Manage blockchain subchains

In the BaaS console, you can manage blockchain subchains in the following ways:

• Create a blockchain subchain

• View the subchain browser

• Manage subchain nodes

• Manage subchain accounts

• Manage subchain members

• Stop subchain nodes

Create a blockchain subchain

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain for which you want to create a subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. Click Create Subchain in the upper-right corner of the page. The Create Subchain panel appears on the right.

   Important

   To ensure that the subnet feature runs correctly, each main chain can run a maximum of five subchains in parallel. If five subchains are already running, you cannot create new ones. To change this limit, you can submit a ticket.

5. In the Create Subchain panel, specify the following parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Subchain Name	Specify a name for the child chain.
   Node Information	Select some or all nodes on the main chain to create a new subchain. Note: If the number of nodes is less than 4, the following message is displayed: The current consensus mechanism is PBFT. The chain can run normally when N >= 3F + 1 (where N is the number of chain nodes and F is the number of faulty nodes). Select the number of nodes based on your availability requirements.
   Participating Organizations	Add consortium organizations to the subchain. Consortium organizations added as participating organizations can view the corresponding subchain in the subchain management list. The organization that creates the subchain is a participating organization by default. Note: This field supports multiple selections and fuzzy search. If you do not enter anything, all consortium organizations are displayed. If you enter text, a fuzzy query is performed for consortium organizations.

6. Click OK. The new subchain appears in the subchain management list of the main chain.

   Note

   After you create the subchain, the system automatically starts to deploy it. This process takes 10 to 15 minutes. After the deployment is complete, the status in the Network column changes from Stopped to Running.

7. (Optional) To change the name of a subchain, move the mouse pointer over the subchain name in the list and click the edit icon.

   

   Note

   The chain ID of the subchain is displayed below the subchain name.

View the subchain browser

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain that contains your target subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. In the Actions column of the target subchain, click Browser to open the subchain browser.

   The subchain browser provides an overview, as shown in the following figure.

   • Business Statistics (① in the figure)

   • Transaction Volume Changes (② in the figure)

   • Latest Blocks (③ in the figure)

   • Latest Transactions (④ in the figure)

   You can also query block or transaction information by entering a block height or transaction hash in the search bar in the upper-right corner of the browser page.

   

   The transaction details page displays key information about the transaction on the current subchain, such as the timestamp, block height, initiating account, and execution account. If the Mini Program Browser Service is enabled for the current subchain, a QR code for the transaction is also provided. Authorized users can obtain transaction-related evidentiary information by scanning the QR code.

Manage subchain nodes

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain that contains your target subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. In the Actions column of the target subchain, click Manage. The management page for the subchain appears.

5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Node Management. On the Node Management page, you can perform the following operations.

   • Add a node

     Note

     The drop-down list shows all nodes from the main chain that have not been added to this subchain. You can add only one node at a time. The list supports fuzzy search.

   • Delete a node

     In the row of the target node, click Delete. Confirm the deletion to remove the node.

     Note

     Removing a node from a subchain does not affect the node on the main chain. A subchain must have at least one node. You cannot delete the last node.

Manage subchain accounts

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain that contains your target subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. In the Actions column of the target subchain, click Manage. The management page for the subchain appears.

5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Account Management. On the Account Management page, you can perform the following operations.

   • Create and view blockchain accounts

     Click Add Account in the upper-left corner. You can choose Manual Creation or Automatic Creation. The process is the same as creating an account on the main chain. For more information, see Manage consortium blockchains > Manage blockchains > Account management. After the account is created, it is visible to all organization members on the subchain.

     Important

     Ant Blockchain BaaS does not save your private key. You must keep your private key file in a secure place.

   • Freeze or restore an account

     In the account list, click Freeze or Restore in the row of the target account.

     Note

     Only a consortium administrator can freeze or restore accounts. Other members have read-only permissions. A frozen account cannot be used until a consortium administrator restores it.

Manage subchain members

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain that contains your target subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. In the Actions column of the target subchain, click Manage. The management page for the subchain appears.

5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Member Management. On the Member Management page, you can perform the following operations.

   • Add a member

     Click Add Member in the upper-left corner. In the Add Member dialog box, select the members to add from the Member List drop-down list.

     Note

     Member management controls access permissions for the subchain. Only members who are added to the member list of a subchain can view that subchain on the Subchain Management page. The Member List drop-down list displays organizations within the subchain's consortium that have not been added. The list supports fuzzy search and multiple selections.

   • Freeze a member

     In the Actions column of the target member, click Freeze.

     Note

     After a member is frozen, their information remains in the list, but the Freeze button is disabled. The frozen member can no longer view the subchain on the Subchain Management page. To re-enable a frozen member, you must add them again as a new member. This action overwrites their previous information in the member list.

Stopping subchain nodes

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud BaaS console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Ant Blockchain > Contract Chain to go to the My Consortiums page.

2. Select the target consortium and click Manage in the Actions column. The Chains in Consortium page appears.

3. Find the consortium chain that contains your target subchain and click Subchain Management in the Actions column. The Subchain Management page appears.

4. In the row of the target subchain, click Stop in the Actions column. This action stops all nodes on the subchain and pauses all business operations.