Adding a new channel in Hyperledger Fabric

• Prerequisites
• Modifying Configuration File
• Run playbook

Prerequisites

To add a new channel a fully configured Fabric network must be present already, i.e. a Fabric network which has Orderers, Peers, Channels (with all Peers already in the channels). The corresponding crypto materials should also be present in their respective Hashicorp Vault.

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NOTE: Do not try to add a new organization as a part of this operation. Use only existing organization for new channel addition.

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Modifying Configuration File

Refer this guide for details on editing the configuration file.

While modifying the configuration file(network.yaml) for adding new channel, all the existing channel should have channel_status tag as existing and the new channel should have channel_status tag as new under network.channels e.g.

  # The channels defined for a network with participating peers in each channel
  channels:
  - channel:
    consortium: SupplyChainConsortium
    channel_name: AllChannel
    channel_status: existing
    chaincodes:
      - "chaincode_name"
    orderers:
      - supplychain
    participants:
    - organization:
      name: carrier
      type: creator       # creator organization will create the channel and instantiate chaincode, in addition to joining the channel and install chaincode
      org_status: existing
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443  # Must include port, External or internal URI of the gossip peer
        peerAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # Must include port, External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443             # Must include port, External or internal URI of the orderer
    - organization:
      name: warehouse
      type: joiner
      org_status: new
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.warehouse-net.org5proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        peerAddress: peer0.warehouse-net.org5proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # Must include port, External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
    - organization:
      name: manufacturer
      type: joiner
      org_status: new
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.manufacturer-net.org2proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        peerAddress: peer0.manufacturer-net.org2proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # Must include port, External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
    - organization:
      name: store
      type: joiner        # joiner organization will only join the channel and install chaincode
      org_status: new
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        peerAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # Must include port, External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
    endorsers:
    # Only one peer per org required for endorsement
    - organization:
      name: carrier
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/carrier/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    - organization:
      name: warehouse
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.warehouse-net.org5proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/warehouse/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    - organization:
      name: manufacturer
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.manufacturer-net.org2proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/manufacturer/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    - organization:
      name: store
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/store/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    genesis:
      name: OrdererGenesis
  - channel:
    consortium: SupplyChainConsortium
    channel_name: ChannelTwo
    channel_status: new
    orderers: 
      - supplychain
    participants:
    - organization:
      name: carrier
      type: joiner       # creator organization will create the channel and instantiate chaincode, in addition to joining the channel and install chaincode
      org_status: new
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443  # Must include port, External or internal URI of the gossip peer
        peerAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # Must include port, External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443             # Must include port, External or internal URI of the orderer
    - organization:      
      name: store
      type: creator # joiner organization will only join the channel and install chaincode
      org_status: new
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        gossipAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        peerAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443 # External URI of the peer
      ordererAddress: orderer1.org1proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
    endorsers:
    # Only one peer per org required for endorsement
    - organization:
      name: carrier
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.carrier-net.org3proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/carrier/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    - organization:
      name: store
      peers:
      - peer:
        name: peer0
        corepeerAddress: peer0.store-net.org4proxy.blockchaincloudpoc.com:443
        certificate: "/path/store/server.crt" # certificate path for peer
    genesis:
      name: ChannelTwoGenesis

The network.yaml file should contain the specific network.organization details along with the orderer information.

For reference, see network-fabric-add-channel.yaml file here.

Run playbook

The add-new-channel.yaml playbook is used to add a new channel to the existing network. This can be done using the following command

ansible-playbook platforms/hyperledger-fabric/configuration/add-new-channel.yaml --extra-vars "@path-to-network.yaml"

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NOTE: Make sure that the channel_status label was set as new when the network is deployed for the first time. If you have additional applications, please deploy them as well.