Community Update 120

Owned by Rao Bhamidipati
May 20, 2020

General

  • Release
    • Node version 0.9.24 is the current release on observer nodes - second update post-mainnet - Housekeeping changes and meeting requirements of exchanges for reporting state and transaction history RNode-0.9.24 release plan
    • RNode 0.9.24 changes impact only the observer/read only node. We've set up an 'exchanges only' read only node for exclusive use by the exchanges.
    • Dev team working on a Feature branch that has improvements to Last Finalized State, block store, dag store and now also beginning to store Casper state in LMDB. 0.9.25 will be released when we complete this feature branch and are able to merge that into the main dev branch. It has substantial improvements and some bug fixes to both observer/read only changes and validator nodes.
    • Testnet is running rchain/rnode-staging:v0.9.23-8-g0eb25aa24 - this has a couple of patches beyond the 0.9.23

    • Mainnet validators are running RNode-0.9.23lts – this has a couple of patches beyond the 0.9.23.

    • Mainnet observers and exchange nodes are running 0.9.24 .

    • Sequence of updates is testnet to mainnet observers and then main net validators if applicable. Current philosophy is to minimize updates/disruptions to validator nodes while enabling improved observer node functionality.

    • Focus is to make sure that the network can handle the anticipated volume from the exchanges and that exchanges can have responsive monitoring and customer service.
  • Sprint 52 in progress
    • Main Focus: Work on Last Finalized State, hardening the mainnet, improve performance, make usability improvements including configuration, API improvements for functionality needed by exchanges.
    • 0.9.23lts
    • Current Work In Progress 
      • BlockMerge spec is close to completion.
      • Improvements to CI environment.
      • Continuing work on Last Finalized State.
      • Initial version of Last Finalized Block and the ability to check if a block is the last finalized is available in the api . This allows us to implement improvements such as running replay from the last finalized block only. 
      • Being tested in Testnet - Fixing an issue in grpc delays and connection time outs by enabling a grpc proxy on each node. This will also give us more information and logs about the traffic seen by each node, helping with debugging issues. 
      • Addressing discovered bugs: Investigating the 'tuple space error' that we occasionally see on the main net.
      • Ability to visualize vdag from any point for debugging purposes - https://github.com/rchain/rchain/pull/2927
      • Ongoing - Improvements to last finalized state initial draft PR issued https://github.com/rchain/rchain/pull/2913 and https://github.com/rchain/rchain/pull/2926 but quite a bit of work involved still. Significant progress, some of which will be released in 0.9.25. The PR and the branch are structured so that multiple people can collaborate/ work on different parts of the feature at the same time. The scope of this work enables (a) faster catchup by new nodes - you can start from the last finalized state - this is a differentiator for RChain (b) offloading older data and differentiated storage and retrieval strategies for the same (c) allows for a leaner / less bloated node. Tomislav continuing to work and test this.  Nutzipper and Will beginning to help to accelerate delivery. Having to pick between refactoring and work-arounds in various parts. This change touches most parts of the codebase. Trying to get a more modular and future-beneficial approach.
      • Completed - node.js API for exchanges that need it.   Added configuration for the api servers https://github.com/rchain/rchain/pull/2933 and  RCHAIN-4089 - Getting issue details... STATUS . As of now, functionality needs and changes seem to have stabilized based on the two exchange we're supporting - MXC and Hotbit.
      • Ongoing - Gurinder is getting the configuration scripts, parameters and docker image changes necessary on sandbox, testnet and mainnet, for enhanced responsiveness and security.   Testing and Making necessary firewall changes.
      • Continuing documentation work - slow going due to lack of resources - inventory, requirements, gaps, and a way to address them. Initially starting with documentation for exchanges on best practices to get started and using the API and tools.
      • Tuesday TeachOuts by Tomislav (Tuesday 10 AM Eastern) in Jimscarver's zoom room https://zoom.us/j/6853551826 
    • Current Backlog (partial)
      • Improve merging in system deploys
      • Improve Triemerge - will now be BlockMerge
      • Improve multi-parent Casper enablement
      • Implement sharding capabilities
      • Improve logging to be able to learn what API calls are being used, so they can be related to resource use and performance etc
      • Rholang 1.1 to improve syntax and user experience / learning curve
  • Tech-Governance meetings on Thursdays 10 AM Eastern, 7 Am Pacific 

Mercury requirements and acceptance criteria

Blockers to Mainnet

  • NA

Risks to code completion for Mercury

  •  

Developer website

Date