The forking facility has been replaced by ForkedChain - frames and
layers are two other mechanisms that mostly do the same thing at the
aristo level, without quite providing the functionality FC needs - this
cleanup will make that integration easier.
A bit unexpectedly, nibble handling shows up in the profiler mainly
because the current impl is tuned towards slicing while the most common
operation is prefix comparison - since the code is simple, might has
well get rid of some of the excess fat by always aliging the nibbles to
the byte buffer.
Each branch node may have up to 16 sub-items - currently, these are
given VertexID based when they are first needed leading to a
mostly-random order of vertexid for each subitem.
Here, we pre-allocate all 16 vertex ids such that when a branch subitem
is filled, it already has a vertexid waiting for it. This brings several
important benefits:
* subitems are sorted and "close" in their id sequencing - this means
that when rocksdb stores them, they are likely to end up in the same
data block thus improving read efficiency
* because the ids are consequtive, we can store just the starting id and
a bitmap representing which subitems are in use - this reduces disk
space usage for branches allowing more of them fit into a single disk
read, further improving disk read and caching performance - disk usage
at block 18M is down from 84 to 78gb!
* the in-memory footprint of VertexRef reduced allowing more instances
to fit into caches and less memory to be used overall.
Because of the increased locality of reference, it turns out that we no
longer need to iterate over the entire database to efficiently generate
the hash key database because the normal computation is now faster -
this significantly benefits "live" chain processing as well where each
dirtied key must be accompanied by a read of all branch subitems next to
it - most of the performance benefit in this branch comes from this
locality-of-reference improvement.
On a sample resync, there's already ~20% improvement with later blocks
seeing increasing benefit (because the trie is deeper in later blocks
leading to more benefit from branch read perf improvements)
```
blocks: 18729664, baseline: 190h43m49s, contender: 153h59m0s
Time (total): -36h44m48s, -19.27%
```
Note: clients need to be resynced as the PR changes the on-disk format
R.I.P. little bloom filter - your life in the repo was short but
valuable
When walking AriVtx, parsing integers and nibbles actually becomes a
hotspot - these trivial changes reduces CPU usage during initial key
cache computation by ~15%.
Currently, computed hash keys are stored in a separate column family
with respect to the MPT data they're generated from - this has several
disadvantages:
* A lot of space is wasted because the lookup key (`RootedVertexID`) is
repeated in both tables - this is 30% of the `AriKey` content!
* rocksdb must maintain in-memory bloom filters and LRU caches for said
keys, doubling its "minimal efficient cache size"
* An extra disk traversal must be made to check for existence of cached
hash key
* Doubles the amount of files on disk due to each column family being
its own set of files
Here, the two CFs are joined such that both key and data is stored in
`AriVtx`. This means:
* we save ~30% disk space on repeated lookup keys
* we save ~2gb of memory overhead that can be used to cache data instead
of indices
* we can skip storing hash keys for MPT leaf nodes - these are trivial
to compute and waste a lot of space - previously they had to present in
the `AriKey` CF to avoid having to look in two tables on the happy path.
* There is a small increase in write amplification because when a hash
value is updated for a branch node, we must write both key and branch
data - previously we would write only the key
* There's a small shift in CPU usage - instead of performing lookups in
the database, hashes for leaf nodes are (re)-computed on the fly
* We can return to slightly smaller on-disk SST files since there's
fewer of them, which should reduce disk traffic a bit
Internally, there are also other advantages:
* when clearing keys, we no longer have to store a zero hash in memory -
instead, we deduce staleness of the cached key from the presence of an
updated VertexRef - this saves ~1gb of mem overhead during import
* hash key cache becomes dedicated to branch keys since leaf keys are no
longer stored in memory, reducing churn
* key computation is a lot faster thanks to the skipped second disk
traversal - a key computation for mainnet can be completed in 11 hours
instead of ~2 days (!) thanks to better cache usage and less read
amplification - with additional improvements to the on-disk format, we
can probably get rid of the initial full traversal method of seeding the
key cache on first start after import
All in all, this PR reduces the size of a mainnet database from 160gb to
110gb and the peak memory footprint during import by ~1-2gb.
This kind of data is not used except in tests where it is used only to
create databases that don't match actual usage of aristo.
Removing simplifies future optimizations that can focus on processing
specific leaf types more efficiently.
