TLDR#
There are only 2 public Solana networks for application builders to develop on and one of them is production. My enteprise is more complex than that - We need more environments. How do we go about it? Read on.With Vulcan Forge, an API client has a number of choices in terms of multiple isolated environments to work with, even if they all use just the 2 public networks: Devnet and Mainnet. For additional background on reasons behind the multi-environments support see this part of the in introduction.Target Networks#
Use the ID as a value in the solanaClusterId query parameter for Vulcan Forge API requests. If this query parameter is not provided, the API server will use the default network.| ID | Default Network | Name | Description |
|---|
| SOLANA_DEVNET | | The Public Solana Devnet | Network operated by community-run validators and the Solana Foundation. It is typically pretty difficult to fund a wallet with Test SOL on this network. Reach out to Alphaledger if you need help with this. |
| SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING | | The Public Solana Mainnet - Testing | This network allows a user to create a set accounts as a final test before deployment to production. Real SOL is needed to pay for Rent/Transaction Fees. |
| SOLANA_MAINNET | | The Public Solana Mainnet - Production | The network to be used for production workloads. Real SOL is needed to pay for Rent/Transaction Fees. |
| SOLANA_ALPHALEDGER_SPE* | | Alphaledger's private Solana network | A Solana Permissioned Environment (SPE) with nodes managed and operated by Alphaledger and restricted explorer and validator nodes access. Alphaledger distributes initial SOL for testing. |
* Support for the Alphaledger SPE is targeted for Q3 2026.Network Isolation#
An API user would seek to setup separate sets of accounts in each of these environments which are not supposed to interact with each other - i.e. the public Solana Devnet and Solana Mainnet are totally separate networks.In other words: let's say a user wants to setup a Financial Instrument for testing in SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING and later wants to have this same Financial Instrument deployed to SOLANA_MAINNET, for real production workloads: in this case the user will call the Create Financial Instrument endpoint twice - with 2 different solanaClusterId values and thus the financial instrument gets deployed into 2 separate Solana mint addresses, although both addresses live on the same network.When the API server looks up Solana address needed to be referenced in Solana transactions, it will lookup at these addresses ONLY within the context of the network specified by the API request.Virual environments#
The SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING and SOLANA_MAINNET can be viewed as separate virtual environments hosted by the same network.For the rest of the environments the isolation is enforced even further due to the fact that the networks do not communicate with each other.Alphaledger environments#
As mentioned, Alphaledger's has its own tenant to Vulcan Forge. To further help with the understanding of how these Solana Networks can be used, listed below are the environments we use and what Solana Networks each of these environments can connect to.| Environment | Supported Network | Real production workloads | Type of SOL* |
|---|
| dev | SOLANA_DEVNET | | Test |
| dev | SOLANA_DEVNET_1 | | Test |
| dev | SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING | | Real |
| dev | SOLANA_ALPHALEDGER_SPE | | Test AL |
| qa | SOLANA_DEVNET | | Test |
| qa | SOLANA_DEVNET_1 | | Test |
| qa | SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING | | Real |
| beta | SOLANA_DEVNET | | Test |
| beta | SOLANA_DEVNET_1 | | Test |
| beta | SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING | | Real |
| prod | SOLANA_MAINNET | | Real |
| prod | SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING | | Real |
| prod | SOLANA_DEVNET | | Test |
Real -> SOL that needs to be purchased with real fiat currencies, USDC, etc.
Test -> Obtained from Devnet SOL faucets
Test AL -> Obtained through Alphaledger
Internal Blockchain Id#
Each Environment + Supported Network combination has its own Virtual/Isolated environment represented by an internal blockchain id.Other rules/considerations:Each environment has its own offchain database cluster
All offchain twins for the blockchain entities and transactions are attached to one and only one internal blockchain id
External customer access will only be provided in our prod environment. And possibly beta too during the alpha realease and depending on future customer demand.
Over time we can add support for more virtual environments by adding more SOLANA_DEVNET_<n> and SOLANA_MAINNET_TESTING_<n> cluster ids.Modified at 2025-12-06 21:04:55