Joining the Ergo main network at the very beginning

In order to join the network at its very beginning and compete to mine the genesis block, you need to follow the steps described below. If you're not going to participate in Ergo mining and just want to set up a full node, you need to follow steps 3 and 5.

Preparations

1. Build mining software

Check the guide first.

Build a miner according to its readme instruction (for Ubuntu) or using Windows manual.

Try to run it like ./auto.out config.json with test config:

{
  "mnemonic": "noise peasant subway frozen illegal pretty oak agent train valid wash title burst column yard decide move coin gas asset pretty hire happy fuel",
  "node": "http://159.203.36.162:9052",
  "keepPrehash": true
}

and see something like:

2019-06-27 14:44:58,626 INFO [main thread] Using 1 GPU devices
2019-06-27 14:44:58,626 INFO [main thread] Using configuration file mine162.json
2019-06-27 14:44:58,628 INFO [main thread] Block getting URL:
   http://159.203.36.162:9052/mining/candidate
2019-06-27 14:44:58,628 INFO [main thread] Solution posting URL:
   http://159.203.36.162:9052/mining/solution
2019-06-27 14:44:58,629 INFO [main thread] Generated public key:
      pk = 0x03 F5214F2F6D87C714 4A2E12F8D4C4E110 1C59FF7D9AEABC11 77C4CB50FA8497E7
2019-06-27 14:44:58,714 INFO [main thread] Got new block in main thread, block data: {
  "MSG" : "3637B40440681781F92EDC92B33E623330F05705446168952CBD3720BA922442",
  "B" : 3462030106355215694294694818737961234095984491840283822105474632310,
  "PK" : "03F5214F2F6D87C7144A2E12F8D4C4E1101C59FF7D9AEABC1177C4CB50FA8497E7"
}
2019-06-27 14:44:58,956 INFO [GPU 0 miner] GPU 0 allocating memory
2019-06-27 14:44:58,964 INFO [GPU 0 miner] Preparing unfinalized hashes on GPU 0
2019-06-27 14:45:13,443 INFO [GPU 0 miner] GPU 0 read new block data
2019-06-27 14:48:02,298 INFO [main thread] Average hashrates: GPU0 24.8537 MH/s Total 24.8537 MH/s 

The above notifications show that your miner is built correctly.

2. Generate mnemonic phrase for mining

Run ./auto.out -G to generate a new mnemonic phrase if you don't have one.

$ ./auto.out -G
2019-06-28 12:08:32,915 INFO [main thread] !!!Generated new mnemonic, put it in your config.json file!!!
job great stage urge elite purity surprise any cram matrix typical table panel honey curious enlist fault matrix
!!!Generated new mnemonic, put it in your config.json file!!!
2019-06-28 12:08:32,918 INFO [main thread] Generated public key:
      pk = 0x03 61F8098779E5EC8C 2A851E3EF57C471E 9A6803F60666E93E EB0BDD67411439D0

In the example above your generated mnemonic phrase is job great stage urge elite purity surprise any cram matrix typical table panel honey curious enlist fault matrix while your public key is 0361F8098779E5EC8C2A851E3EF57C471E9A6803F60666E93EEB0BDD67411439D0.
Save your mnemonic phrase (e.g. by writing down to a piece of paper) and keep it in secret at all times, anyone who have access to it will be able to steal your funds. Write down your public key, you will need it in the next steps.

3. Configure and start your miner

Create a settings.json config file with the following content (don't forget to replace sections in <> braces):

{
  "mnemonic": "<mnemonic generated at step 2>",
  "node": "http://<ip address of your node>:9053",
  "keepPrehash": true
}

and run a miner like ./auto.out settings.json. It should initialize and start requesting a node for the block candidate.

2019-06-27 15:14:02,267 INFO [main thread] Using 1 GPU devices
2019-06-27 15:14:02,267 INFO [main thread] Using configuration file mainnet-conf.json
2019-06-27 15:14:02,269 INFO [main thread] Block getting URL:
   http://<ip address of your node>:9053/mining/candidate
2019-06-27 15:14:02,269 INFO [main thread] Solution posting URL:
   http://<ip address of your node>:9053/mining/solution
2019-06-27 15:14:02,269 INFO [main thread] Generated public key:
      pk = 0x02 F611D5F6AAB70C05 4A530C6420395B3C 4521642DC7125A93 49AAA2D9BB89D7AF
2019-06-28 12:21:36,035 ERROR [main thread] CURL: Couldn't connect to server
2019-06-28 12:21:36,835 INFO [main thread] Waiting for block data to be published by node...
2019-06-28 12:21:36,876 ERROR [main thread] CURL: Couldn't connect to server
2019-06-28 12:21:37,676 INFO [main thread] Waiting for block data to be published by node...
2019-06-28 12:21:37,718 ERROR [main thread] CURL: Couldn't connect to server

No more actions are required with the miner.

4. Configure and run your full node

Check guide first.