A casualty of this removal is some test code as well as some proof
generation code that is unused - on the surface, it looks like it should
be possible to port both of these to the more specific data types -
doing so would ensure that a database written by one part of the
codebase can interact with the other - as it stands, there is confusion
on this point since using the proof generation code will result in a
database of a shape that is incompatible with the rest of eth1.
* switch to Nim v2.0.12
* fix LruCache capitalization for styleCheck
* KzgProof/KzgCommitment for styleCheck
* TxEip4844 for styleCheck
* styleCheck issues in nimbus/beacon/payload_conv.nim
* ENode for styleCheck
* isOk for styleCheck
* some more styleCheck fixes
* more styleCheck fixes
---------
Co-authored-by: jangko <jangko128@gmail.com>
When `nimbus import` runs, we end up with a database without MPT roots
leading to long startup times the first time one is needed.
Computing the state root is slow because the on-disk order based on
VertexID sorting does not match the trie traversal order and therefore
makes lookups inefficent.
Here we introduce a helper that speeds up this computation by traversing
the trie in on-disk order and computing the trie hashes bottom up
instead - even though this leads to some redundant reads of nodes that
we cannot yet compute, it's still a net win as leaves and "bottom"
branches make up the majority of the database.
This PR also addresses a few other sources of inefficiency largely due
to the separation of AriKey and AriVtx into their own column families.
Each column family is its own LSM tree that produces hundreds of SST
filtes - with a limit of 512 open files, rocksdb must keep closing and
opening files which leads to expensive metadata reads during random
access.
When rocksdb makes a lookup, it has to read several layers of files for
each lookup. Ribbon filters to skip over files that don't have the
requested data but when these filters are not in memory, reading them is
slow - this happens in two cases: when opening a file and when the
filter has been evicted from the LRU cache. Addressing the open file
limit solves one source of inefficiency, but we must also increase the
block cache size to deal with this problem.
* rocksdb.max_open_files increased to 2048
* per-file size limits increased so that fewer files are created
* WAL size increased to avoid partial flushes which lead to small files
* rocksdb block cache increased
All these increases of course lead to increased memory usage, but at
least performance is acceptable - in the future, we'll need to explore
options such as joining AriVtx and AriKey and/or reducing the row count
(by grouping branch layers under a single vertexid).
With this PR, the mainnet state root can be computed in ~8 hours (down
from 2-3 days) - not great, but still better.
Further, we write all keys to the database, also those that are less
than 32 bytes - because the mpt path is part of the input, it is very
rare that we actually hit a key like this (about 200k such entries on
mainnet), so the code complexity is not worth the benefit really, in the
current database layout / design.
* Dissolve legacy `sync/types.nim` into `*/eth/eth_types.nim`
* Flare sync: Simplify scheduler and remove `runSingle()` method
why:
`runSingle()` is not used anymore (main purpose was for negotiating
best headers in legacy full sync.)
Also, `runMulti()` was renamed `runPeer()`
* Flare sync: Move `chain` field from `sync_desc` -> `worker_desc`
* Flare sync: Remove handler descriptor lateral reference
why:
Not used anymore. It enabled to turn on/off eth handler activity with
regards to the sync state, i.e.from with in the sync worker.
* Flare sync: Update `Hash256` and other deprecated `std/eth` symbols
* Protocols: Update `Hash256` and other deprecated `std/eth` symbols
* Eth handler: Update `Hash256` and other deprecated `std/eth` symbols
* Update flare TODO
* Remove redundant `sync/type` import
why:
The import module `type` has been removed
* Remove duplicate implementation
* init style for Hash256
https://github.com/status-im/nim-eth/pull/733 updates `Hash256` to
become an array instead of an object - unfortunately, nim does not allow
constructing arrays with `name()`, so this PR changes it to `default`
which works with both.
* lint
* Add missing leaf cache update when a leaf turns to a branch with two
leaves (on merge) and vice versa (on delete) - this could lead to stale
leaves being returned from the cache causing validation failures - it
didn't happen because the leaf caches were not being used efficiently :)
* Replace `seq` with `ArrayBuf` in `Hike` allowing it to become
allocation-free - this PR also works around an inefficiency in nim in
returning large types via a `var` parameter
* Use the leaf cache instead of `getVtxRc` to fetch recent leaves - this
makes the vertex cache more efficient at caching branches because fewer
leaf requests pass through it.
