Summary of Solana Validator Discussions - January 23–29, 2025
January felt like a full year with everything that has been going on in crypto and Solana - and we’re ready to jump into February. This past week validators have been talking about Greedy Scheduler, duplication issues, hardware and configurations, and more. Full digest below.
Concerns Over Implementing Experimental Code
There were debates on whether experimental code should be simplified for validators who may lack a deep understanding of its mechanics. While some argued for better education before implementation, others emphasized the need for caution, especially regarding potential misuse or misinterpretation of such changes.
Profitability of Stake Programs and Marinade
Discussions focused on the profitability of Marinade's stake programs, with validators sharing data and differing opinions. While some highlighted specific instances of profitability, others noted that such cases were rare and often context-dependent, emphasizing the importance of long-term trends over isolated examples.
Issues with Validator Hardware and Configurations
Validators discussed challenges with hardware configurations, specifically the use of RAM disks and NVMe drives. Some argued that NVMe drives offer better reliability with minimal performance differences, while others noted that RAM disks are still useful for specific cases like snapshot storage and managing write loads.
Scheduler Algorithms: PrioGraph vs. Greedy
A technical comparison between the PrioGraph and greedy scheduler algorithms sparked discussion. While PrioGraph focuses on batching transactions to minimize conflicts, the greedy scheduler prioritizes transaction profitability, potentially leading to smaller, inefficient batches when conflicts arise.
Greedy Scheduler and v2.2 Release Plans
Validators discussed the potential timeline for the greedy scheduler's integration into v2.2. The general consensus is that it will likely be backported to 2.1 with a CLI opt-in, provided a clean implementation is possible.
Memory Consumption and Performance of v2.1.11
Validators tested version 2.1.11 and observed increasing RAM usage over time. Some saw this as expected behavior, while others raised concerns about a possible memory leak.
etcd Usage and Possible Deprecation
Discussion arose around the use of etcd for failover. Many validators noted that it is not widely used and may not be worth maintaining in documentation.
Validator Node Duplication Issues
One validator experienced a problem where attempting to run Solana on another server resulted in a duplicate instance error.