Adds a "Slot start" log to the LC that behaves similar to BN to inform
the user that the light client is doing something, and to indicate the
latest view of the network (finalized / optimistic).
Currently, we require genesis and a checkpoint block and state to start
from an arbitrary slot - this PR relaxes this requirement so that we can
start with a state alone.
The current trusted-node-sync algorithm works by first downloading
blocks until we find an epoch aligned non-empty slot, then downloads the
state via slot.
However, current
[proposals](https://github.com/ethereum/beacon-APIs/pull/226) for
checkpointing prefer finalized state as
the main reference - this allows more simple access control and caching
on the server side - in particular, this should help checkpoint-syncing
from sources that have a fast `finalized` state download (like infura
and teku) but are slow when accessing state via slot.
Earlier versions of Nimbus will not be able to read databases created
without a checkpoint block and genesis. In most cases, backfilling makes
the database compatible except where genesis is also missing (custom
networks).
* backfill checkpoint block from libp2p instead of checkpoint source,
when doing trusted node sync
* allow starting the client without genesis / checkpoint block
* perform epoch start slot lookahead when loading tail state, so as to
deal with the case where the epoch start slot does not have a block
* replace `--blockId` with `--state-id` in TNS command line
* when replaying, also look at the parent of the last-known-block (even
if we don't have the parent block data, we can still replay from a
"parent" state) - in particular, this clears the way for implementing
state pruning
* deprecate `--finalized-checkpoint-block` option (no longer needed)
In optimistic mode, Nimbus will sync optimistically even when the
execution client is offline / not available.
An optimistic node is less secure because it has not validated block
transactions via the execution client and can thus not be used for
validation duties.
* `.era` store docs
Initial documentation for era file generation and usage
* Update docs/the_nimbus_book/src/era-store.md
Co-authored-by: zah <zahary@status.im>
* Update docs/the_nimbus_book/src/era-store.md
Co-authored-by: Kim De Mey <kim.demey@gmail.com>
* remove dupe
Co-authored-by: zah <zahary@status.im>
Co-authored-by: Kim De Mey <kim.demey@gmail.com>
The `eth1_monitor` check to require engine API from bellatrix onward
has issues in setups where the EL and CL are started simultaneously
because the EL may not be ready to answer requests by the time that the
check is performed. This can be observed, e.g., on Raspberry Pi 4 when
using Besu as the EL client. Now that the merge transition happened, the
check is also not that useful anymore, as users have other ways to know
that their setup is not working correctly (e.g., repeated exchange logs)
When the BN-embedded LC makes sync progress, pass the corresponding
execution block hash to the EL via `engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV1`.
This allows the EL to sync to wall slot while the chain DAG is behind.
Renamed `--light-client` to `--sync-light-client` for clarity, and
`--light-client-trusted-block-root` to `--trusted-block-root` for
consistency with `nimbus_light_client`.
Note that this does not work well in practice at this time:
- Geth sticks to the optimistic sync:
"Ignoring payload while snap syncing" (when passing the LC head)
"Forkchoice requested unknown head" (when updating to LC head)
- Nethermind syncs to LC head but does not report ancestors as VALID,
so the main forward sync is still stuck in optimistic mode:
"Pre-pivot block, ignored and returned Syncing"
To aid EL client teams in fixing those issues, having this available
as a hidden option is still useful.
The optimistic sync spec was updated since the LC based optsync module
was introduced. It is no longer necessary to wait for the justified
checkpoint to have execution enabled; instead, any block is okay to be
optimistically imported to the EL client, as long as its parent block
has execution enabled. Complex syncing logic has been removed, and the
LC optsync module will now follow gossip directly, reducing the latency
when using this module. Note that because this is now based on gossip
instead of using sync manager / request manager, that individual blocks
may be missed. However, EL clients should recover from this by fetching
missing blocks themselves.
Aligns the default retention policy for LC data with the one for blocks.
Minimum spec requirement for both blocks and LC data is ~5 months.
Additional use cases are better supported by retaining data for longer.
* reorganise navigation menus
* update light client guide with comparison table
* add suggested fee recipient and JWT secrets to the merge guide
* add some background info to book readme
* add JWT docs
also limit toc to make it displayable with substeps.
* Use final `v1` version for light client protocols
* Unhide LC data collection options
* Default enable LC data serving
* rm unneeded import
* Connect to EL on startup
* Add docs for LC based EL sync
`mkdocs` works with markdown similar to `mdbook` but is generally more
pleasing to the eye and has several nice UX features.
This PR does the bulk of the transition - likely, a followup would be
needed to fully make use of the extra features and navigation.
Book pages have been kept url-compatible, meaning that for the most
part, old links should continue to work!
Co-authored-by: Etan Kissling <etan@status.im>
* update docs
* introduce mdbook-admonish for nice looking callouts
* new section on data directory
* recommend source build for advanced users and direct the rest to
binaries
* more strongly highlight that execution client is needed
* write an actual deposit guide
* remove cruft / fix links / etc
* remove web3 url prompt in launcher script
The interactive prompt for web3 has outlived its utility as we now load
url:s from command line params and config files, preventing the prompt
from correctly detecting when it's needed.
Also, after the merge, a JWT secret will (likely) be needed.
