This guide walks you through setting up your first blockchain in Ant Blockchain — from creating a consortium to being ready to develop applications. You will complete four steps in order:
Create a consortium
Create a blockchain
Apply for blockchain permission
Develop applications
Background
Before you begin, familiarize yourself with these key concepts:
Consortium: A group of organizations that share a blockchain network. A consortium must exist before you can create a blockchain.
Blockchain: The distributed ledger instance provisioned within your consortium. Each blockchain belongs to one consortium.
Blockchain permission: The access credentials (certificates and account) required to interact with the blockchain programmatically.
Development component: The SDK and related libraries provided by Ant Blockchain that you use to build applications.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
An Alibaba Cloud account with Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) activated
Logged on to the Alibaba Cloud console
Step 1: Create a consortium
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console.
In the left navigation pane, under Ant Blockchain, click Contract Blockchains.
If you have no existing consortia, click Create Consortium and complete the creation form.
Result: The consortium appears in the Contract Blockchains list and is ready to host a blockchain.
Step 2: Create a blockchain
On the Contract Blockchains page, click Manage next to the blockchain to open the blockchain management list.
Click Create Blockchain to open the purchase page.
On the purchase page, select your consortium. The blockchain will be provisioned into the selected consortium. Select the duration that fits your needs, then click Buy Now. For pricing and configuration details, see the Purchase guide.
Result: The blockchain appears in the blockchain management list.
For additional blockchain management operations, see Manage consortium blockchains.
Step 3: Apply for blockchain permission
Before you can develop applications, apply for the certificates and account that authorize your access to the blockchain.
On the blockchain list page, locate your blockchain and click Apply to apply for certificates and an account. For a guided walkthrough, see Quick experience for free.
Download the certificates and development components to start developing blockchain applications.
Result: You now have the credentials and development components needed to build blockchain applications.
Step 4: Develop applications
With your certificates and development components in place, you are ready to build.
See the Development guides to get started with application development using the Ant Blockchain SDK.
What's next
After completing this quick start, choose the path that matches your goal:
Build client applications: Use the Ant Blockchain SDK to call smart contracts from your application. Start with the Development guides.
Manage your blockchain: Explore consortium and blockchain management options in Manage consortium blockchains.