tendermint/docs/tools/debugging/proposer-based-timestamps-runbook.md

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Proposer-Based Timestamps Runbook

Version v0.36 of Tendermint added new constraints for the timestamps included in each block created by Tendermint. The new constraints mean that validators may fail to produce valid blocks or may issue nil prevotes for proposed blocks depending on the configuration of the validator's local clock.

What is this document for?

This document provides a set of actionable steps for application developers and node operators to diagnose and fix issues related to clock synchronization and configuration of the Proposer-Based Timestamps SynchronyParams.

Use this runbook if you observe that validators are frequently voting nil for a block that the rest of the network votes for or if validators are frequently producing block proposals that are not voted for by the rest of the network.

Requirements

To use this runbook, you must be running a node that has the Prometheus metrics endpoint enabled and the Tendermint RPC endpoint enabled and accessible.

It is strongly recommended to also run a Prometheus metrics collector to gather and analyze metrics from the Tendermint node.

Debugging a Single Node

If you observe that a single validator is frequently failing to produce blocks or voting nil for proposals that other validators vote for and suspect it may be related to clock synchronization, use the following steps to debug and correct the issue.

Check Timely Metric

Tendermint exposes a histogram metric for the difference between the timestamp in the proposal the and the time read from the node's local clock when the proposal is received.

The histogram exposes multiple metrics on the Prometheus /metrics endpoint called

• tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_bucket.
• tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_sum.
• tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_count.

Each metric is also labeled with the key is_timely, which can have a value of true or false.

From the Prometheus Collector UI

If you are running a Prometheus collector, navigate to the query web interface and select the 'Graph' tab.

Issue a query for the following:

tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_count{is_timely="false"} /
tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_count{is_timely="true"}

This query will graph the ratio of proposals the node considered timely to those it considered untimely. If the ratio is increasing, it means that your node is consistently seeing more proposals that are far from its local clock. If this is the case, you should check to make sure your local clock is properly synchronized to NTP.

From the /metrics url

If you are not running a Prometheus collector, navigate to the /metrics endpoint exposed on the Prometheus metrics port with curl or a browser.

Search for the tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_count metrics. This metric is labeled with is_timely. Investigate the value of tendermint_consensus_proposal_timestamp_difference_count where is_timely="false" and where is_timely="true". Refresh the endpoint and observe if the value of is_timely="false" is growing.

If you observe that is_timely="false" is growing, it means that your node is consistently seeing proposals that are far from its local clock. If this is the case, you should check to make sure your local clock is properly synchronized to NTP.

Checking Clock Sync

NTP configuration and tooling is very specific to the operating system and distribution that your validator node is running. This guide assumes you have timedatectl installed with chrony, a popular tool for interacting with time synchronization on Linux distributions. If you are using an operating system or distribution with a different time synchronization mechanism, please consult the documentation for your operating system to check the status and re-synchronize the daemon.

Check if NTP is Enabled

$ timedatectl

From the output, ensure that NTP service is active. If NTP service is inactive, run:

$ timedatectl set-ntp true

Re-run the timedatectl command and verify that the change has taken effect.

Check if Your NTP Daemon is Synchronized

Check the status of your local chrony NTP daemon using by running the following:

$ chronyc tracking

If the chrony daemon is running, you will see output that indicates its current status. If the chrony daemon is not running, restart it and re-run chronyc tracking.

The System time field of the response should show a value that is much smaller than 100 milliseconds.

If the value is very large, restart the chronyd daemon.

Debugging a Network

If you observe that a network is frequently failing to produce blocks and suspect it may be related to clock synchronization, use the following steps to debug and correct the issue.

Check Prevote Message Delay

Tendermint exposes metrics that help determine how synchronized the clocks on a network are.

These metrics are visible on the Prometheus /metrics endpoint and are called:

• tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay
• tendermint_consensus_full_prevote_delay

These metrics calculate the difference between the timestamp in the proposal message and the timestamp of a prevote that was issued during consensus.

The tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay metric is the interval in seconds between the proposal timestamp and the timestamp of the earliest prevote that achieved a quorum during the prevote step.

The tendermint_consensus_full_prevote_delay metric is the interval in seconds between the proposal timestamp and the timestamp of the latest prevote in a round where 100% of the validators voted.

From the Prometheus Collector UI

If you are running a Prometheus collector, navigate to the query web interface and select the 'Graph' tab.

Issue a query for the following:

sum(tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay) by (proposer_address)

This query will graph the difference in seconds for each proposer on the network.

If the value is much larger for some proposers, then the issue is likely related to the clock synchronization of their nodes. Contact those proposers and ensure that their nodes are properly connected to NTP using the steps for Debugging a Single Node.

If the value is relatively similar for all proposers you should next compare this value to the SynchronyParams values for the network. Continue to the Checking Sychrony steps.

From the /metrics url

If you are not running a Prometheus collector, navigate to the /metrics endpoint exposed on the Prometheus metrics port.

Search for the tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay metric. There will be one entry of this metric for each proposer_address. If the value of this metric is much larger for some proposers, then the issue is likely related to synchronization of their nodes with NTP. Contact those proposers and ensure that their nodes are properly connected to NTP using the steps for Debugging a Single Node.

If the values are relatively similar for all proposers you should next compare, you'll need to compare this value to the SynchronyParams for the network. Continue to the Checking Sychrony steps.

Checking Synchrony

To determine the currently configured SynchronyParams for your network, issue a request to your node's RPC endpoint. For a node running locally with the RPC server exposed on port 26657, run the following command:

$ curl localhost:26657/consensus_params

The json output will contain a field named synchrony, with the following structure:

{
  "precision": "500000000",
  "message_delay": "3000000000"
}

The precision and message_delay values returned are listed in nanoseconds: In the examples above, the precision is 500ms and the message delay is 3s. Remember, tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay is listed in seconds. If the tendermint_consensus_quorum_prevote_delay value approaches the sum of precision and message_delay, then the value selected for these parameters is too small. Your application will need to be modified to update the SynchronyParams to have larger values.

Updating SynchronyParams

The SynchronyParams are ConsensusParameters which means they are set and updated by the application running alongside Tendermint. Updates to these parameters must be passed to the application during the FinalizeBlock ABCI method call.

If the application was built using the CosmosSDK, then these parameters can be updated programatically using a governance proposal. For more information, see the CosmosSDK documentation.

If the application does not implement a way to update the consensus parameters programatically, then the application itself must be updated to do so. More information on updating the consensus parameters via ABCI can be found in the FinalizeBlock documentation.