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.
* avoid database race-condition inconsistency after fcU `INVALID` then crash
* ensure head doesn't fall behind finalized; add more tests for head movement/reloading DAG
The optimistic candidate block check that only imports a new block into
the EL client if its parent block also had execution enabled is not
needed anymore, as mainnet has merged and the attack period is over.
* more efficient forkchoiceUpdated usage
* await rather than asyncSpawn; ensure head update before dag.updateHead
* use action tracker rather than attached validators to check for next slot proposal; use wall slot + 1 rather than state slot + 1 to correctly check when missing blocks
* re-add two-fcU case for when newPayload not VALID
* check dynamicFeeRecipientsStore for potential proposal
* remove duplicate checks for whether next proposer
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.
When the EL fails to respond to `newPayload`, e.g., because connection
to the EL got interrupted, or due to misconfiguration, optimistic blocks
cannot be imported according to spec. This condition is treated the same
as if the peer returned a block with missing parent which gets the block
out of our processing queue, but can have nasty side effects.
For example, if sync manager asks for validation of a block known to be
in the finalized range, if it receives a `MissingParent` verdict, the
peer is immediately removed from the peer pool.
```
DBG 2022-08-24 11:45:26.874+02:00 newPayload: inserting block into execution engine parentHash=e4ca7424 blockHash=36cdc198 stateRoot=cf3902c1 receiptsRoot=56e81f17 prevRandao=0b49a172 blockNumber=1518089 gasLimit=30000000 gasUsed=0 timestamp=1657980396 extraDataLen=0 baseFeePerGas=7 numTransactions=0
ERR 2022-08-24 11:45:26.875+02:00 newPayload failed msg="Transport is not initialised (missing a call to connect?)"
DBG 2022-08-24 11:45:26.875+02:00 Block pool rejected peer's response topics="syncman" request=187232:32@1475 peer=16U*MsCJdx direction=forward blocks_map=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx blocks_count=31 ok=false unviable=false missing_parent=true sync_ident=main
ERR 2022-08-24 11:45:26.875+02:00 Unexpected missing parent at finalized epoch slot topics="syncman" request=187232:32@1475 peer=16U*MsCJdx direction=forward rewind_to_slot=187232 blocks_count=31 blocks_map=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx sync_ident=main
DBG 2022-08-24 11:45:26.875+02:00 Peer was removed from PeerPool due to low score topics="beacnde" peer=16U*MsCJdx peer_score=-1000 score_low_limit=0 score_high_limit=1000
DBG 2022-08-24 11:45:26.875+02:00 Lost connection to peer topics="networking" peer=16U*MsCJdx connections=0
```
By delaying issuing a verdict until the EL connection is restored and
`newPayload` successfully ran, the problem should be fixed. This also
induces back pressure to the sync manager by stopping download of new
blocks (or re-downloading the same block over and over again).
When the client was started without any validators, the doppelganger
detection structures were never initialized properly. Later, when
validators were added through the Keymanager API, they interacted
with the uninitialized doppelganger detection structures and their
duties were inappropriately skipped.
In order to avoid full replays when validating attestations hailing from
untaken forks, it's better to keep shufflings separate from `EpochRef`
and perform a lookahead on the shuffling when processing the block that
determines them.
This also helps performance in the case where REST clients are trying to
perform lookahead on attestation duties and decreases memory usage by
sharing shufflings between EpochRef instances of the same dependent
root.
The light client sync protocol employs heuristics to ensure it does not
become stuck during non-finality or low sync committee participation.
These can enable use cases that prefer availability of recent data
over security. For our syncing use case, though, security is preferred.
An option is added to light client processor to configure this tradeoff.
Whether new blocks/attestations/etc are produced internally or received
via REST, their journey through the node is the same - to ensure that
they get the same treatment (logging, metrics, processing), this PR
moves the routing to a dedicated module and fixes several small
differences that existed before.
* `xxxValidator` -> `processMessageName` - the processor also was adding
messages to pools, so we want the name to reflect that action
* add missing "sent" metrics for some messages
* document ignore policy better - already-seen messages are not actaully
rebroadcast by libp2p
* skip redundant signature checks for internal validators consistently
The justified and finalized `Checkpoint` are frequently passed around
together. This introduces a new `FinalityCheckpoint` data structure that
combines them into one.
Due to the large usage of this structure in fork choice, also took this
opportunity to update fork choice tests to the latest v1.2.0-rc.1 spec.
Many additional tests enabled, some need more work, e.g. EL mock blocks.
Also implemented `discard_equivocations` which was skipped in #3661,
and improved code reuse across fork choice logic while at it.
