> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.stellar.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Advanced

> This page contains information that is useful to know but that should not stop somebody from running a node.

This page contains information that is useful to know but that should not stop somebody from running a node.

## Creating Your Own Private Network

The [stellar-core GitHub repository] holds [a `testnet.md` file] which contains a short tutorial demonstrating how to configure and run a short-lived, isolated test network.

## Runtime Information: Start and Stop

Stellar-core can be started directly from the command line, or through a supervision system such as `init`, `upstart`, or `systemd`.

Stellar-core can be gracefully exited at any time by delivering `SIGINT` or pressing `CTRL-C`. It can be safely, forcibly terminated with `SIGTERM` or `SIGKILL`. The latter may leave a stale lock file in the `BUCKET_DIR_PATH`, and you may need to remove this file before stellar-core will restart. Broadly speaking, all components are designed to recover from abrupt termination.

Stellar-core can also be packaged in a container system such as Docker, so long as `BUCKET_DIR_PATH` and the database are stored on persistent volumes. For an example, see [`stellar/quickstart`].

## In-depth Architecture

The [stellar-core GitHub repository] also contains [the `architecture.md` file], which describes how stellar-core is structured internally, how it is intended to be deployed, and the collection of servers and services needed to get the full functionality and performance.

## Reproducible Performance Testing With Stellar Supercluster

[Stellar Supercluster] is a tool that enables running simulated networks of stellar-core nodes on Kubernetes clusters. One use case for Supercluster is running reproducible performance tests. The Supercluster GitHub repository contains a few documents to help users run theoretical maximum Transaction Per Second (TPS) tests:

* [`doc/getting-started.md`] details dependencies for building and running Supercluster.
* [`doc/eks.md`] details how to build a supercluster-compatible EKS cluster on AWS.
* [`doc/theoretical-max-tps.md`] explains how to run the theoretical max TPS test on an EKS cluster. It also contains a table of results from SDF's own theoretical max TPS runs, as well as the configurations used to achieve those results.

### Other Supercluster Resources

Supercluster is useful beyond reproducible performance testing. Some helpful resources to learn more about Supercluster include:

* [`doc/measuring-transaction-throughput.md`] details additional maximum TPS tests beyond the theoretical max TPS test.
* [`doc/missions.md`] lists all tests (referred to as "missions") that Supercluster supports.

[stellar-core github repository]: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core

[a `testnet.md` file]: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core/blob/master/docs/software/testnet.md

[`stellar/quickstart`]: https://github.com/stellar/quickstart

[the `architecture.md` file]: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core/blob/master/docs/architecture.md

[Stellar Supercluster]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/tree/main

[`doc/getting-started.md`]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/blob/main/doc/getting-started.md

[`doc/eks.md`]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/blob/main/doc/eks.md

[`doc/theoretical-max-tps.md`]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/blob/main/doc/theoretical-max-tps.md

[`doc/measuring-transaction-throughput.md`]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/blob/main/doc/measuring-transaction-throughput.md

[`doc/missions.md`]: https://github.com/stellar/supercluster/blob/main/doc/missions.md