Incognito chain's code upgrade (tag: 20210516_2)

[duc]

Hi folks,

In case you didn’t know, we’ve upgraded Incognito chain protocol earlier today that comprised:

• Turning staking flow v2 on.
• Faster data syncing.
• A new mempool flow that may help increase the throughput of the network.

In order for your nodes to operate correctly, please update the latest code:

• If you’re running your node with Docker, the latest Docker image tag is 20210516_2. Please note that, for the pNode, it should pull the latest docker tag automatically.
• If you’re running your nodes by building an executable file directly from source code, the latest released code is mainnet_20210516_2

Note: if your node has issues with data syncing, it’s mostly because the node was having incorrect data that was caused by running the old code. In this case, please clear up all the node’s data and then let it re-sync from the beginning.

Thanks!

[Mike_Wagner]

@duc Has there also been a change with regard to the committee flow?

• Nodes now appear to remain in the Pending phase for six (and a half) epochs now instead of the previous one (and a half) epochs?

• And the community slots are now swapped out 5 at a time, instead of 4?

[Mike_Wagner]

@duc

Please note that, for the pNode, it should pull the latest docker tag automatically.

pNode operators can check the Docker image loaded using one of the pNode’s endpoints.

1. Open a browser and enter http://[IP address of your pNode]:5000/chain-info
2. Search (CTRL+F) for incognito-mainnet
3. The pNode’s Docker image will be immediately to the right of the search query.
   

H/T anho & Devenus

[fiend138]

@duc FYI, that URL did not work for me on my pNode. I was getting the shard-stalled error. I rebooted and things seem to have come up. I’m just waiting to see if it will start syncing Shard 4. I will post an update if it does not sync.

[Mike_Wagner]

I missed a hyphen. Fixed.

[fiend138]

I am now getting shard syncing so I think the issue is fixed. Just in the pending state for shard 4 ATM.

@Mike_Wagner the URL still isn’t working.

When I go to http://pNode-IP:5000 I do see some JSON so I can connect to the node. Let me know what you think. Thanks for the help.

[Silvercap718]

Pnode owners don’t need to do anything, correct?

[Mike_Wagner]

Is your pNode on firmware v1.0.6? Perhaps the /chain-info endpoint isn’t available in earlier firmware versions?

[fiend138]

How would I be able to see this? I’m currently getting an error saying Beacon Stalled. I’m going to try another power cycle to see if this will resolve the issue.

[fiend138]

I actually found in the app I’m still running version 1.0.5. Is there anything I need to do to receive the update?

[Mike_Wagner]

Open the Power tab, then tap the Node name. The firmware version will be displayed on each Node’s homescreen.

[Mike_Wagner]

@fiend138

Is there anything I need to do to receive the update?

@anho’s instructions state:

@anho

Please follow the below steps to update the new firmware for your pNode:

1. Restart your pNode by unplugging and then plugging the power again.
2. Wait 5 minutes for the physical node to be restarted.
3. Open Incognito app and go to the node screen.
4. Wait for all nodes’ information to be loaded completely. At this point, your pNode should be running with the new firmware.

[fiend138]

I’m now on version 1.0.6. Currently, the status is beacon syncing, but it says stalling next to the beacon chain. Before the last power cycle it was 4 hours behind so I’ll give it awhile to sync and update if it’s still marked as stalling. Thank you for your help.

[Socrates]

Thank you for posting latest official docker image tag. Could I also suggest that when posting recommendation to upgrade to us node operators that you also post link to latest vnode upgrade instructions (in case these change in the future)?

I had an old bookmark here from Aug 2020, but given how old that it is, I wondered if developer recommended procedures for vnode update/upgrade are still the same. For newbies and oldbies, when recommended upgrades are announced to node operators, please include either link/reference to latest upgrade instructions in the forum or new instructions for upgrade should they change. It is important to be as clear as possible to all node operators all over the world regarding these upgrades. Some will be experienced and some will be learning.

My vnode upgrade went smoothly following those instructions from Aug 2020 and my pnode upgraded on its own and I was able to confirm the new docker tags on both vnode and pnode.

[sid]

@duc,

I have the same question that @Mike_Wagner asked. It appears that any node selected in pending phase stays there for a long time, almost a day for me now. So does this mean that the epoch cycles for node selection and earnings are being increased by say 5x compared to what it used to be? I thought the intend of privacy flow v2 was the opposite, no?

@Mike_Wagner

Nodes now appear to remain in the Pending phase for six (and a half) epochs now instead of the previous one (and a half) epochs? And the community slots are now swapped out 5 at a time, instead of 4?

If you or someone from the core team can summarize the changes that a node operator will experience, that will be very helpful. Specifically, if there’s going to be a chance in epoch cycles/duration for earning committees, pending phase, etc.

[khanhj]

OK, here is the summary of the change: Staking Flow V2 (aka New Committee Life Cycle)

3 Pools: Shard Common Pool, Substitute Validators, Committee

• When an account is staked, it was placed in Shard Common Pool
• Each Epoch after random number, pick (32/6)*8 candidate to be placed in Substitute Validator (pending validator)
• At new Epoch swap out 1/6 of current committee size of each shard (32/6 = 5), if the node swapped out has flag auto-staking=true, place it back to substitute validator, if auto-staking=flase, refund 1750PRV, remove this validator out of all pool
• At new epoch, swap in 5 candidates each from Substitute Validator to Committee of each shard

For example, this picture shown that shard 0 has 77 pending validator, the next 5 account with index 0 1 2 3 4 will become committee validator in next epoch

[Thriftinkid]

Hey @khanhj, just looking for some clarification. First, once those nodes are marked as pending, they will be selected in cronlogical order correct? Meaning, if I am number 77 on that list on shard 0, I have to wait untill 76 nodes in front of me are placed into committee correct? Second, why are there some many more nodes sitting in pending now? I believe it used to be 4 or 8? Thirdly, why are the numbers of nodes pending different in each shard?

[Inaro]

I’m running my virtual node that I set up using these instructions:
https://we.incognito.org/t/how-to-host-a-virtual-node/194

I just checked my node by running
sudo docker container ls
and see that my node has only been up for 2 days and it is using the docker image incognitochain/incognito-mainnet:20210516_2.

It looks like it automatically updated.