* log notice when web3 url is missing
* fix docs to not mention default that doesn't exist
* fix scripts to properly quote arguments
* systemd: use same service file as package
* systemd: recommend setting up a user
* clean up obsolete / ephemeral notes
* eth1 -> execution, in many places
* clean up docker instructions to match the experience of running the
runner script
* add basic instructions / links for execution clients other than geth
* clear a few more references to JSON-RPC, update to REST
* update hardware requirements with execution client extras
* start talking about merge requirements (this needs a dedicated page)
* note that binaries do exist, where relevant
* list gitcoin under donations
* update syncing docs
* `NOT` is for `NOTICE` in logs
* update rpi hardware recommendations
* prevent automatic doppelganger restarts in systemd service file
* era file verification
Implement and document era file verification
* era file states now come with block applied for easier verification
* clarify conflicting version handling
* document verification requirements
* remove count from name, use start-era, end-root to discover range
* remove obsolete todo
* abstract out block root loading
Some upstream repos still need fixes, but this gets us close enough that
style hints can be enabled by default.
In general, "canonical" spellings are preferred even if they violate
nep-1 - this applies in particular to spec-related stuff like
`genesis_validators_root` which appears throughout the codebase.
Validator monitoring improves logging by giving more specific monitoring
information, and can now be seen as complete.
Previously, logging has focused on "Attestation sent" messages which
carry little informational value when things go wrong, and are overly
aggressive when everything works as expected (sending attestations is
the norm).
* lower "Attestation sent" log to `INFO`
* mark 1.7.0 as the start of the validator monitor feature - previous
versions had significant bugs in totals mode
The `pyrmont` testnet has been discontinued.
For experiments, it's still possible to run pyrmont nodes by passing a
genesis/config, but this PR removes the bundled `--network:pyrmont`
option.
* update docs
* remove empty docs
* remove obsolete `eth2-stats` page
* era: load blocks and states
Era files contain finalized history and can be thought of as an
alternative source for block and state data that allows clients to avoid
syncing this information from the P2P network - the P2P network is then
used to "top up" the client with the most recent data. They can be
freely shared in the community via whatever means (http, torrent, etc)
and serve as a permanent cold store of consensus data (and, after the
merge, execution data) for history buffs and bean counters alike.
This PR gently introduces support for loading blocks and states in two
cases: block requests from rest/p2p and frontfilling when doing
checkpoint sync.
The era files are used as a secondary source if the information is not
found in the database - compared to the database, there are a few key
differences:
* the database stores the block indexed by block root while the era file
indexes by slot - the former is used only in rest, while the latter is
used both by p2p and rest.
* when loading blocks from era files, the root is no longer trivially
available - if it is needed, it must either be computed (slow) or cached
(messy) - the good news is that for p2p requests, it is not needed
* in era files, "framed" snappy encoding is used while in the database
we store unframed snappy - for p2p2 requests, the latter requires
recompression while the former could avoid it
* front-filling is the process of using era files to replace backfilling
- in theory this front-filling could happen from any block and
front-fills with gaps could also be entertained, but our backfilling
algorithm cannot take advantage of this because there's no (simple) way
to tell it to "skip" a range.
* front-filling, as implemented, is a bit slow (10s to load mainnet): we
load the full BeaconState for every era to grab the roots of the blocks
- it would be better to partially load the state - as such, it would
also be good to be able to partially decompress snappy blobs
* lookups from REST via root are served by first looking up a block
summary in the database, then using the slot to load the block data from
the era file - however, there needs to be an option to create the
summary table from era files to fully support historical queries
To test this, `ncli_db` has an era file exporter: the files it creates
should be placed in an `era` folder next to `db` in the data directory.
What's interesting in particular about this setup is that `db` remains
as the source of truth for security purposes - it stores the latest
synced head root which in turn determines where a node "starts" its
consensus participation - the era directory however can be freely shared
between nodes / people without any (significant) security implications,
assuming the era files are consistent / not broken.
There's lots of future improvements to be had:
* we can drop the in-memory `BlockRef` index almost entirely - at this
point, resident memory usage of Nimbus should drop to a cool 500-600 mb
* we could serve era files via REST trivially: this would drop backfill
times to whatever time it takes to download the files - unlike the
current implementation that downloads block by block, downloading an era
at a time almost entirely cuts out request overhead
* we can "reasonably" recreate detailed state history from almost any
point in time, turning an O(slot) process into O(1) effectively - we'll
still need caches and indices to do this with sufficient efficiency for
the rest api, but at least it cuts the whole process down to minutes
instead of hours, for arbitrary points in time
* CI: ignore failures with Nim-1.6 (temporary)
* test fixes
Co-authored-by: Ștefan Talpalaru <stefantalpalaru@yahoo.com>
When performing trusted node sync, historical access is limited to
states after the checkpoint.
Reindexing restores full historical access by replaying historical
blocks against the state and storing snapshots in the database.
The process can be initiated or resumed at any point in time.
* book: add trusted node sync to index
...and some doc updates
* Update docs/the_nimbus_book/src/start-syncing.md
Co-authored-by: Ștefan Talpalaru <stefantalpalaru@yahoo.com>
Co-authored-by: Ștefan Talpalaru <stefantalpalaru@yahoo.com>
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