* move pfx out of variant which avoids pointless field type panic checks
and copies on access
* make `VertexRef` a non-inheritable object which reduces its memory
footprint and simplifies its use - it's also unclear from a semantic
point of view why inheritance makes sense for storing keys
* replace rocksdb row cache with larger rdb lru caches - these serve the
same purpose but are more efficient because they skips serialization,
locking and rocksdb layering
* don't append fresh items to cache - this has the effect of evicting
the existing items and replacing them with low-value entries that might
never be read - during write-heavy periods of processing, the
newly-added entries were evicted during the store loop
* allow tuning rdb lru size at runtime
* add (hidden) option to print lru stats at exit (replacing the
compile-time flag)
pre:
```
INF 2024-09-03 15:07:01.136+02:00 Imported blocks
blockNumber=20012001 blocks=12000 importedSlot=9216851 txs=1837042
mgas=181911.265 bps=11.675 tps=1870.397 mgps=176.819 avgBps=10.288
avgTps=1574.889 avgMGps=155.952 elapsed=19m26s458ms
```
post:
```
INF 2024-09-03 13:54:26.730+02:00 Imported blocks
blockNumber=20012001 blocks=12000 importedSlot=9216851 txs=1837042
mgas=181911.265 bps=11.637 tps=1864.384 mgps=176.250 avgBps=11.202
avgTps=1714.920 avgMGps=169.818 elapsed=17m51s211ms
```
9%:ish import perf improvement on similar mem usage :)
* pre-allocate `blobify` data and remove redundant error handling
(cannot fail on correct data)
* use threadvar for temporary storage when decoding rdb, avoiding
closure env
* speed up database walkers by avoiding many temporaries
~5% perf improvement on block import, 100x on database iteration (useful
for building analysis tooling)
* Move snap un-dumpers to aristo unit test folder
why:
The only place where it is used, now to test the database against
legacy snap sync dump samples.
While the details of the dumped data have mostly outlived their purpuse,
its use as **entropy** data thrown against `Aristo` has still been
useful to find/debug tricky DB problems.
* Remove cruft
* `nimbus-eth1-blobs` not used anymore as test data source
* Provide portal proof functions in `aristo_api`
why:
So it can be fully supported by `CoreDb`
* Fix prototype in `kvt_api`
* Fix node constructor for account leafs with storage trees
* Provide simple path check based on portal proof functionality
* Provide portal proof functionality in `CoreDb`
* Update TODO list
* Extracted `test_tx.testTxMergeProofAndKvpList()` => separate file
* Fix serialiser
why:
Typo lead to duplicate rlp-encoded nodes in chain
* Remove cruft
* Implemnt portal proof nodes generators `partXxxTwig()`
* Add unit test for portal proof nodes generator `partAccountTwig()`
* Cosmetics
* Simplify serialiser return code format
* Fix proof generator for extension nodes
why:
Code was simply bonkers, not detected before the unit tests were
adapted to check for just this.
* Implemented portal proof nodes verifier `partUntwig()`
* Cosmetics
* Fix `testutp` cli poblem
* Implement partial trees
why:
This is currently needed for unit tests to pre-load the database
with test data similar to `proof` node pre-load.
The basic features for `snap-sync` boundary proofs are available
as well for future use. What is missing is the final proof verification
and a complete storage data load/merge function (stub is available.)
* Cosmetics, clean up
* Aristo: Merge `delta_siblings` module into `deltaPersistent()`
* Aristo: Add `isEmpty()` for canonical checking whether a layer is empty
* Aristo: Merge `LayerDeltaRef` into `LayerObj`
why:
No need to maintain nested object refs anymore. Previously the
`LayerDeltaRef` object had a companion `LayerFinalRef` which held
non-delta layer information.
* Kvt: Merge `LayerDeltaRef` into `LayerRef`
why:
No need to maintain nested object refs (as with `Aristo`)
* Kvt: Re-write balancer logic similar to `Aristo`
why:
Although `Kvt` was a cheap copy of `Aristo` it sort of got out of
sync and the balancer code was wrong.
* Update iterator over forked peers
why:
Yield additional field `isLast` indicating that the last iteration
cycle was approached.
* Optimise balancer calculation.
why:
One can often avoid providing a new object containing the merge of two
layers for the balancer. This avoids copying tables. In some cases this
is replaced by `hasKey()` look ups though. One uses one of the two
to combine and merges the other into the first.
