Introduce flag to enable sentry nodes to participate in grandpa gossip

core/cli/src/lib.rs

@@ -441,6 +441,8 @@ where
 
 	config.roles = role;
 	config.disable_grandpa = cli.no_grandpa;
+	config.grandpa_voter = cli.grandpa_voter;
+
 
 	let is_dev = cli.shared_params.dev;
 

core/cli/src/params.rs

@@ -305,6 +305,11 @@ pub struct RunCmd {
 	#[structopt(long = "no-grandpa")]
 	pub no_grandpa: bool,
 
+	/// Run GRANDPA voter even when no additional key seed via `--key` is specified. This can for example be of interest
+	/// when running a sentry node in front of a validator, thus needing to forward GRANDPA gossip messages.
+	#[structopt(long = "grandpa-voter")]
+	pub grandpa_voter: bool,
+
 	/// Experimental: Run in light client mode
 	#[structopt(long = "light")]
 	pub light: bool,

core/service/src/config.rs

@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ pub struct Configuration<C, G: Serialize + DeserializeOwned + BuildStorage> {
 	pub force_authoring: bool,
 	/// Disable GRANDPA when running in validator mode
 	pub disable_grandpa: bool,
+	/// Run GRANDPA voter even when no additional key seed is specified. This can for example be of interest when
+	/// running a sentry node in front of a validator, thus needing to forward GRANDPA gossip messages.
+	pub grandpa_voter: bool,
 	/// Node keystore's password
 	pub password: Protected<String>,
 }
@@ -122,6 +125,7 @@ impl<C: Default, G: Serialize + DeserializeOwned + BuildStorage> Configuration<C
 			offchain_worker: Default::default(),
 			force_authoring: false,
 			disable_grandpa: false,
+			grandpa_voter: false,
 			password: "".to_string().into(),
 		};
 		configuration.network.boot_nodes = configuration.chain_spec.boot_nodes().to_vec();
@@ -154,4 +158,3 @@ pub fn full_version_from_strs(impl_version: &str, impl_commit: &str) -> String {
 	let commit_dash = if impl_commit.is_empty() { "" } else { "-" };
 	format!("{}{}{}-{}", impl_version, commit_dash, impl_commit, platform())
 }
-

core/service/test/src/lib.rs

@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ fn node_config<F: ServiceFactory> (
 		offchain_worker: false,
 		force_authoring: false,
 		disable_grandpa: false,
+		grandpa_voter: false,
 		password: "".to_string().into(),
 	}
 }

node/cli/src/service.rs

@@ -125,15 +125,16 @@ construct_service_factory! {
 				};
 
 				match config.local_key {
-					None => {
+					None if !service.config.grandpa_voter => {
 						service.spawn_task(Box::new(grandpa::run_grandpa_observer(
 							config,
 							link_half,
 							service.network(),
 							service.on_exit(),
 						)?));
 					},
-					Some(_) => {
+					// Either config.local_key is set, or user forced voter service via `--grandpa-voter` flag.
+					_ => {
 						let telemetry_on_connect = TelemetryOnConnect {
 							telemetry_connection_sinks: service.telemetry_on_connect_stream(),
 						};

