Description

Introduction

This course introduces students to implementing blockchain applications. Before you can implement any software application, you need to ensue your development and deployment environment is in place. That means you’ll need all the tools and infrastructure installed and configured to support blockchain software development and deployment projects.

In this lab you’ll set up your own local environment you’ll use in later labs to set up Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric development and deployment environments. When you finish this lab, you’ll have the infrastructure in place to build many different types of virtual environments on your own computer.  

The instructions in this course’s labs assume that your computer runs the Windows operating system. If you run MacOS or Linux, you can get Vagrant and VirtualBox for those operating systems and follow the gist of the “Initial setup for Windows computers”.

Lab Deliverables:

To complete this lab, you must create a Lab Report file and submit the file in iLearn. The Lab Report file must be a Microsoft Word format (.docx), and have the filename with the following format:

BLCN631_SECTION_STUDENTID_LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_Lab01.docx

·         SECTION is the section number of your current course (2 digits)

·         STUDENTID is your student ID number (with leading zeros)

·         LASTNAME is your last name, FIRSTNAME is your first name

To get started, create a Microsoft Word document (.docx) with the correct filename for this lab. You’ll be asked to enter text and paste screenshots into the lab report file.

NOTE: All screenshots MUST be readable. Use the Ubuntu Screen Capture utility (see the lab video.) Make sure that you label each screenshot (i.e. Step 2.1.3) and provide screenshots in order. For commands that produce lots of output, I only want to see the last full screen when the command finishes. Provide FULL screenshots, NOT cropped images.

SECTION 1: Initial setup for Windows computers

Step 1.1: Install Oracle Virtualbox (Windows, Linux, MacOS)

Oracle Virtualbox is an open source virtualization environment that allows you to run multiple virtual machines and containers on a single personal computer. Virtualbox is free and it is easy to install.

In your favorite web browser, navigate to: https://www.virtualbox.org/ and click the “Download Virtualbox” button. Click the “Windows hosts” link to download the main installation executable. You should also click the “All supported platforms” under the “Extension Pack” heading to download extra software support for devices.

After you download the two files, double click each one to run the install procedure.

Step 1.2: Install Vagrant (Windows, Linux, MacOS)

Vagrant is a free virtual environment management utility. It makes the process of starting, stopping, and managing virtual machines easier. In your web browser, navigate to https://www.vagrantup.com/ then click the “Download” button, and click the version of the Windows executable you’d like to install. (Most of you should select the “64-bit” version.)

Once you download the install program, double-click the file you just downloaded to install Vagrant.

 If you want more information on Vagrant and tips on getting the most out of the software, navigate to:

https://www.sitepoint.com/getting-started-vagrant-windows/ .

Step 1.3: Set up your first Vagrant project

After installing all the pre-requisite pieces, you need to set up your Vagrant project. A Vagrant project defines your virtual machine environment and helps you organize your collection of VMs into a group that is easy to manage.

We’ll use the Windows PowerShell as our Windows command prompt environment. PowerShell is a very powerful command line interface that is available on all Windows computers.

To launch PowerShell, click the Windows key, type PowerShell, then click the Windows PowerShell menu entry. The figure below shows a portion of the Windows PowerShell command prompt window.

PowerShell uses your user’s home directory as its starting directory. In my case, C:\Users\micha is my home directory. For the rest of the lab, I’ll refer to this a %HOME%. Your %HOME% will be different.