Getting started with IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3

Running a different version of IBM Blockchain Platform? Switch to version 2.1.3, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3.

Important: You are not looking at the latest product documentation. It is strongly suggested that you upgrade to the latest version of the product as soon as possible. Upgrading ensures that you are using the latest product features and fixes, such as improved product stability, automated certificate renewal, and current security patches. Security patches are not applied to older versions of the product that are no longer supported. The supported environments described in documentation for earlier releases, such as a previously supported Kubernetes version, are not updated and may no longer be accurate—do not rely upon support for any versions listed in earlier releases of the product.

IBM® Blockchain Platform provides a managed and full stack blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) offering that allows you to deploy blockchain components on many platforms including Kubernetes, Openshift Container Platform, and IBM Cloud Private. For details of what is supported, see Supported Platforms. This offering is ideal for the customers who want to deploy their components, store their data, or run their workloads on their own infrastructure or across public and private clouds for security, risk mitigation, preference, or compliance reasons. Clients can build, operate, and grow their blockchain networks with an offering that can be used from development through production.

Your entitlement includes the flexible management console for deploying and managing your blockchain network. Use the console or IBM Blockchain Platform APIs to build a consortium of organizations to easily transact on the same network, regardless of each client's cloud preference. By installing the IBM Blockchain Platform console, users can create components in their clusters and connect them to components deployed on other clusters, forming a distributed, multi-organizational blockchain network.

Experienced Hyperledger Fabric customers who prefer to deploy and manage their containers can download and use the peer, CA, orderer, and smart contract container images without the management console.

For more information on where you can run IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3, see Supported Platforms.

The IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3 is purchased as a stand-alone entitlement. After purchase, you can access the My IBM dashboard to obtain your entitlement key for the offering. This key is required to deploy the release or download the container images.

With this offering, you are responsible for purchasing and provisioning your own Kubernetes cluster. Additionally, you will need to open ports in your firewall if you are using one.

Already have an IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.x network and want to upgrade?

Check out the following topics for instructions on how to upgrade:

Is IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3 suitable for you?

IBM Blockchain Platform provides different offerings that allow you to deploy your network in the environment of your choice. You need to decide if you want to deploy the IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3 or if you want to use the IBM Blockchain Platform for IBM Cloud.

Table 1. Which offering is right for your business?
IBM Blockchain Platform for anywhere (v2.1.3) IBM Blockchain Platform for IBM Cloud
Where do you want to deploy the platform? Multiple Kubernetes distributions on a private, public or hybrid multicloud

See Supported Platforms		 A Kubernetes cluster on IBM Cloud

See Supported configuration
What are my deployment options?
  • Full platform
  • Only IBM Blockchain images **
  • Full platform
How is it billed? Contact us for pricing $0.29 USD per allocated CPU hour
Can I connect with Peers in other clouds? Yes Yes
Can my data center be on-premises and behind a firewall? Yes No
Can I use a console UI to deploy and manage my blockchain components? Yes Yes
Are APIs available for node management? Yes Yes
Does the product integrate with the IBM Blockchain Platform VSCode extension to develop and test my smart contracts? Yes Yes
I am an experienced Fabric customer. Are peer, CA, orderer, and smart contract images available and supported? Yes No
Where can I learn more? See About IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3 See About IBM Blockchain Platform for IBM Cloud

** IBM Blockchain images - Your purchase of IBM Blockchain Platform v2.1.3 includes an entitlement to images for peer, CA, ordering service, and smart contract containers that are signed by IBM. The images are based on the open source Hyperledger Fabric code base and contain a number of enhancements for stability and serviceability. The images are bundled with support from IBM. The IBM Blockchain images do not include the IBM Blockchain management console or operator. This offering is intended for experienced Fabric users with existing Fabric deployments. For more information, see Using the IBM Blockchain images.

Developer Tools

Are you a developer? Check out the IBM Blockchain Platform Extension for VS Code, a free IDE that provides an explorer and commands accessible from the command palette for developing smart contracts quickly.

Before you begin

  1. Review the Supported Platforms.

  2. Install a Kubernetes cluster and log in to your cluster. If you are using OpenShift, see the OpenShift Container Platform CLI to deploy the CLI. If you are using an OpenShift cluster that was deployed with the IBM Kubernetes Service, use these instructions to Install the OpenShift Origin CLI.

  3. If you are not running the platform on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, Red Hat Open Kubernetes Distribution, or IBM Cloud Private, you need to setup the NGINX Ingress controller and it needs to be running in SSL passthrough mode.

  4. Get the entitlement key from your MyIBM account to install the platform. For more information, see Get your entitlement key.

Step one: Install the IBM Blockchain Platform

The IBM Blockchain Platform uses a Kubernetes Operator to install the IBM Blockchain Platform console on your cluster and manage the deployment and your blockchain nodes. A cluster administrator can use your entitlement key to deploy the platform on any Kubernetes Cluster

Step two: Grant console access to other users

After the platform is deployed, the console administrator can log in to the console with the email address and password that was provided during console deployment. The password that was provided becomes the default password of the console, and is used by all new users to log in to the console for the first time. The administrator can then add new users to the console, allowing others to log in and start working with IBM Blockchain nodes. The administrator can also set a new default password. To learn more, see Managing users from the console.

Step three: Use the console to create your components

After you deploy the console, you can use it to create, operate, and govern IBM Blockchain components on your Kubernetes cluster. To get started with building a blockchain network by using the management console, go to the Build a network tutorial.

Step four: Connect networks across clouds

You can use your console to operate components that are running on other clusters. First, you need to export the component information to a JSON file from the console where the component was originally deployed. Then, you can import the node JSON file into the console that is deployed on your local cluster and manage the components across clouds. For more information, see Importing nodes.