Of course, this needs some checks for making sure that none of the
components to merge is eventually shared with something else.
* Fix copyright year
* Remove `chunkedMpt` from `persistent()`/`stow()` function
why:
Proof-mode code was removed with PR #2445 and needs to be re-designed.
* Remove unused `beStateRoot` argument from `deltaMerge()`
* Update/drastically simplify `txStow()`
why:
Got rid of many boundary conditions
details:
Many pre-conditions have changed. In particular, previous versions
used the account state (hash) which was conveniently available and
checked it against the backend in order to find out whether there
was something to do, at all. Currently, only an empty set of all
tables in the delta layer has the balancer update ignored.
Notable changes are:
* no check against account state (see above)
* balancer filters have no hash signature (some legacy stuff left over
from journals)
* no (shap sync) proof data which made the generation of the a top layer
more complex
* Cosmetics, cruft removal
* Update unit test file & function name
why:
Was legacy module
* Imported/rebase from `no-ext`, PR #2485
Store extension nodes together with the branch
Extension nodes must be followed by a branch - as such, it makes sense
to store the two together both in the database and in memory:
* fewer reads, writes and updates to traverse the tree
* simpler logic for maintaining the node structure
* less space used, both memory and storage, because there are fewer
nodes overall
There is also a downside: hashes can no longer be cached for an
extension - instead, only the extension+branch hash can be cached - this
seems like a fine tradeoff since computing it should be fast.
TODO: fix commented code
* Fix merge functions and `toNode()`
* Update `merkleSignCommit()` prototype
why:
Result is always a 32bit hash
* Update short Merkle hash key generation
details:
Ethereum reference MPTs use Keccak hashes as node links if the size of
an RLP encoded node is at least 32 bytes. Otherwise, the RLP encoded
node value is used as a pseudo node link (rather than a hash.) This is
specified in the yellow paper, appendix D.
Different to the `Aristo` implementation, the reference MPT would not
store such a node on the key-value database. Rather the RLP encoded node value is stored instead of a node link in a parent node
is stored as a node link on the parent database.
Only for the root hash, the top level node is always referred to by the
hash.
* Fix/update `Extension` sections
why:
Were commented out after removal of a dedicated `Extension` type which
left the system disfunctional.
* Clean up unused error codes
* Update unit tests
* Update docu
---------
Co-authored-by: Jacek Sieka <jacek@status.im>
The Vertex type unifies branches, extensions and leaves into a single
memory area where the larges member is the branch (128 bytes + overhead) -
the payloads we have are all smaller than 128 thus wrapping them in an
extra layer of `ref` is wasteful from a memory usage perspective.
Further, the ref:s must be visited during the M&S phase of garbage
collection - since we keep millions of these, many of them
short-lived, this takes up significant CPU time.
```
Function CPU Time: Total CPU Time: Self Module Function (Full) Source File Start Address
system::markStackAndRegisters 10.0% 4.922s nimbus system::markStackAndRegisters(var<system::GcHeap>).constprop.0 gc.nim 0x701230`
```
The state and account MPT:s currenty share key space in the database
based on that vertex id:s are assigned essentially randomly, which means
that when two adjacent slot values from the same contract are accessed,
they might reside at large distance from each other.
Here, we prefix each vertex id by its root causing them to be sorted
together thus bringing all data belonging to a particular contract
closer together - the same effect also happens for the main state MPT
whose nodes now end up clustered together more tightly.
In the future, the prefix given to the storage keys can also be used to
perform range operations such as reading all the storage at once and/or
deleting an account with a batch operation.
Notably, parts of the API already supported this rooting concept while
parts didn't - this PR makes the API consistent by always working with a
root+vid.
* Update some docu
* Resolve obsolete compile time option
why:
Not optional anymore
* Update checks
why:
The notion of what constitutes a valid `Aristo` db has changed due to
(even more) lazy calculating Merkle hash keys.
* Disable redundant unit test for production
* Remove `dirty` set from structural objects
why:
Not used anymore, the tree is dirty by default.
* Rename `aristo_hashify` -> `aristo_compute`
* Remove cruft, update comments, cosmetics, etc.
* Simplify `SavedState` object
why:
The key chaining have become obsolete after extra lazy hashing. There
is some available space for a state hash to be maintained in future.
details:
Accept the legacy `SavedState` object serialisation format for a
while (which will be overwritten by new format.)
