♻️Backup/Restore a P12 KeyStore

Table of Contents
Backup Procedure
Restore Procedure

🔐Backup P12 Keystore File

Maintaining an up-to-date and secure backup of your .p12 file is essential for protecting access to your Validator node and wallet. This guide will walk you through securely backing up and restoring your .p12 file using a macOS or Windows system.

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1

Determine Cold Storage Medium

What and Why Cold Storage?

Cold storage refers to keeping your .p12 file offline, minimizing exposure to unauthorized access or system vulnerabilities. Acceptable storage methods include:

• Encrypted USB drives

• Hardware wallets with secure storage

• Air-gapped systems

• Secured Encrypted Software Vaults

2

Open Terminal Application

Macintosh

Macintosh MacOS Terminal

Windows

Windows 11 Terminal App and make sure the terminal session opens a PowerShell prompt.

3

Create Temporary Backup Directory

cd ~
mkdir constellation-backup
cd ~/constellation-backup

4

Start SFTP Session to Your Validator Node

Replace values with your actual SSH key and node IP address:

sftp -i ~/.ssh/my-node-ssh-keyname nodeadmin@123.123.123.123

You'll be prompted to enter your SSH key passphrase.

5

Locate your p12 KeyStore

cd /home/nodeadmin/tessellation
ls -l

Example output:

-rw-r--r-- 1 nodeadmin nodeadmin 31 Jun 11 14:28 my-p12file.p12

6

Download your p12 KeyStore

Use the get command to download the file to your temporary directory:

get my-p12file.p12

You should see:

100% 31 0.3KB/s 00:00

7

End the SFTP Session

exit

8

Confirm p12 Keystore on Local System

Macintosh

cd ~/constellation-backups
ls -l

Windows

cd ~/constellation-backup
dir

Confirm your p12 keystore is locally found on your system.

9

Transfer to Cold Storage

Move your .p12 file to a secure offline storage device.

10

Remove p12 KeyStore from Local System

Once complete, delete the p12 keystore file from your local system to maintain proper security practices.

11

Macintosh

cd ~/constellation-backups
rm -f my-p12file.p12

Windows

cd ~/constellation-backup
rm my-p12file.p12

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🔄 Restore P12 Keystore File

1

Obtain p12 keystore backup from cold storage

• Access your backup device

• Locate your backup p12 key store file

2

Transfer p12 keystore to local system

Copy your backed-up p12 keystore file to your local Macintosh or Windows system.

Macintosh

mkdir ~/constellation-backup
cp /Volumes/ColdStorage/my-p12file.p12 ~/constellation-backup/
cd ~/constellation-backup
ls -l

Windows

• Connect your backup device or connect to your backup medium to your Windows 11 system.

• Use File Explorer to copy the file into your constellation backup directory under your local user's home directory.

constellation-backup

Verify that you see your p12 file listed.

3

Open Terminal Application

Macintosh

Macintosh MacOS Terminal

Windows

Windows 11 Terminal App and make sure the terminal session opens a PowerShell prompt.

4

Connect to Your Node via SFTP

sftp -i ~/.ssh/my-node-ssh-keyname nodeadmin@123.123.123.123

5

Navigate to Restore Location

We need to change directories to the location where we would like to place our p12 keystore file.

Change directories in your SFTP session:

cd /home/nodeadmin/tessellation

6

Upload our P12 KeyStore

We will use the SFTP put command.

put my-p12file.p12

Expected output:

Uploading my-p12file.p12 to /home/nodeadmin/tessellation/my-p12file.p12
100% 31 0.6KB/s 00:00

7

Exit SFTP Session

exit