Migrating from Quorum Blockchain Service
It is possible to migrate existing Quorum Blockchain Service networks/blockchains to alternate offerings. The following documentation outlines options available, and steps to take.
Evaluate alternatives
The first step when planning a migration is to evaluate alternative offerings. Evaluate the following alternatives based on your project development lifecycle being in production or evaluation.
Production or pilot phase
If you have already deployed and developed a blockchain solution that is in the production or pilot phase, consider the following alternatives.
Kaleido
Kaleido is a Generally Available managed offering for enterprise-grade web3 solutions that fully supports Quorum networks.
- Ledger technology - full support for the latest version of Quorum, along with all the leading public and private blockchain protocols for enterprise.
- Hosting - launch multi-region, multi-cloud Quorum networks on Azure, AWS, or hybrid deployments.
- Industry leading capabilities - consortium management, full support for digital assets, NFTS, and tokenization, plus 500+ APIs, dozens of pre-built services, and integrated tools and dashboards.
- Enterprise-grade, compliant and highly performant - with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27K certifications, modern cloud scale architecture, HA/DR, and advanced key management. All backed by 24/7 support plans and SLAs.
Kaleido’s team is standing by for assistance. Reach Kaleido’s QBS migration team at qbs@kaleido.io.
Azure Virtual Machine based deployment
There are several blockchain resource management templates you can use to deploy blockchain on IaaS Virtual Machines to migrate to.
Ledger technology - You can continue to use Quorum ledger technology.
Self-management - Once deployed, you manage the infrastructure and blockchain stack.
New deployment or evaluation phase
If you are starting to develop a new solution or are in an evaluation phase, consider the following alternatives based on your scenario requirements.
How to migrate to an alternative
To migrate a production workload, first export your data from Quorum Blockchain Service. You can submit a ticket in Zendesk to request the exported data from ConsenSys. Once you have a copy of your data, you can transition this data to your preferred alternative.
The recommended migration destination is Kaleido Blockchain as a Service. To onboard to this service, register at https://www.kaleido.io/ or contact qbs@kaleido.io.
To self-manage your blockchain solution using virtual machines in Azure, see Azure VM-based Quorum guidance to set up transaction and validator nodes.
Exporting data from Quorum Blockchain Service
Based on your current development state, you can either opt to use existing ledger data on Quorum Blockchain Service or start a new network and use the solution of your choice. We recommend creating a new consortium based on a solution of your choice in all scenarios where you do not need or intend to use existing ledger data.
Open a support case
If you have a Business or Enterprise account with Quorum Blockchain Service , open a Zendesk Support ticket to pause the consortium and export your blockchain data.
- Use the Zendesk portal to open a support ticket. In the Additional details, include the following information:
- Tenant (How to Find your tenant)
- Consortium name
- Member name
- Preferred Date and time for initiating export
IMPORTANT - The tier of service chosen for your Quorum Blockchain Service (QBS) member determines the level of support you will receive from ConsenSys.
If your consortium has multiple members, each member is required to open a separate support ticket for respective member data.
Pause consortium
You are required to coordinate with members of the consortium when planning a data export since the consortium will be paused for data export and transactions during this time will fail.
Quorum Blockchain Service team then pauses the consortium, exports a snapshot of data, and makes the data available through short-lived SAS URLs for download. The consortium is resumed after taking the snapshot.
IMPORTANT - You should stop all applications initiating new blockchain transactions onto the network. Active applications may lead to data loss or your original and migrated networks being out of sync.
Downloading data
The set of node export download links provided to you will be encrypted using the Blockchain Member API Key “key1”. This key can be retrieved from the QBS Swagger API endpoint: blockchainMembers/{blockchainMemberName}/listApiKeys.
IMPORTANT - You should not regenerate the API keys for your blockchain member after the backup has been taken.
Using this API key you can decrypt the link which will then allow you to download the files.