* rebased from `github/on-demand-mpt`
ackn:
wip: on-demand mpt construction
Given that actual data is stored in the `Vertex` structure, it's useful
to think of the MPT as a cache for computing roots rather than being a
functional requirement on its own.
This PR engenders this line of thinking by incrementally computing the
MPT only when it's needed, ie when a state (or similar) root is needed.
This has the effect of siginficantly reducing memory usage as well as
improving performance:
* no need for dirty-mpt-node book-keeping
* no need to build complex forest of upcoming hashing work
* only hashes that are functionally needed are ever computed -
intermediate nodes whose MTP root is not observed are never computed /
processed
* Unit test hot fixes
* Unit test hot fixes cont.
(somehow lost that part)
---------
Co-authored-by: Jacek Sieka <jacek@status.im>
* Tighten `CoreDb` API for accounts
why:
Apart from cruft, the way to fetch the accounts state root via a
`CoreDbColRef` record was unnecessarily complicated.
* Extend `CoreDb` API for accounts to cover storage tries
why:
In future, this will make the notion of column objects obsolete. Storage
trees will then be indexed by the account address rather than the vertex
ID equivalent like a `CoreDbColRef`.
* Apply new/extended accounts API to ledger and tests
details:
This makes the `distinct_ledger` module obsolete
* Remove column object constructors
why:
They were needed as an abstraction of MPT sub-trees including storage
trees. Now, storage trees are handled by the account (e.g. via address)
they belong to and all other trees can be identified by a constant well
known vertex ID. So there is no need for column objects anymore.
Still there are some left-over column object methods wnich will be
removed next.
* Remove `serialise()` and `PayloadRef` from default Aristo API
why:
Not needed. `PayloadRef` was used for unstructured/unknown payload
formats (account or blob) and `serialise()` was used for decodng
`PayloadRef`. Now it is known in advance what the payload looks
like.
* Added query function `hasStorageData()` whether a storage area exists
why:
Useful for supporting `slotStateEmpty()` of the `CoreDb` API
* In the `Ledger` replace `storage.stateEmpty()` by `slotStateEmpty()`
* On Aristo, hide the storage root/vertex ID in the `PayloadRef`
why:
The storage vertex ID is fully controlled by Aristo while the
`AristoAccount` object is controlled by the application. With the
storage root part of the `AristoAccount` object, there was a useless
administrative burden to keep that storage root field up to date.
* Remove cruft, update comments etc.
* Update changed MPT access paradigms
why:
Fixes verified proxy tests
* Fluffy cosmetics
For the block cache to be shared between column families, the options
instance must be shared between the various column families being
created. This also ensures that there is only one source of truth for
configuration options instead of having two different sets depending on
how the tables were initialized.
This PR also removes the re-opening mechanism which can double startup
time - every time the database is opened, the log is replayed - a large
log file will take a long time to open.
Finally, several options got correclty implemented as column family
options, including an one that puts a hash index in the SST files.
* Provide dedicated functions for deleteing accounts and storage trees
why:
Storage trees are always linked to an account, so there is no need
for an application to fiddle about (e.g. re-cycling, unlinking)
storage tree vertex IDs.
* Remove `delete()` and other cruft from API, `aristo_delete`, etc.
* clean up delete functions
details:
The delete implementations `deleteImpl()` and `delTreeImpl()` do not
need to be super generic anymore as all the edge cases are covered by
the specialised `deleteAccountPayload()`, `deleteGenericData()`, etc.
* Avoid unnecessary re-calculations of account keys
why:
The function `registerAccountForUpdate()` did extract the storage ID
(if any) and automatically marked the Merkle keys along the account
path for re-hashing.
This would also apply if there was later detected that the account
or the storage tree did not need to be updated.
So the `registerAccountForUpdate()` function was split into a part
which retrieved the storage ID, and another one which marked the
Merkle keys for re-calculation to be applied only when needed.
* Remove unused `merge*()` functions (for production)
details:
Some functionality moved to test suite
* Make sure that only `AccountData` leaf type is exactly used on VertexID(1)
* clean up payload type
* Provide dedicated functions for merging accounts and storage trees
why:
Storage trees are always linked to an account, so there is no need
for an application to fiddle about (e.e. creating, re-cycling) with
storage tree vertex IDs.
* CoreDb: Disable tracer functionality
why:
Must be updated to accommodate new/changed `Aristo` functions.
