#Ethereum quick node sync archive#
#Ethereum quick node sync full#
#Ethereum quick node sync free#

Implementations and usageĪrchive node in this context means data served by user facing execution layer clients as they handle the state database and provide JSON-RPC endpoints. If your project requires constant access to historical data, you should consider running one yourself.

#Ethereum quick node sync archive#

As it is more demanding to run an archive node, this access is mostly limited and works only for occasional access.

#Ethereum quick node sync free#

There are various free services that also allow access to historical data. This is a useful feature for certain parts of infrastructure, for example: Archive nodes access them on the disk and serve responses immediately.

#Ethereum quick node sync full#

What is the balance of token 0x in contract 0x at block 1920000?Īs explained above, a full node would need to generate this data by EVM execution which uses the CPU and takes time.

What was ETH balance of account 0x1337.

For example, archive node would promptly return results like: The main benefit of state archive is a quick access to queries about historical states. Users never need an archive node for a standard interaction with the network. does not require access to historical states. Regular usage of Ethereum like sending transactions, deploying contracts, verifying consensus, etc. Transactions are stored by any full node (currently less than 400G) and can be replayed to build the whole archive. As mentioned above, all historical interim states can be derived on a full node. It's important to note that the network does not depend on archive nodes to keep and provide all historical data. It basically makes a trade-off with bigger disk space requirement. Archive nodes solve this by storing not only the most recent states but every historical state created after each block. The client might need to execute all past transactions and compute one historical state from genesis. However, this means that accessing a historical state on a full node consumes a lot of computation. They do this by re-executing past transactions in the EVM, which can be computationally demanding when the desired state is far from the nearest snapshot. Full nodes only keep historical blockchain data (blocks and transactions) and occasional historical snapshots they can use to regenerate older states on request. 128 blocks before the head) are effectively thrown away. States that existed before some recent block (e.g. Historical states can be safely pruned because they are not necessary for the network to operate and it would be uselessly redundant for client to keep all out-of-date data. You can imagine the state as a momentary network snapshot at a given block and the archive as a history replay. The recent state is what all clients need to verify incoming transactions and use the network. the state associated with the last 128 blocks, so it can handle chain reorgs and provide fast access to recent data. An execution layer client configured as a full node verifies and follows the latest state of the network but only caches the past few states, e.g. To interact with the network, verify and produce new blocks, Ethereum clients have to keep up with the most recent changes (the tip of the chain) and therefore the current state. This is handled by the execution layer (EL) client and includes: The global data with information about each account and contract is stored in a trie database called state. It consists of accounts and applications executing transactions which are changing their state. To grasp the importance of an archive node, let's clarify the concept of 'state.' Ethereum can be referred to as transaction-based state machine. You should understand the concept of an Ethereum node, its architecture, sync strategies, practices of running and using them. It is a useful tool for certain use cases but might be more tricky to run than a full node. An archive node is an instance of an Ethereum client configured to build an archive of all historical states.