83 votes
Accepted

What is Geth's "light" sync, and why is it so fast?

I'll take my shot. Experts, please correct me. "Full" Sync: Gets the block headers, the block bodies, and validates every element from genesis block. Fast Sync: Gets the block headers, the block ...
Herman Junge's user avatar
  • 2,381
74 votes
Accepted

What is Geth's "fast" sync, and why is it faster?

There's a lot of detail on this PR on github. Here's a quote: Instead of processing the entire block-chain one link at a time, and replay all transactions that ever happened in history, fast ...
paulmorriss's user avatar
  • 2,559
63 votes

How can I get a geth node to download the blockchain quickly?

Don't forget to use an SSD If you're able to, using an NVMe SSD is even better. If you have limited space on SSD see Can chaindata be split across two (or more) locations? That said, the Ethereum ...
60 votes

How to check my sync status on Geth 1.5.5, Raspberry Pi 3

Continuing to research, need to enter the geth node console to enter special commands. The following works: geth attach Sends user to the geth node console. eth.syncing Produces a result like ...
Arthur D. Howland's user avatar
51 votes

Help with very slow mist sync

I am using Windows 10, Mist Wallet 0.7.2 which includes geth v1.3.6, a non-SSD hard drive and ethernet connection to 16Mbs modem. I had incredibly slow syncing of the blockchain, even with 25 peers ...
JonoMac's user avatar
  • 611
49 votes

How to check my sync status on Geth 1.5.5, Raspberry Pi 3

After running your normal geth --fast command you can open a new window and run the "geth attach" command as this will attach you to the javascript interface $ geth attach Then you can use this ...
Christoff X's user avatar
44 votes
Accepted

How can I find out what the highest block is?

For Geth, in another terminal, attach to the Geth console, such as geth attach. This will allow you to keep your syncing node running, without restarting, and you will not see the noisy logs as you ...
eth's user avatar
  • 85k
41 votes

Help with very slow mist sync

Use --fast and don't forget --cache with Geth Everyone mentions --fast but you probably also need --cache=1024 (and --jitvm may also help). Without it, you are running with the default which is --...
eth's user avatar
  • 85k
41 votes

How long is the first sync supposed to last?

Do following steps to check the sync state: 1.) open a new geth instance and type in geth attach 2.) now type in eth.syncing This shows you the "currentBlock" and the "highestBlock".
Kevin R.'s user avatar
  • 511
36 votes

What is Geth's "fast" sync, and why is it faster?

Don't forget to use an SSD If you're able to, using an NVMe SSD is even better. If you have limited space on SSD see Can chaindata be split across two (or more) locations? That said, the Ethereum ...
eth's user avatar
  • 85k
35 votes

Why is my node synchronization stuck/extremely slow at block 2,306,843?

Update Mar 5 2017 The state cleaning was announced by Vitalik Buterin in the tweet State clearing 100% complete dated 23:07 Nov 29 2016. This time corresponds to block 2,718,436. The Clearing ...
BokkyPooBah's user avatar
  • 40.2k
33 votes
Accepted

Geth node starts to sync from the beginning after fast sync

Why Does Fast Sync Restart As stated in Péter Szilágyi's comment above, you will have to wait for --fast syncing to complete, otherwise you will have to restart the process again. The message you ...
BokkyPooBah's user avatar
  • 40.2k
31 votes
Accepted

Difference between a pruned and unpruned blockchain

Lets take it one step at a time. Blockchains generally work by having an origin (genesis) state with a few accounts having funds, and then every block that you place on top of the chain moves those ...
Péter Szilágyi's user avatar
30 votes
Accepted

Possible to store the blockchain in a different directory?

The --datadir flag specifies the location data directory. geth --datadir <path to data directory> This directory should contain the following subdirectories: chaindata keystore nodes On ...
JackWinters's user avatar
  • 3,403
26 votes

How can i tell if geth is done running?