* optimistic sync
* flag that initially loaded blocks from database might need execution block root filled in
* return optimistic status in REST calls
* refactor blockslot pruning
* ensure beacon_blocks_by_{root,range} do not provide optimistic blocks
* handle forkchoice head being pre-merge with block being postmerge
* re-enable blocking head updates on validator duties
* fix is_optimistic_candidate_block per spec; don't crash with nil future
* fix is_optimistic_candidate_block per spec; don't crash with nil future
* mark blocks sans execution payloads valid during head update
Combines the LC data configuration options (serve / importMode), the
callbacks (finality / optimistic LC update) as well as the cache storing
light client data, into a new `LightClientDataStore` structure.
Also moves the structure into a light client specific file.
Adds a `LightClient` instance to the beacon node as preparation to
accelerate syncing in the future (optimistic sync).
- `--light-client-enable` turns on the feature
- `--light-client-trusted-block-root` configures block to start from
If no block root is configured, light client tracks DAG `finalizedHead`.
Introduces a new library for syncing using libp2p based light client
sync protocol, and adds a new `nimbus_light_client` executable that uses
this library for syncing. The new executable emits log messages when
new beacon block headers are received, and is integrated into testing.
* document static vs dynamic range checking requirements
* add `vindices` iterator to iterate over valid validator indices in a
state
* clean up spec comments in general
* fixup
Co-authored-by: tersec <tersec@users.noreply.github.com>
Incorporates the latest changes to the light client sync protocol based
on Devconnect AMS feedback. Note that this breaks compatibility with the
previous prototype, due to changes to data structures and endpoints.
See https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs/pull/2802
Other changes:
* logtrace can now verify sync committee messages and contributions
* Many unnecessary use of pairs() have been removed for consistency
* Map 40x BN response codes to BeaconNodeStatus.Incompatible in the VC
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.
Adds `LightClientProcessor` as the pendant to `BlockProcessor` while
operating in light client mode. Note that a similar mechanism based on
async futures is used for interoperability with existing infrastructure,
despite light client object validation being done synchronously.
Up til now, the block dag has been using `BlockRef`, a structure adapted
for a full DAG, to represent all of chain history. This is a correct and
simple design, but does not exploit the linearity of the chain once
parts of it finalize.
By pruning the in-memory `BlockRef` structure at finalization, we save,
at the time of writing, a cool ~250mb (or 25%:ish) chunk of memory
landing us at a steady state of ~750mb normal memory usage for a
validating node.
Above all though, we prevent memory usage from growing proportionally
with the length of the chain, something that would not be sustainable
over time - instead, the steady state memory usage is roughly
determined by the validator set size which grows much more slowly. With
these changes, the core should remain sustainable memory-wise post-merge
all the way to withdrawals (when the validator set is expected to grow).
In-memory indices are still used for the "hot" unfinalized portion of
the chain - this ensure that consensus performance remains unchanged.
What changes is that for historical access, we use a db-based linear
slot index which is cache-and-disk-friendly, keeping the cost for
accessing historical data at a similar level as before, achieving the
savings at no percievable cost to functionality or performance.
A nice collateral benefit is the almost-instant startup since we no
longer load any large indicies at dag init.
The cost of this functionality instead can be found in the complexity of
having to deal with two ways of traversing the chain - by `BlockRef` and
by slot.
* use `BlockId` instead of `BlockRef` where finalized / historical data
may be required
* simplify clearance pre-advancement
* remove dag.finalizedBlocks (~50:ish mb)
* remove `getBlockAtSlot` - use `getBlockIdAtSlot` instead
* `parent` and `atSlot` for `BlockId` now require a `ChainDAGRef`
instance, unlike `BlockRef` traversal
* prune `BlockRef` parents on finality (~200:ish mb)
* speed up ChainDAG init by not loading finalized history index
* mess up light client server error handling - this need revisiting :)
One more step on the journey to reduce `BlockRef` usage across the
codebase - this one gets rid of `StateData` whose job was to keep track
of which block was last assigned to a state - these duties have now been
taken over by `latest_block_root`, a fairly recent addition that
computes this block root from state data (at a small cost that should be
insignificant)
99% mechanical change.
* fewer deps on `BlockRef` traversal in anticipation of pruning
* allows identifying EpochRef:s by their shuffling as a first step of
* tighten error handling around missing blocks
using the zero hash for signalling "missing block" is fragile and easy
to miss - with checkpoint sync now, and pruning in the future, missing
blocks become "normal".
https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs/pull/2225 removed an ignore
rule that would filter out duplicate aggregates from gossip publishing -
however, this causes increased bandwidth and CPU usage as discussed in
https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs/issues/2183 - the intent is
to revert the removal and reinstate the rule.
