "threshold": 1,
  "validators": [
    {
      "connected": true,
      "end_time": 1707486609,
      "node_id": "NodeID-MFrZFVCXPv5iCn6M9K6XduxGTYp891xXZ",
      "stake_amount": 100,
      "start_time": 1706881809,
      "tx_id": "DhEgYijBur6QDUDgUMpmDAyF5XGyq6JwG919B8bkryDLijvua",
      "uptime": 100,
      "weight": 100
    },
    # ...
  ]
}

Blockchain RPC endpoint

Using the Ash Console

Navigate to the Subnet page to display the RPC endpoint that can be used to query the Subnet EVM blockchain (e.g. to connect a Web3 wallet):

Using the Ash Console

The CLI provides a powerful helper to get the RPC endpoint that can be used to query the Subnet EVM blockchain (e.g. to connect a Web3 wallet). Provide the avalancheNode resource name to be used as RPC and the avalancheSubnet resource name:

Command

ash console helper rpc local-node-01 ash-subnet

Output

AshLocalEVM RCP endpoint:
  http://44.223.28.33:9650/ext/bc/RfX8YRUHePxFENBZFwaNt1tP6CR6RQ4hJJ5AqYv49LRoSKniK/rpc

note

See the reference for more information about resources lifecycle management.

tip

Checkout Contract Deployment to learn how to deploy a smart contract on your Subnet EVM L1.