How to tell where in blockchain you currently are while syncing?

Question

I am using geth fast sync 1024 and I was wondering how you tell which block you are currently on or what the numbers mean as it continues to sync.

Is 'processed=6650309' the block chain I am currently on?

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me if that is the block since that would be a block in excess of the current last block chain which sits at around 4056450 at the time of writing this question.

Also, I occasionally see it 'hang up' for minutes at a time and then it seems to push through and then start working again.

I do have a SSD and an OK processor, it's an older gen core I5 3570K. I am just wondering if the rare excessive hang ups mean it is taking longer to process that specific block chain.

It seems like most new state entries process within milliseconds.

Does the processing of blocks in the chain occur sequentially in fast sync mode?

Cheers, John

Answer 1

You can know the latest block your node has processed by:

eth.blockNumber

You can also know that whether your node is downloading blocks by:

eth.syncing

Edit to answer the question asked in a comment:

These commands are to be typed into geth console ( not windows/linux command prompt). If you are already running geth, you can open another command prompt and type geth attach there to connect to already running geth. There you can enter these commands to get desired output.