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nimbus-eth2/docs/block_flow.md

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Beacon Block Flow

This is a WIP document to explain the beacon block flows.

Validation & Verification flow

Important distinction:

In particular in terms of costly checks validating a block only requires checking:

  • the block proposer signature

while verifying a block requires checking:

  • the state transition
  • the block proposer signature
  • and also the signatures within a block:
    • Randao Reveal
    • Proposer slashings
    • Attester slashings
    • Attestations
    • VoluntaryExits

Inputs

Blocks can be received from the following sources:

  • Gossipsub
    • via topicBeaconBlocks (&"/eth2/{$forkDigest}/{topicBeaconBlocksSuffix}"). They are then validated by blockValidator (in eth2_processor.nim) which calls isValidBeaconBlock
  • ETH2 RPC
    • via SyncManager (when Nimbus syncs)
    • via RequestManager (when Nimbus needs ancestor blocks)
  • the NBC database
  • a local validator block proposal
  • Devtools: test suite, ncli, fuzzing

The related base types are:

  • BeaconBlockBody
  • BeaconBlock
    • BeaconBlockBody
      • metadata (slot, blockchain state before/after, proposer)
  • BeaconBlockHeader
    • metadata (slot, blockchain state before/after, proposer)
    • merkle hash of the BeaconBlockBody
  • SignedBeaconBlock
    • BeaconBlock
      • BLS signature

The base types are defined in the Eth2 specs. On top, Nimbus builds new types to represent the level of trust and validation we have with regards to each BeaconBlock. Those types allow the Nim compiler to help us ensure proper usage at compile-time and zero runtime cost.

BeaconBlocks

Those are spec-defined types.

On deserialization the SSZ code guarantees that BeaconBlock are correctly max-sized according to:

  • MAX_PROPOSER_SLASHINGS
  • MAX_ATTESTER_SLASHINGS
  • MAX_ATTESTATIONS
  • MAX_DEPOSITS
  • MAX_VOLUNTARY_EXITS

TrustedBeaconBlocks

A block that has been fully checked to be sound both in regards to the blockchain protocol and its cryptographic signatures is known as a TrustedBeaconBlock or TrustedSignedBeaconBlock. This allows skipping expensive signature checks. Blocks are considered trusted if they come from:

  • the NBC database
  • produced by a local validator

SigVerifiedBeaconBlocks

A block with a valid cryptographic signature is considered SigVerified. This is a weaker guarantee than Trusted as the block might still be invalid according to the state transition function. Such a block are produced if incoming gossip blocks' signatures are batched together for batch verification before being passed to state transition.

TransitionVerifiedBeaconBlocks

A block that passes the state transition checks and can be successfully applied to the beacon chain is considered TransitionVerified. Such a block can be produced if incoming blocks' signatures are batched together for batch verification after successfully passing state transition.

This is not used in Nimbus at the moment

Block processing architecture

How the various modules interact with block is described in a diagram:

./block_flow.png

It is important to note that 3 data structures are sharing the same AsyncQueue[BlockEntry]:

  • Eth2Processor.blocksQueue
  • SyncManager.outQueue
  • RequestManager.outQueue

Gossip flow in

Blocks are listened to via the gossipsub topic /eth2/{$forkDigest}/beacon_block/ssz (topicBeaconBlocks variable)

They are then:

Logs:

  • debug: "Dropping already-seen gossip block"
  • debug: "Block received"
  • trace: "Block validated"

Gossip flow out

Block syncing

See Block syncing for flow explanation and performance characteristics.

Consuming the shared block queue

The SharedBlockQueue is consumed by the Eth2Processor via runQueueProcessingLoop(Eth2Processor)

To mitigate blocking networking and timeshare between Io and compute, blocks are processed 1 by 1 by processBlock(Eth2Processor, BlockEntry)

This in turn calls:

  • storeBlock(Eth2Processor, SignedBeaconBlock, Slot)
  • addRawBlock(ChainDagRef, QuarantineRef, SignedBeaconBlock, forkChoiceCallback)
  • trigger sending attestation if relevant

Steady state (synced to head)

Bottlenecks when synced

The SyncManager is deactivated

RequestManager and Gossip are activated.

Backpressure

There is no backpressure handling at the RequestManager and Gossip level with regards to the SharedBlockQueue

There is backpressure handling at the Quarantine level:

  • Blocks in the SharedBlockQueue that are missing parents are put in quarantine, only 16 can be stored and new candidate are dropped as long as the older ones are unresolved.
Latency & Throughput sensitiveness

When synced, blocks are a small part of the whole processing compared to attestations, there is no more throughput constraint however a single block should be processed ASAP as it blocks attestation flow.

Furthermore to ensure the stability of the gossip mesh, blocks should be validated and rebroadcasted ASAP as well.