* CoreDb: Use new `mergeXXX()` functions
why:
Makes explicit vertex ID management obsolete for creating new
storage trees.
* Remove `mergePayload()` and other cruft from API, `aristo_merge`, etc.
* clean up merge functions
details:
The merge implementation `mergePayloadImpl()` does not need to be super
generic anymore as all the edge cases are covered by the specialised
functions `mergeAccountPayload()`, `mergeGenericData()`, and
`mergeStorageData()`.
* No tracer available at the moment, so disable offending tests
* Fix initialiser
why:
Possible crash (app profiling, tracer etc.)
* Update column family options processing
why:
Same for kvt as for aristo
* Move `AristoDbDualRocks` backend type to the test suite
why:
So it is not available for production
* Fix typos in API jump table
why:
Used for tracing and app profiling only. Needed some update
* Purged CoreDb legacy API
why:
Not needed anymore, was transitionary and disabled.
* Rename `flush` argument to `eradicate` in a DB close context
why:
The word `eradicate` leaves no doubt what is meant
* Rename `stoFlush()` -> `stoDelete()`
* Rename `core_apps_newapi` -> `core_apps` (not so new anymore)
* bump rockdb
* Rename `KVT` objects related to filters according to `Aristo` naming
details:
filter* => delta*
roFilter => balancer
* Compulsory error handling if `persistent()` fails
* Add return code to `reCentre()`
why:
Might eventually fail if re-centring is blocked. Some logic will be
added in subsequent patch sets.
* Add column families from earlier session to rocksdb in opening procedure
why:
All previously used CFs must be declared when re-opening an existing
database.
* Update `init()` and add rocksdb `reinit()` methods for changing parameters
why:
Opening a set column families (with different open options) must span
at least the ones that are already on disk.
* Provide write-trigger-event interface into `Aristo` backend
why:
This allows to save data from a guest application (think `KVT`) to
get synced with the write cycle so the guest and `Aristo` save all
atomically.
* Use `KVT` with new column family interface from `Aristo`
* Remove obsolete guest interface
* Implement `KVT` piggyback on `Aristo` backend
* CoreDb: Add separate `KVT`/`Aristo` backend mode for debugging
* Remove `rocks_db` import from `persist()` function
why:
Some systems (i.p `fluffy` and friends) use the `Aristo` memory
backend emulation and do not link against rocksdb when building the
application. So this should fix that problem.
* Use RocksDb column families instead of a prefixed single column
why:
Better performance
* Use structural objects `VertexRef` and `HashKey` in LRU cache for RocksDb
why:
Avoids repeated de/serialisation
* Code cosmetics
* Re-org `aristo_merge`, internally split into sub-modules
why:
Became a burden for maintenance because it hosts two different
functionalities under the same merge paradigm: account/data merge
and snap proof merge where the latter produces a partial trie.
* Fix CoreDb tracer
* Ledger: fix potential account vs. storage tree sync problems
* Remove bound on the size of removable whole storage trees
* Activate `test_tracer_json`
* Remove `test_sync_snap`
why:
Snap sync needs to be re-factored. All the interesting database parts
from this test suite has been recycled into `Aristo`
* Remove `test_rocksdb_timing`
* Update `all_tests`
These options are there mainly to drive experiments, and are therefore
hidden.
One thing that this PR brings in is an initial set of caches and buffers for rocksdb - the set that I've been using during various performance tests to get to a viable baseline performance level.
* Remove all journal related stuff
* Refactor function names journal*() => delta*(), filter*() => delta*()
* remove `trg` fileld from `FilterRef`
why:
Same as `kMap[$1]`
* Re-type FilterRef.src as `HashKey`
why:
So it is directly comparable to `kMap[$1]`
* Moved `vGen[]` field from `LayerFinalRef` to `LayerDeltaRef`
why:
Then a separate `FilterRef` type is not needed, anymore
* Rename `roFilter` field in `AristoDbRef` => `balancer`
why:
New name more appropriate.
* Replace `FilterRef` by `LayerDeltaRef` type
why:
This allows to avoid copying into the `balancer` (see next patch set)
most of the time. Typically, only one instance is running on the backend
and the `balancer` is only used as a stage before saving data.
* Refactor way how to store data persistently
why:
Avoid useless copy when staging `top` layer for persistently saving to
backend.
* Fix copyright header?
Jacek Sieka
andri lim
tersec
Jordan Hrycaj