Running BSC node in light mode?

Question

Is it possible to run BSC node geth -—syncmode light mode?

This is what i get following steps https://github.com/binance-chain/bsc only using -—syncmode light

t=2021-05-08T11:56:12+0300 lvl=info msg="Block synchronisation started"
t=2021-05-08T11:56:47+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                   peercount=0 tried=26 static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:56:57+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                   peercount=0 tried=26 static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:57:12+0300 lvl=warn msg="Synchronisation failed, dropping peer" peer=0e8faf860dce288213e055a2c3efee9b3db5190465d6bdc9333b9a8178ffebda err=timeout
t=2021-05-08T11:57:22+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=0  static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:57:57+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=26 static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:58:22+0300 lvl=warn msg="Synchronisation failed, dropping peer" peer=0e8faf860dce288213e055a2c3efee9b3db5190465d6bdc9333b9a8178ffebda err=timeout
t=2021-05-08T11:58:32+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=26 static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:58:42+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=26 static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:59:07+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=0  static=26
t=2021-05-08T11:59:42+0300 lvl=info msg="Looking for peers"                     peercount=0 tried=26 static=26

and so on without syncing any blocks

Answer 1

You can't. BSC does not "officially" support light mode.

However, BSC 1.1.3 implemented something called diffsync, which has security characteristics of light mode.

Diffsync, when activated with the --diffsync flag, is supposed to make it easier on the hardware to process new blocks, at the cost of security. However, you still need to sync your node normally to be able to use diffsync (a snap, fast or full sync is required first). Diffsync only works to keep your node synced (up to the last 8 hours), not to sync it from scratch.

Edit: It seems that some people have been able to run some light nodes in the past, but are no longer able to due to lack of peers. I don't think that there are many nodes that serve light nodes because BSC is already very taxing on the hardware and bandwidth. Ligth mode may work from time to time (maybe), but it does not appear to be reliable at all.