Create a settings.conf config file with the following content (don't forget to replace sections in <> braces):

ergo {
  node {
    mining = true
    miningPubKeyHex = "<your public key from step 2>"
  }
  chain {
    initialDifficultyHex="011765000000"
  }
}

scorex {
  network {
    nodeName = "<some name to identify your node>"
  }
  restApi {
    # you may wish to configure an apiKeyHash to use your wallet. Check https://ergoplatform.org/blog/2019_06_04_wallet-documentation/ for wallet documentation.
    apiKeyHash = "1111"
  }
}

Download the latest mainnet release from here and run it like nohup java -jar -Xmx3G -Dlogback.stdout.level=DEBUG ergo-3.0.1.jar --mainnet -c settings.conf and you if you see similar to the below:

17:02:11.449 INFO  [main] o.e.settings.ErgoSettings$ - Running in mainnet network mode
17:02:12.262 INFO  [main] org.ergoplatform.ErgoApp - Entering coordinated network bootstrap procedure ..
17:02:12.933 INFO  [main] o.e.BootstrapController - Wrong response format, retrying in 10s
17:02:22.933 INFO  [main] o.e.BootstrapController - Wrong response format, retrying in 10s

You node is already configured correctly and no more action is required with it.

5. Wait for the mainnet launch

After these steps you're ready to participate in Ergo mining and should just wait. Your miner is waiting for block candidate from your node, while your node is waiting for the proof-of-no-premine that will be broadcasted by the Ergo Development Team according to the main network launch schedule. The proof‐of‐no‐premine will contain headlines from the media (The Guardian, Vedomosti, Xinhua), as well as the latest block identifiers from Bitcoin and Ethereum. When the launch time comes, we'll distribute the no-premine proof and the mining will start.

To ensure that your node is mining, you may check your node log. It should stop to write logs from BootstrapController and write Boot settings received. Starting the node, so the logs file will looks like:

17:21:39.417 INFO  [main] o.e.BootstrapController - Wrong response format, retrying in 10s
17:21:49.437 INFO  [main] o.e.BootstrapController - Wrong response format, retrying in 10s
17:21:59.500 INFO  [main] org.ergoplatform.ErgoApp - Boot settings received. Starting the node ..
17:21:59.554 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-3] s.c.n.NetworkController - Declared address: None
17:21:59.558 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-3] s.c.n.NetworkController - Registering handlers for List((1,GetPeers message), (2,Peers message))
17:21:59.559 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-3] s.c.n.NetworkController - Successfully bound to the port 9030
17:21:59.565 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-4] o.e.n.state.ErgoState$ - Generating genesis UTXO state
17:21:59.568 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-2] o.e.local.ErgoMiner - Trying to use key from wallet for mining
17:21:59.583 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-3] s.c.u.NetworkTimeProvider - New offset adjusted: 2
17:21:59.585 WARN  [ctor.default-dispatcher-3] o.e.n.ErgoReadersHolder - Got GetReaders request in state (None,None,None,None)
17:21:59.598 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-2] s.c.n.NetworkController - Registering handlers for List((55,Inv), (22,RequestModifier), (33,Modifier), (65,Sync))
17:21:59.729 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-4] s.c.a.a.b.VersionedIODBAVLStorage - Update storage to version ByteArrayWrapper[6813BCA7232C6E156FB6229ECF165D157640A8576A5B320506E4C1B66011253402]: 14 elements to insert, 1 elements to remove
17:21:59.846 INFO  [ctor.default-dispatcher-4] o.e.n.state.ErgoState$ - Genesis UTXO state generated with hex digest 6813bca7232c6e156fb6229ecf165d157640a8576a5b320506e4c1b66011253402

At the same time your miner should write you something like:

2019-06-28 12:21:36,035 ERROR [main thread] CURL: Couldn't connect to server
2019-06-28 12:21:36,835 INFO [main thread] Waiting for block data to be published by node...
2019-06-28 12:21:36,876 ERROR [main thread] CURL: Couldn't connect to server
2019-06-28 12:21:37,676 INFO [main thread] Waiting for block data to be published by node...
2019-06-27 15:26:20,328 INFO [main thread] Got new block in main thread, block data: {
  "MSG" : "0777078E22BB64C771DE8A8D3B1E454847A91024D98AB86949091C8019FA7453",
  "B" : 964934076977634961863091541739065898773646368992290869855043026179318012,
  "PK" : "02F611D5F6AAB70C054A530C6420395B3C4521642DC7125A9349AAA2D9BB89D7AF"
}
2019-06-27 14:44:58,956 INFO [GPU 0 miner] GPU 0 allocating memory
2019-06-27 14:44:58,964 INFO [GPU 0 miner] Preparing unfinalized hashes on GPU 0
2019-06-27 14:45:13,443 INFO [GPU 0 miner] GPU 0 read new block data
2019-06-27 14:48:02,298 INFO [main thread] Average hashrates: GPU0 24.8537 MH/s Total 24.8537 MH/s 
2019-06-27 15:27:11,033 INFO [GPU 0 miner] GPU 0 found and trying to POST a solution: