Setup local blockchain node to speedup piston

This tutorial describes how to setup a local steemd node to use with
piston. This allows to speed up your development since your run your own
API node.

1. Installation of steemd
   There are plenty of resources on Steem on how to install steemd:

   • The Complete Guide to Setup Steem Development Environment in Ubuntu
   • Easy install Steemd in Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS
   • Steem Mining - Comprehensive Guide
   • Easy and portable Steem install script: speeded up with Ninja-build

1. Configuration
   Piston requires a couple APIs to be enabled in the configuration. The config.ini for the piston.rocks machine currently looks like this:

   rpc-endpoint = 127.0.0.1:5090
   
   seed-node=52.38.66.234:2001
   seed-node=52.37.169.52:2001
   seed-node=52.26.78.244:2001
   seed-node=192.99.4.226:2001
   seed-node=46.252.27.1:1337
   seed-node=81.89.101.133:2001
   seed-node=52.4.250.181:39705
   seed-node=85.214.65.220:2001
   seed-node=104.199.157.70:2001
   seed-node=104.236.82.250:2001
   seed-node=104.168.154.160:40696
   seed-node=162.213.199.171:34191
   seed-node=seed.steemed.net:2001
   seed-node=steem.clawmap.com:2001
   seed-node=seed.steemwitness.com:2001
   seed-node=steem-seed1.abit-more.com:2001
   
   enable-plugin = account_history
   enable-plugin = follow
   enable-plugin = market_history
   enable-plugin = private_message
   enable-plugin = tags
   
   public-api = database_api login_api market_history_api tag_api follow_api
   

   However, since piston evolves over time, we would ask to follow the official config.ini

2. Syncing the network
   With the configuration above, you can start the steemd process and wait for it to fully sync. The seed nodes provided will help your link up with the P2P network quickly.

3. Configure piston
   Piston can easily be configured to use any API node not just this.piston.rocks. You can change the API node by running

   piston set node ws://localhost:5090
   

   assuming the steemd process is running on the same machine and exposes port 5090 (line 1 in the config.ini)

4. Have fun