You can decrypt using the openssl command on linux.
echo "$ENCRYPTED_URL" | openssl enc -d -des3 -base64 -pass pass:"$API_KEY" -pbkdf2
Example using a dummy SAS link shown below
$dev ENCRYPTED_URL="U2FsdGVkX18jlAhyK/FJ38b/k/iBhZGWT8Vc9jLLjhF8MFHWuJePFWKWoanYD/vR
k0lo/X6mTOqnREznPbgTkgUPfzmYI8vtdyCK+CoC3eehuKjdnxMrfVNWVX8AnqSX
mn2xicrvcLyKvvLoE9HG1B7r+G88WLJF18Wqt0uxtDSETIyL70KtS7kEExzyBDsT
w1Lx+dTDbtjwijJLlbI2ZDaFn5hTQmLYCdXyxq+D+Zo="
$dev API_KEY="banana"
$dev echo "$ENCRYPTED_URL" | openssl enc -d -des3 -base64 -pass pass:"$API_KEY" -pbkdf2
https://abc123.blob.core.windows.net/export/qbs-export.transaction-1.dev.2023-01-30.tar.gz?3-01T23%3A57Z&sp=r&sv=2021-06-08&sr=b&sig=SIGNATURE%3D
If you intend to migrate to Kaleido, you can provide them either the decrypted SAS URLs, or the encrypted URLs along with your API key.
If you wish to self host, download the data using the decrypted SAS URL link.
IMPORTANT - You are required to download your data within 30 days.
Delete resources
Once you have validated that your data has been imported to your new service correctly or if you do not require a data migration, it is recommended that you delete the Quorum Blockchain Service member resources. You will continue to get billed while these resources exist.
IMPORTANT - All resources will be turned off by April 1, 2023.
Azure VM-based Quorum guidance
To quickly gain familiarity with hosting Quorum nodes, we suggest working through the Quorum Developer quickstart guide here.
Once you are familiar with running and monitoring quorum you can use the following guides to set up a new network. For details on IBFT consensus, as used in Quorum Blockchain service, you can follow the guide here. For details on adding and removing validators there is a guide here. If you were making use of private transactions with Tessera, you can find details on setting this up here.
Node export folder structure
Directory/File | Description |
| config.toml | Geth parameters. Command line parameters take precedence |
| constellation/ | Tessera files (transaction nodes only) |
| constellation/db.mv.db | |
| constellation/db.trace.db | |
| constellation/tessera.conf.json | Tessera configuration |
| constellation/tm.key | Tessera private key |
| constellation/tm.pub | Tessera public key |
| ethereum/ | Quorum files |
| ethereum/genesis.json | Genesis file |
| ethereum/nodekey | Quorum private key |
| ethereum/nodekey.pub | Quorum public key |
| ethereum/static-nodes.json | Static nodes. Bootstrap nodes are removed and auto-discovery is disabled. |
| ethereum/geth/ | Geth data directory |
| ethereum/keystore/ | |
| scripts/ | Quorum and Tessera startup scripts (provided for reference only) |
Frequently asked questions
What happens to existing deployments after the announcement of retirement?
We are working with our customers to evaluate appropriate hosting alternatives for existing deployments, which continue to receive full support until March 15, 2023 (Development members) and April 1, 2023 (Business & Enterprise members). For existing deployments you can explore this migration guide. If you need assistance evaluating your alternatives, you can contact us at qbs@consensys.net to evaluate the suggested alternatives, migrate the data to the alternate offering, operate your requirement on the alternative offering, and start migrating from the deployment on Quorum Blockchain Service.
How long will the existing deployments be supported on Quorum Blockchain Service?
Existing deployments are supported until March 15, 2023 (Development members) and April 1, 2023 (Business & Enterprise members).
Will I be allowed to create new Quorum Blockchain Service members while in the retirement phase
After February 1, 2023, no new member creation or deployments are supported.
Why is ConsenSys transitioning this work to Kaleido?
As we mature, we are working to streamline company resources to support the following core value drivers:
MetaMask end-user and developer platform that provides the digital authority foundation for people to build on, access, and use web3.
Infura’s developer platform to help scale and enable developers to build out the blockchain application economy.
What does this mean for ConsenSys Quorum?
ConsenSys will continue to support the GoQuorum client, but will no longer offer managed services or custom support contracts for projects building on the client.
Will you continue to support both GoQuorum and Hyperledger Besu clients?
Yes, ConsenSys believes client diversity is foundational to the growth, health and security of Ethereum. We are a lead contributor to both open-source projects and believe each delivers unique value to its customers.
Who are the partners?
Kaleido https://www.kaleido.io/
Quorumex support@quorumex.io
Web3 Labs https://www.web3labs.com/enterprise-blockchain-support
How long will customers have to migrate?
Development tier customers will have until Mar 15, 2023
Business and Enterprise customers will have until Apr 1, 2023