There are different methods available for syncing your server.
- Full Sync from the very first block - this will take a long time and requires upgrading chains along your sync journey.
- Snapshot Sync - download a chain snapshot and extract to your data folder, start syncing from the latest block provided in snapshot.
- State Sync - Sync the node starting from a defined trusted height and hash (fastest!)
Assuming you've downloaded your compressed snapshot already, you can extract using a command similar to the following example. If you need to download a snapshot check with Polkachu, Stake2Me, Quicksync, Stakecraft, among many others.
Extract your snapshot to your data folder. This command may change depending on the file type of the archive:
lz4 -c -d snapshot.tar.lz4 | tar -x -C $HOME/.gaia
This will extract the snapshot to your chain data folder. Once complete, you should be able to sync from that point.
sudo systemctl start gaiad && sudo journalctl -u gaiad -f --output cat
This is my preferred method for syncing up a new node. Run a command similar to this one one most chains to get a trusted hash and block height. Replace Polkachu's RPC in the example with a public RPC address that fits your needs (for example if you are trying to state sync Comdex, you'll need to find a Comdex RPC instead):
curl -s https://cosmos-rpc.polkachu.com:443/commit | jq "{height: .result.signed_header.header.height, hash: .result.signed_header.commit.block_id.hash}"
You can then enable state sync in config.toml and input the information for state sync. Remember to include two entires for rpc_servers:
Default setting:
rpc_servers = ""
trust_height = 0
trust_hash = ""
trust_period = "168h0m0s"
Here is an example of what your edited configuration for state sync should look like:
rpc_servers = "https://cosmos-rpc.polkachu.com:443,https://cosmos-rpc.polkachu.com:443"
trust_height = 11377513
trust_hash = "E95A010386958C240862CD934D6B46D8104EEDECCCF3249613E31B13E9E22CC1"
trust_period = "168h0m0s"
Make sure State Sync is enabled as well.
[statesync]
enable = true
You can also find working state sync settings via Polkachu. They provide a script you can execute that will automatically update your config.toml with the correct state sync settings.
Once your state sync settings are set, run the following command.
sudo systemctl start gaiad && sudo journalctl -u gaiad -f --output cat
You can check the status of your sync by running the following command.
On the server run curl localhost:26657/status (change port if needed)
On a local machine run curl nodeip:26657/status (change port if needed)
Once you see "catching_up": false then you know you are fully synced. Congratulations.
Now that youre node is fully synced and live, let's make an SSH Key
You may notice that the command unsafe-reset-all in certain guides. Be very careful with this command, especially if you are a validator. There is a reason the word unsafe is used.
Running this command will reset your chain data and reset your priv_validator_state.jsonto the genesis state. If you are a validator, always make sure you have your priv_validator_key.json backed up safely.
An example of when you might want to use this is when your chain data becomes corrupted, requiring you to resync your node. You can run this command before extracting your snapshot or starting state sync:
gaiad tendermint unsafe-reset-all --home /home/gaia/.gaia/
I like to define --home in this command in case I'm in the wrong folder. You may notice if you run this command without the --home flag that it will create a config and data folder in your current directory instead of your default home folder for gaia.
Other chains may include unsafe-reset-all as a main subcommand rather than a subcommand of tendermint. An example using another chain:
comdex unsafe-reset-all --home /home/comdex/.comdex/