For those more familiar with deploying to AWS through infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform, we provide an example configuration in GitHub designed to set up the necessary infrastructure for a Hyperlane Validator on AWS. It automates the creation of resources such as ECS clusters, VPCs, subnets, and security groups required for running a Validator agent.
The configuration provided is intended to only be an example of running a Validator for a core supported network. You may have to modify the Validator module to support more advanced configurations. It is recommended to test thoroughly before using this setup in a production environment.

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Overview

The provided terraform has a few key parts:
  • IAM/KMS module: automatically completes Agent Keys configuration for you.
  • S3 module: automatically completes AWS Signatures Bucket configuration for you.
  • EFS module: sets up a persistent volume that can be mounted to the Validator.
  • Validator module: uses the above modules to run an instance of a Validator.
  • global.tf: top-level networking configuration for a cluster that Validators can run in.
  • main.tf: configures Validators for deployment.
The diagram below shows how it fits together.

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Usage

As a prerequisite, you need to have Terraform installed and the AWS CLI configured with your credentials. To initialize the terraform state: 
terraform init
To generate the plan of infrastructure changes: 
terraform plan
To preview and apply the infrastructure changes: 
terraform apply
To list the outputs such as KMS, IAM or S3 information, you will have to parse the JSON output: 
terraform output -json

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Modules

Several modules exist so you can choose which parts of the Validator setup you would like managed by terraform.

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IAM / KMS

The iam_kms module creates an IAM user and a KMS key for secure signing operations. It also sets up IAM policies and attachments to grant the necessary permissions for using the KMS key and other AWS services, such as S3, EFS and ECS later on.

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S3

The s3 module creates an S3 bucket for storing Validator-related data, such as signatures. It also sets bucket policies to manage access and permissions, including public access restrictions and versioning.

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EFS

The efs module defines an EFS file system and access point, allowing the Validator application to store and access data on EFS. It also sets up a mount target for connecting the EFS file system to the network.
This module is only required when using the validator module.

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Validator

The validator module uses all of the above to integrate the EFS, IAM/KMS, and S3 configurations. In addition to:
  • Creating a new IAM user and relevant roles to run a Validator.
  • Creating an S3 bucket that a Validator can write signatures to.
  • Creating an EFS volume to persist data in the service.
This module also:
  • Defines an ECS task definition for running the Validator application, including container definitions, volume configurations, and logging.
  • Creates an ECS service to manage the deployment and scaling of the Validator tasks.

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Main Configuration

The root level configuration sets up a VPC, subnets, internet gateway, NAT gateway, route tables, and security groups for network infrastructure. It also provides example usage of the validator module. 
module "your_validator_name" {
  source = "./modules/validator"

  validator_name    = "your-validator-name"
  origin_chain_name = "originChainName"

  aws_region               = var.aws_region
  validator_cluster_id     = aws_ecs_cluster.validator_cluster.id
  validator_subnet_id      = aws_subnet.validator_subnet.id
  validator_sg_id          = aws_security_group.validator_sg.id
  validator_nat_gateway_id = aws_nat_gateway.validator_nat_gateway.id

  # Disabling the Validator task allows you to set up all the required infrastructure
  # without running the actual Validator yet. This is useful when setting up a Validator for
  # the first time, so that you can find out the Validator's address and fund it before it
  # performs the announcement transaction.
  # validator_task_disabled = true
}

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Outputs

The root-level outputs.tf passes forward all outputs from the Validators configured in main.tf. You will have to update this as you add, modify or remove Validators.

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Example architecture

The diagram below shows how the Validator ECS cluster fits into the top-level network infrastructure.

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Known issues

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PI configuration

It is non-trivial to set custom configuration values for PI chains, such as ones you’ve deployed Hyperlane to yourself. Currently you may have to just pass a long list of environment variables or command line arguments.

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Individual agent logs

Currently all agents log to the same log group - DefaultLogGroup. To separate them per agent, you may have to adjust the log group name and update the agent’s log policy with the new group name.

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Relayer module

The docker image supports running both types of agents. Therefore, if you choose to do so, you can use the Validator module as a starting point for a new Relayer module.