The Ethereum client Prysm has released a hotfix version, v4.0.3, to address recent network instability issues. The latest release contains optimizations to prevent beacon chain nodes from consuming too many resources during turbulent times.
Important Fixes & Optimizations In the Latest Ethereum Prysm Release
According to an announcement, the hotfix is essential to avoid high resource usage by the beacon node during turbulent periods, which was evident on May 11th and 12th. Users are advised to upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible if their nodes are experiencing high resource usage.
A node needs to regenerate the beacon state to validate an attestation when it receives an attestation for an old target. If multiple replays are conducted simultaneously, it stresses the nodes’ CPUs and increases memory usage.
The cache of seen attestation targets was designed to address this issue. However, with the rise in validator sizes and untimely attestations, this cache filled up quickly, and nodes had to replay several times in the same state.
To address this situation, the latest release contains a heuristic to filter out unviable checkpoint attestations. The node will ignore attestations if the target of the attestation is known to be old and has not been a checkpoint in any chain known to our node.
Users can upgrade their prysm script using the following instructions: for using prysm.sh, use the command “USE_PRYSM_VERSION=v4.0.3-hotfix ./prysm.sh beacon-chain,” and for using prysm.bat, use “set USE_PRYSM_VERSION=v4.0.3-hotfix prysm.bat beacon-chain.”
The Ethereum developers are testing more changes from 4.0.3 over the weekend and plan to release a formal point release 4.0.4 next week, according to the announcement note.
Apart from the fixes for network instability, the latest release contains several important fixes, including external block builder code path and key manager bug fixes.
The release also includes some additions, such as a REST API endpoint for the beacon chain client’s GetChainHead and support for engine_exchangeCapabilities.
Nevertheless, the v4.0.3 hotfix is a highly recommended upgrade for all Prysm users, and the team welcomes everyone to try out the latest release.
Related Reading | Ethereum Foundation’s Kraken Move: A Coincidental Local Top For ETH’s Price?