scripts/sentry-node/docker-compose.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+# Docker compose file to simulate a sentry node setup.
+#
+#
+# Setup:
+#
+# Validator A is not supposed to be connected to the public internet. Instead it
+# connects to a sentry node (sentry-a) which connects to the public internet.
+# Validator B can reach validator A via sentry node A and vice versa.
+#
+#
+# Usage:
+#
+# 1. Build `target/debug/substrate` binary: `cargo build`
+#
+# 2. Start networks and containers: `sudo docker-compose -f scripts/sentry-node/docker-compose.yml up`
+#
+# 3. Reach:
+#   - polkadot/apps on localhost:3000
+#   - validator-a: localhost:9944
+#   - validator-b: localhost:9945
+#   - sentry-a: localhost:9946
+
+version: "3.7"
+services:
+
+  validator-a:
+    ports:
+      - "9944:9944"
+    volumes:
+      - ../../target/debug/substrate:/usr/local/bin/substrate
+    image: parity/substrate
+    networks:
+      - network-a
+    command:
+      # Local node id: QmRpheLN4JWdAnY7HGJfWFNbfkQCb6tFf4vvA6hgjMZKrR
+      - "--node-key"
+      - "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001"
+      - "--base-path"
+      - "/tmp/alice"
+      - "--chain=local"
+      - "--key"
+      - "//Alice"
+      - "--port"
+      - "30333"
+      - "--validator"
+      - "--name"
+      - "AlicesNode"
+      - "--bootnodes"
+      - "/dns4/validator-b/tcp/30333/p2p/QmSVnNf9HwVMT1Y4cK1P6aoJcEZjmoTXpjKBmAABLMnZEk"
+      # Not only bind to localhost.
+      - "--ws-external"
+      - "--rpc-external"
+      # - "--log"
+      # - "sub-libp2p=trace"
+      # - "--log"
+      # - "afg=trace"
+      - "--no-telemetry"
+      - "--rpc-cors"
+      - "all"
+
+  sentry-a:
+    image: parity/substrate
+    ports:
+      - "9946:9944"
+    volumes:
+      - ../../target/debug/substrate:/usr/local/bin/substrate
+    networks:
+      - network-a
+      - internet
+    command:
+      # Local node id: QmV7EhW6J6KgmNdr558RH1mPx2xGGznW7At4BhXzntRFsi
+      - "--node-key"
+      - "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003"
+      - "--base-path"
+      - "/tmp/sentry"
+      - "--chain=local"
+      # Don't configure a key, as sentry-a is not a validator.
+      # - "--key"
+      # - "//Charlie"
+      - "--port"
+      - "30333"
+      # sentry-a is not a validator.
+      # - "--validator"
+      - "--name"
+      - "CharliesNode"
+      - "--bootnodes"
+      - "/dns4/validator-a/tcp/30333/p2p/QmRpheLN4JWdAnY7HGJfWFNbfkQCb6tFf4vvA6hgjMZKrR"
+      - "--bootnodes"
+      - "/dns4/validator-b/tcp/30333/p2p/QmSVnNf9HwVMT1Y4cK1P6aoJcEZjmoTXpjKBmAABLMnZEk"
+      - "--no-telemetry"
+      - "--rpc-cors"
+      - "all"
+      # Not only bind to localhost.
+      - "--ws-external"
+      - "--rpc-external"
+      # Make sure sentry-a still participates as a grandpa voter to forward
+      # grandpa finality gossip messages.
+      - "--grandpa-voter"
+
+  validator-b:
+    image: parity/substrate
+    ports:
+      - "9945:9944"
+    volumes:
+      - ../../target/debug/substrate:/usr/local/bin/substrate
+    networks:
+      - internet
+    command:
+      # Local node id: QmSVnNf9HwVMT1Y4cK1P6aoJcEZjmoTXpjKBmAABLMnZEk
+      - "--node-key"
+      - "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002"
+      - "--base-path"
+      - "/tmp/bob"
+      - "--chain=local"
+      - "--key"
+      - "//Bob"
+      - "--port"
+      - "30333"
+      - "--validator"
+      - "--name"
+      - "BobsNode"
+      - "--bootnodes"
+      - "/dns4/validator-a/tcp/30333/p2p/QmRpheLN4JWdAnY7HGJfWFNbfkQCb6tFf4vvA6hgjMZKrR"
+      - "--no-telemetry"
+      - "--rpc-cors"
+      - "all"
+      # Not only bind to localhost.
+      - "--ws-external"
+      - "--rpc-external"
+
+  ui:
+    image: polkadot-js/apps
+    ports:
+      - "3000:80"
+
+networks:
+  network-a:
+  internet: