tendermint/docs/running-in-production.rst

Running in production
=====================

Logging
-------

Default logging level (``main:info,state:info,*:``) should suffice for normal
operation mode. Read `this post
<https://blog.cosmos.network/one-of-the-exciting-new-features-in-0-10-0-release-is-smart-log-level-flag-e2506b4ab756>`__
for details on how to configure ``log_level`` config variable. Some of the
modules can be found `here <./how-to-read-logs.html#list-of-modules>`__. If
you're trying to debug Tendermint or asked to provide logs with debug logging
level, you can do so by running tendermint with ``--log_level="*:debug"``.

DOS Exposure and Mitigation
---------------------------

Validators are supposed to setup `Sentry Node Architecture
<https://blog.cosmos.network/tendermint-explained-bringing-bft-based-pos-to-the-public-blockchain-domain-f22e274a0fdb>`__
to prevent Denial-of-service attacks. You can read more about it `here
<https://github.com/tendermint/aib-data/blob/develop/medium/TendermintBFT.md>`__.

P2P
~~~

The core of the Tendermint peer-to-peer system is ``MConnection``. Each
connection has ``MaxPacketMsgPayloadSize``, which is the maximum packet size
and bounded send & receive queues. One can impose restrictions on send &
receive rate per connection (``SendRate``, ``RecvRate``).

RPC
~~~

Endpoints returning multiple entries are limited by default to return 30
elements (100 max).

Rate-limiting and authentication are another key aspects to help protect
against DOS attacks. While in the future we may implement these features, for
now, validators are supposed to use external tools like `NGINX
<https://www.nginx.com/blog/rate-limiting-nginx/>`__ or `traefik
<https://docs.traefik.io/configuration/commons/#rate-limiting>`__ to achieve
the same things.

Debugging Tendermint
--------------------

If you ever have to debug Tendermint, the first thing you should probably do is
to check out the logs. See `"How to read logs" <./how-to-read-logs.html>`__,
where we explain what certain log statements mean.

If, after skimming through the logs, things are not clear still, the second
TODO is to query the `/status` RPC endpoint. It provides the necessary info:
whenever the node is syncing or not, what height it is on, etc.

```
$ curl http(s)://{ip}:{rpcPort}/status
```

`/dump_consensus_state` will give you a detailed overview of the consensus
state (proposer, lastest validators, peers states). From it, you should be able
to figure out why, for example, the network had halted.

```
$ curl http(s)://{ip}:{rpcPort}/dump_consensus_state
```

There is a reduced version of this endpoint - `/consensus_state`, which
returns just the votes seen at the current height.

- `Github Issues <https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues>`__
- `StackOverflow questions <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/tendermint>`__

Monitoring Tendermint
---------------------

Each Tendermint instance has a standard `/health` RPC endpoint, which responds
with 200 (OK) if everything is fine and 500 (or no response) - if something is
wrong.

Other useful endpoints include mentioned earlier `/status`, `/net_info` and
`/validators`.

We have a small tool, called tm-monitor, which outputs information from the
endpoints above plus some statistics. The tool can be found `here
<https://github.com/tendermint/tools/tree/master/tm-monitor>`__.

What happens when my app dies?
------------------------------

You are supposed to run Tendermint under a `process supervisor
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_supervision>`__ (like systemd or runit).
It will ensure Tendermint is always running (despite possible errors).

Getting back to the original question, if your application dies, Tendermint
will panic. After a process supervisor restarts your application, Tendermint
should be able to reconnect successfully. The order of restart does not matter
for it.

Signal handling
---------------

We catch SIGINT and SIGTERM and try to clean up nicely. For other signals we
use the default behaviour in Go: `Default behavior of signals in Go programs
<https://golang.org/pkg/os/signal/#hdr-Default_behavior_of_signals_in_Go_programs>`__.

Hardware
--------

Processor and Memory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While actual specs vary depending on the load and validators count, minimal requirements are:

- 1GB RAM
- 25GB of disk space
- 1.4 GHz CPU

SSD disks are preferable for applications with high transaction throughput.

Recommended:

- 2GB RAM
- 100GB SSD
- x64 2.0 GHz 2v CPU

While for now, Tendermint stores all the history and it may require significant
disk space over time, we are planning to implement state syncing (See `#828
<https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/828>`__). So, storing all the
past blocks will not be necessary.

Operating Systems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tendermint can be compiled for a wide range of operating systems thanks to Go
language (the list of $OS/$ARCH pairs can be found `here
<https://golang.org/doc/install/source#environment>`__).

While we do not favor any operation system, more secure and stable Linux server
distributions (like Centos) should be preferred over desktop operation systems
(like Mac OS).

Misc.
~~~~~

NOTE: if you are going to use Tendermint in a public domain, make sure you read
`hardware recommendations (see "4. Hardware")
<https://cosmos.network/validators>`__ for a validator in the Cosmos network.

Configuration parameters
------------------------

- ``p2p.flush_throttle_timeout``
  ``p2p.max_packet_msg_payload_size``
  ``p2p.send_rate``
  ``p2p.recv_rate``

If you are going to use Tendermint in a private domain and you have a private
high-speed network among your peers, it makes sense to lower flush throttle
timeout and increase other params.

::

    [p2p]

    send_rate=20000000 # 2MB/s
    recv_rate=20000000 # 2MB/s
    flush_throttle_timeout=10
    max_packet_msg_payload_size=10240 # 10KB

- ``mempool.recheck``

After every block, Tendermint rechecks every transaction left in the mempool to
see if transactions committed in that block affected the application state, so
some of the transactions left may become invalid. If that does not apply to
your application, you can disable it by setting ``mempool.recheck=false``.

- ``mempool.broadcast``

Setting this to false will stop the mempool from relaying transactions to other
peers until they are included in a block. It means only the peer you send the
tx to will see it until it is included in a block.

- ``consensus.skip_timeout_commit``

We want skip_timeout_commit=false when there is economics on the line because
proposers should wait to hear for more votes. But if you don't care about that
and want the fastest consensus, you can skip it. It will be kept false by
default for public deployments (e.g. `Cosmos Hub
<https://cosmos.network/intro/hub>`__) while for enterprise applications,
setting it to true is not a problem.

- ``consensus.peer_gossip_sleep_duration``

You can try to reduce the time your node sleeps before checking if theres something to send its peers.

- ``consensus.timeout_commit``

You can also try lowering ``timeout_commit`` (time we sleep before proposing the next block).

- ``consensus.max_block_size_txs``

By default, the maximum number of transactions per a block is 10_000. Feel free
to change it to suit your needs.