Guide for updating your system running humanode-peer to Ubuntu 24.04

Humanode Core -

Previously, we recommended that users use Ubuntu 20.04. This version has reached the end of its maintenance, and we now recommend that you update to 24.04. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to update your Humanode node without a full re-synchronization.

But before that, here’s an important note:

Note that the preferred way of doing the update is still to create another VM, sync it fully and then "set session keys" to switch to the new node; updating in-place with an OS update is documented because this is another way, but it is not a preferred method compared to migrating to a new VM.

For this, you have to insert the mnemonic from your current validator node, so make sure you have access to it.

Read the guide to create a new VM and set keys. 

Now, coming back to updating your system to Ubuntu 24.04 from 20.04. Here is what you need to do.

Pre-requisites

Before starting the update, ensure that you have SSH access to your blockchain node from your terminal. The standard SSH connection command to your remote node usually looks like this:

ssh user@host

Use the command to establish a connection to your node from the terminal remotely
Example: 

ssh myusername@51.15.107.249

Once you have established the SSH connection to your blockchain node. 

  1. Determine which version of Ubuntu you are currently using, and run the following command in the SSH console on the remote machine:
lsb_release -a

Discover the Update

    1. If you ever go to the Humanode Launcher and navigate to "Settings / Updates," then press "Check for peer updates," you might see a message stating that the blockchain binaries need updating. This message may appear on both older versions of Ubuntu (prior to 24.04) and the latest versions:

Updating these binaries will cause peer to stop working on Ubuntu versions prior to 24.04. However, we recommend updating it along with your Ubuntu distribution. Below, we’ll explain how to do so.

b. Click “Update now” to start downloading updates. This may take a few minutes.

c. After you restart the blockchain node, you will notice that it will no longer start (on older versions of Ubuntu).

  • You’ll encounter on Ubuntu 20.04:
humanode-peer: error while loading shared libraries: libssl.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
  • or, on Ubuntu 22.04:
humanode-peer: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by humanode-peer)
humanode-peer: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by humanode-peer)
humanode-peer: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.32' not found (required by humanode-peer)

This happens because you try to run a modern humanode-peer version on a legacy Ubuntu distribution.

Fix The Issue

Here’s how you fix the issue: 

  1. Update your node’s operating system to Ubuntu 24.04. It requires a phased upgrade in two steps:
    1. From Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 22.04
    2. From Ubuntu 22.04 to Ubuntu 24.04

Use this guide to update your system: How to upgrade your Ubuntu release

Once done, run this command to confirm that your system is on Ubuntu 24.04:

lsb_release -a

Note that you’ll be asked to reboot your system a few times, or sometimes you’ll have to manually reboot using sudo reboot. And you’ll have to restart your SSH connection after every reboot (it will take a few seconds to reconnect after the reboot). 

  1. Run your node.
    1. Go to the launcher and just press Start the node

It should start normally.

  1. Check for any errors. 
    1. Go to the logs tab and see if there’s any error