Update Summary
Node 0.20.10 has been released and deployed for testing on our LRT framework. This release comes with validator set rotation, seigniorage, equivocation detection, and slashing. This version of the node software will be used for the launch of the Delta testnet by October 31st.
The team has started the second weekly sprint of the Node 0.20.11 release cycle (Sprint 7.2). In node 0.20.10 we included basic slashing for equivocation, node 0.20.11 will extend slashing further to include a variety of edge case equivocation.
The team is working on the November release which would incorporate an adaptive round length strategy. This means that each validator decide how frequently they want to send consensus message and they can adjust the frequency by which they send consensus messages based on how the network is performing. If the network is finalizing blocks rapidly, validators would ideally want to keep up by adjusting the interval at which they send consensus messages and vice-versa.
On the call, our CTO, Medha Parlikar a demoed the current version of the Rust Node(Charlie testnet).
Engineering status
- The team has started the second weekly sprint of the Node 0.20.11 release cycle (Sprint 7.2). The focus of this cycle is the distribution of transaction fees, adaptive round length, proof of transfer, ability for the validator to join the network securely using trusted hash from the current era, and additional security including protection from deploy replay attack.
- At the end of this cycle, a release candidate will be cut and deployed in LRT for testing for a week. The version, after fixing any bugs identified during the testing, will be deployed to update Delta Testnet. This version of Delta will support 100 validators.
- Node 0.20.10 has been released and deployed for testing on our LRT framework. This release comes with Validator set rotation, Seigniorage, equivocation detection, and slashing.
- Node 0.20.10 software will be used for the launch of the Delta testnet by October 31st.
- The beta-testnet experienced a critical failure and was restarted.
- We’re in the process of providing the reward for the incentivized testnet to our Alpha testnet validators.
Current Focus
- The team is working on the November release which would incorporate an adaptive round length strategy. This means that each validator decide how frequently they want to send consensus message and they can adjust the frequency by which they send consensus messages based on how the network is performing. If the network is finalizing blocks rapidly, validators would ideally want to keep up by adjusting the interval at which they send consensus messages and vice-versa.
- Implementation of Slashing for additional security. In node 0.20.10 we included basic slashing for equivocation, Node 0.20.11 will extend slashing further to include a variety of edge case equivocation.
- Enhancing Highway security: Endorsements and fork bomb protection.
Node — Rust
- We’re building Network Tolerance Metrics to improve monitoring the performance of the Node software.
- Upgrading networking to make it production-ready — evaluating off-the-shelf options.
- Enhancements to Deploy Buffer.
- Provide a count of unprocessed deploys. We found out on the Scala node that counts of unprocessed deploys was a leading indicator of network health. When the unprocessed deploys grew, we noticed that the network was not processing transactions and the unprocessed deploy count kept going up.
Test and SRE
- Testing Delta Release Candidate.
- Support Rust network with 5 validators.
- Automation of the release process.
- STests: Update monitoring to support node’s new event stream.
Ecosystem
- Clarity for Rust network: support deploys from the browser.
- Splitting Rust client into a library and binary.
- Documentation updates.
- Implementation of Event Store.
Economics Research
- We’re working on a formalized economics paper that will be updated on the technical specifications of Casper protocol.
Contract Runtime
- Transaction fees: payments finalization so validators can receive payments for transaction fees.
- Updates to support transfer transaction ‘proofs’. This gives the same kind of data that can be found in Ethereum like transferred amount, transaction fees, addresses involved, etcetera.
- Add updated Wasm opcode, host function, bandwidth, and storage gas costs to the chain specs.
Presentation
- Our CTO, Medha Parlikar presents a demo of the Rust Node.
Team & Company Update
- We are looking for talented SRE’s, Developer advocates, and Technical writers to join our team.
- Applications can be sent via Workable. Alternatively, via email.
- We have adopted a Casper Enhancement Proposal (CEP) process to vet and accept important features and changes. Details of the process can be found here https://github.com/CasperLabs/ceps.
- Our weekly Governance/Community call holds every Tuesday
- Time: 9:00 AM PST (16:00 UTC, Sydney +11, Beijing +8, Greece +3, Amsterdam +2, Onitsha +1, New York -4, Seattle -7)
- Location: https://casperlabs.zoom.us/j/488766416
- Our weekly workshops/dApp Session holds twice a week on:
- Thursdays 07:00 am Pacific time and
- Fridays midnight Pacific (4 pm Japanese Time).
- The zoom meeting id is https://casperlabs.zoom.us/j/924713678.