This PR implements ignore filtering which cuts down on CPU usage (fewer
aggregates to validate) and bandwidth usage (less fanout of duplicates)
- as #2225 points out, this may lead to a small increase in IHAVE
messages.
* deactivate Doppelganger Protection during genesis
* also don't actually flag supposed-doppelgangers (because they're before broadcastStartEpoch) on GENESIS_SLOT start
These use a separate flow, and were previously only registered from the
network
* don't log successes in totals mode (TMI)
* remove `attestation-sent` event which is unused
* Harden handling of unviable forks
In our current handling of unviable forks, we allow peers to send us
blocks that come from a different fork - this is not necessarily an
error as it can happen naturally, but it does open up the client to a
case where the same unviable fork keeps getting requested - rather than
allowing this to happen, we'll now give these peers a small negative
score - if it keeps happening, we'll disconnect them.
* keep track of unviable forks in quarantine, to avoid filling it with
known junk
* collect peer scores in single module
* descore peers when they send unviable blocks during sync
* don't give score for duplicate blocks
* increase quarantine size to a level that allows finality to happen
under optimal conditions - this helps avoid downloading the same blocks
over and over in case of an unviable fork
* increase initial score for new peers to make room for one more failure
before disconnection
* log and score invalid/unviable blocks in requestmanager too
* avoid ChainDAG dependency in quarantine
* reject gossip blocks with unviable parent
* continue processing unviable sync blocks in order to build unviable
dag
* docs
* Update beacon_chain/consensus_object_pools/block_pools_types.nim
* add unviable queue test
* limit by-root requests to non-finalized blocks
Presently, we keep a mapping from block root to `BlockRef` in memory -
this has simplified reasoning about the dag, but is not sustainable with
the chain growing.
We can distinguish between two cases where by-root access is useful:
* unfinalized blocks - this is where the beacon chain is operating
generally, by validating incoming data as interesting for future fork
choice decisions - bounded by the length of the unfinalized period
* finalized blocks - historical access in the REST API etc - no bounds,
really
In this PR, we limit the by-root block index to the first use case:
finalized chain data can more efficiently be addressed by slot number.
Future work includes:
* limiting the `BlockRef` horizon in general - each instance is 40
bytes+overhead which adds up - this needs further refactoring to deal
with the tail vs state problem
* persisting the finalized slot-to-hash index - this one also keeps
growing unbounded (albeit slowly)
Anyway, this PR easily shaves ~128mb of memory usage at the time of
writing.
* No longer honor `BeaconBlocksByRoot` requests outside of the
non-finalized period - previously, Nimbus would generously return any
block through this libp2p request - per the spec, finalized blocks
should be fetched via `BeaconBlocksByRange` instead.
* return `Opt[BlockRef]` instead of `nil` when blocks can't be found -
this becomes a lot more common now and thus deserves more attention
* `dag.blocks` -> `dag.forkBlocks` - this index only carries unfinalized
blocks from now - `finalizedBlocks` covers the other `BlockRef`
instances
* in backfill, verify that the last backfilled block leads back to
genesis, or panic
* add backfill timings to log
* fix missing check that `BlockRef` block can be fetched with
`getForkedBlock` reliably
* shortcut doppelganger check when feature is not enabled
* in REST/JSON-RPC, fetch blocks without involving `BlockRef`
* fix dag.blocks ref
Time in the beacon chain is expressed relative to the genesis time -
this PR creates a `beacon_time` module that collects helpers and
utilities for dealing the time units - the new module does not deal with
actual wall time (that's remains in `beacon_clock`).
Collecting the time related stuff in one place makes it easier to find,
avoids some circular imports and allows more easily identifying the code
actually needs wall time to operate.
* move genesis-time-related functionality into `spec/beacon_time`
* avoid using `chronos.Duration` for time differences - it does not
support negative values (such as when something happens earlier than it
should)
* saturate conversions between `FAR_FUTURE_XXX`, so as to avoid
overflows
* fix delay reporting in validator client so it uses the expected
deadline of the slot, not "closest wall slot"
* simplify looping over the slots of an epoch
* `compute_start_slot_at_epoch` -> `start_slot`
* `compute_epoch_at_slot` -> `epoch`
A follow-up PR will (likely) introduce saturating arithmetic for the
time units - this is merely code moves, renames and fixing of small
bugs.
tersec
Jacek Sieka
zah
Etan Kissling
Miran
zah