Create a Besu Network in 2 Minutes (Step-by-Step)

Setting up an enterprise-grade Ethereum network has traditionally been a complex, time-consuming process. With ChainLaunch Pro, you can deploy a fully configured Hyperledger Besu network with multiple validator nodes in under 2 minutes. Let's walk through the process step by step.

What You'll Deploy

By the end of this guide, you'll have:

• A 4-node Besu network using QBFT consensus
• Automatic validator key generation and management
• Pre-funded accounts with 1,000,000 ETH each
• Production-ready configuration with metrics enabled
• Genesis block automatically created

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• Operating System: macOS or Linux (Windows is not supported)
• Network Access: Internet connection to download ChainLaunch
• System Requirements: At least 4GB RAM, 10GB free disk space

Install ChainLaunch Pro

To install ChainLaunch Pro with advanced features:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="<your_github_token>"
curl -fsSL https://chainlaunch.dev/install-pro.sh | bash

Or install the free version:

curl -fsSL https://chainlaunch.dev/install.sh | bash

Start the Server

Once installed, start ChainLaunch with:

export CHAINLAUNCH_USER=admin
export CHAINLAUNCH_PASSWORD=admin123
chainlaunch serve --data=./chainlaunch-data --db=./chainlaunch.db --port=3100

This will start the dashboard at http://localhost:3100.

Step 1: Log In to ChainLaunch

Navigate to your ChainLaunch instance and log in with your credentials.

After logging in, you'll see the dashboard with an overview of your blockchain infrastructure.

Step 2: Access the Create Network Wizard

Click the "+" button in the top right header to open the quick actions menu. You'll see options for creating both Fabric and Besu networks.

Select "Besu Create Network" to start the network creation wizard.

Step 3: Configure Basic Settings

The wizard starts with Step 1: Number of Nodes. Here you'll configure:

• Network Name: A unique identifier for your network (e.g., my-besu-network)
• Number of Nodes: How many validator nodes to create (default is 4)
• Besu Version: The version of Hyperledger Besu to use

Enter your network name and click "Next" to proceed.

Step 4: Network Configuration

Step 2: Network Configuration shows the detailed network settings:

Key configuration options include:

• Consensus Algorithm: QBFT (Quorum Byzantine Fault Tolerance) - enterprise-grade consensus
• Validator Keys: Automatically generated for each node
• Chain ID: Network identifier (default: 1337)
• Block Period: Time between blocks (default: 5 seconds)
• Gas Limit: Maximum gas per block

Initial Allocations

Each validator receives an initial balance of 1,000,000 ETH, perfect for development and testing.

Click "Next" to proceed to node configuration.

Step 5: Nodes Configuration

Step 3: Nodes Configuration lets you customize each node's settings:

The wizard creates:

• 2 Bootnode + Validator nodes (Node 1 & 2)
• 2 Validator nodes (Node 3 & 4)

Each node is pre-configured with:

• Unique node names
• Assigned validator keys
• P2P and RPC endpoints
• Prometheus metrics enabled

You can expand each node to customize settings like:

• IP addresses (internal/external)
• Port configurations
• Metrics settings
• Boot nodes list

Click "Next" to review your configuration.

Step 6: Review and Create

Step 4: Review & Create shows a summary of your network:

Review the summary:

• Network Name: my-besu-network
• Number of Nodes: 4
• Chain ID: 1337
• Nodes: besu-my-besu-network-1 through besu-my-besu-network-4

Click "Create Network" to start the deployment.

Step 7: Network Creation

ChainLaunch creates all 4 nodes in parallel for maximum speed:

The status indicators show the progress for each node.

Step 8: Network Ready

Once complete, you're redirected to your new network's detail page:

Your Besu network is now ready with:

• Genesis block created status
• 4 validator addresses configured
• QBFT consensus active
• Network ID 1337 assigned

Step 9: Explore Your Network

The network detail page provides several tabs to explore and manage your network:

Genesis Tab

The Genesis tab displays the complete genesis block configuration in JSON format:

Here you can view and edit:

• Chain ID: Network identifier (1337)
• QBFT Configuration: Block period, epoch length, request timeout
• Gas Limit: Maximum gas per block
• Initial Allocations: Pre-funded account balances
• Extra Data: Encoded validator addresses

Validators Tab

The Validators tab shows the active validators on your network:

From this tab you can:

• View all 4 active validators with their addresses
• Switch nodes to perform validator operations from different nodes
• Manage Validators: Add or remove validators dynamically (QBFT supports on-chain voting)
• Copy validator addresses for use in your applications

Explorer Tab

The Explorer tab provides a built-in block explorer:

Features include:

• Latest Block: Shows current block height (blocks are produced every 5 seconds)
• Recent Blocks: Browse the last 5 blocks with pagination
• Block Search: Find blocks by number or hash
• View Details: Click any block to see transactions, gas usage, and more

Dashboard Overview

Back on the dashboard, you can see your new network and all its nodes running:

The dashboard now shows:

• 12 total nodes (including your 4 new Besu nodes)
• 3 networks (your new my-besu-network plus existing networks)
• All my-besu-network nodes with RUNNING status

What's Next?

Now that your Besu network is running, you can:

Connect Your Applications

const Web3 = require('web3');
const web3 = new Web3('http://localhost:8545');
 
// Check connection
web3.eth.getBlockNumber().then(console.log);

Deploy Smart Contracts

Use Hardhat, Truffle, or Foundry to deploy contracts to your network.

Monitor Your Network

Navigate to the Monitoring section in ChainLaunch to view:

• Node health status
• Block production metrics
• Transaction throughput

Add More Nodes

Need more capacity? Use the wizard to add additional validator or non-validator nodes.

Why QBFT Consensus?

ChainLaunch uses QBFT (Quorum Byzantine Fault Tolerance) by default because it offers:

• Immediate finality: Transactions are final once included in a block
• Enterprise-grade: Designed for permissioned networks
• Fault tolerant: Network continues with up to (n-1)/3 faulty nodes
• Performance: High throughput with low latency

Conclusion

What used to take hours of manual configuration now takes less than 2 minutes with ChainLaunch Pro. The intuitive wizard handles all the complexity:

• Validator key generation and management
• Genesis block creation
• Node configuration and networking
• Metrics and monitoring setup

Ready to deploy your own Besu network? Get started with ChainLaunch Pro today.

Need help? Check out our documentation or reach out to our support team.