First, install docker-machine and get a DigitalOcean account and access token.

Then, install mintnet.

go get github.com/tendermint/mintnet

To provision machines on DigitalOcean:

mintnet create -- --driver=digitalocean --digitalocean-access-token=YOUR_ACCCESS_TOKEN

Or, to provision machines on AWS:

mintnet create -- --driver=amazonec2 --amazonec2-access-key=AKI******* --amazonec2-secret-key=8T93C********* --amazonec2-zone=b --amazonec2-vpc-id=vpc-****** aws01`

By default this creates 4 new machines. Check the help messages for more info, e.g. mintnet create --help.

Next, create the testnet configuration folders.

mintnet init mytest_dir/

This creates directories in mytest for the application.

ls mytest_dir/
  app   # Common configuration directory for your blockchain applicaiton
  core  # Common configuration directory for Tendermint Core
  data  # Common configuration directory for MerkleEyes key-value store
  mach1 # Configuration directory for the Tendermint core daemon on machine 1
  mach2 # Configuration directory for the Tendermint core daemon on machine 2
  mach3 # Configuration directory for the Tendermint core daemon on machine 3
  mach4 # Configuration directory for the Tendermint core daemon on machine 4

Now start the testnet service.

mintnet start mytest mytest_dir/

You can stop and remove the application as well.

mintnet rm --force mytest

Don't forget to destroy your provisioned machines!

mintnet destroy --machines="mach1,mach2,mach3,mach4"