The way I check is: Find out what the last block is. https://etherchain.org Start geth with console (https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Command-Line-Options) When geth is running enter the ...
ServerGuy's user avatar
  • 361
22 votes
Accepted

Can I download the whole blockchain from somewhere?

Answer If you want to download the blockchain data from an external source that is up to you, but that does come with risks of the data being corrupted or sabotaged in a way to compromise your machine ...
Hudson Jameson's user avatar
22 votes
Accepted

What is the parity light pruning mode?

geth and parity have differents methods to save the ethereum blockchain in their internal format. I made many benchs because i find it so long just to use a Wallet. The pruning mode is how the block ...
Ellis's user avatar
  • 2,344
21 votes
Accepted

Fatal: Could not open database: resource temporarily unavailable

Your geth client is already running in the background. You can attach to it by typing: $ geth attach in your command line. This will allow you to run commands on the geth client console.
q9f's user avatar
  • 32.8k
20 votes

How can I find out what the highest block is?

If you are using Geth: geth attach http://host then enter: web3.eth.blockNumber It will give you the block number as integer, here's the function documentation. If you are looking for the block ...
makevoid's user avatar
  • 2,471
20 votes
Accepted

What is Parity's “warp” sync, and why is it faster than Geth "fast"?

It's difficult to give an answer without just re-hashing the explanation on the Parity wiki... The pertinent part is as follows: These snapshots can be used to quickly get a full copy of the state at ...
Richard Horrocks's user avatar
18 votes

How can I get a geth node to download the blockchain quickly?

The --fast command line option will sync more quickly. You have to use it from scratch though, you can't use it if the blockchain has been downloaded already. If you have a node which is already ...
18 votes
Accepted

How much faster is it to sync with --jitvm?

geth 1.5 is way faster but there are problems to keep connections with peers. When there is a high latency, it removes agressively the peer connection. I use the patch 2630 from Péter Szilágyi in the ...
Ellis's user avatar
  • 2,344
17 votes
Accepted

Why isn't fast sync the default?

Two reasons: Fast sync indeed has one additional weakness compared to full sync. As long as an attacker can keep you isolated from the main chain (e.g. infect your router), it may construct an ...
Péter Szilágyi's user avatar
16 votes
Accepted

How can I empty the blockchain?

To remove your blockchain with geth, run: geth removedb Then: Use --fast but you probably also need --cache=1024 (and --jitvm may also help). Without it, you are running with the default which is --...
Astad's user avatar
  • 478
15 votes
Accepted

Why doesn't my Ethereum node have any peers?

By default, geth uses port 30303 for connection to other nodes. You may need to modify your firewall to allow traffic over this port. You can check your peer count as well as getting a list of peers ...
Piper Merriam's user avatar
15 votes
Accepted

Can I run Geth without syncing?

geth --maxpeers 0 will not sync. geth --maxpeers 0 console may be more helpful and will bring you the console: you don't even need the RPC, and can paste in and execute Javascript.
eth's user avatar
  • 85k
15 votes
Accepted

How to reduce chaindata database size?

There is state trie pruning in the works, which would be able to constantly delete old data that is not needed any more. Hand in hand with pruning is the fast sync, which sync to the network in such a ...
Péter Szilágyi's user avatar
13 votes

What is the parity light pruning mode?

With each block state (contracts storage and balances) is changing. By default (archive) we keep in database full state of every block. With different pruning algorithms we are ditching state data ...
todr's user avatar
  • 131
12 votes
Accepted

What is knownStates?

during fast sync, web3.eth.syncing downloads the state trie. knownStates is the number of trie nodes that the sync algo knows about pulledStates is the number it already downloaded there's no way to ...
Badr Bellaj's user avatar
  • 18.7k
11 votes

How can I get a geth node to download the blockchain quickly?

There are 2 ways using geth, that i am aware of 1. sync with the --fast you can start with geth --fast which Enables fast syncing through state downloads 2. use import command in geth to do this, ...

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