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docs: Update tmpfs partition guidance to include swap (bp #14387) (#14397)

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* Update tmpfs partition guidance to include swap

(cherry picked from commit 68a84cf581)

* Update docs/src/running-validator/validator-start.md

Co-authored-by: Trent Nelson <trent.a.b.nelson@gmail.com>
(cherry picked from commit 9bb08ce75e)

Co-authored-by: Michael Vines <mvines@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
mergify[bot]
2021-01-03 01:45:07 +00:00
committed by GitHub
parent a53946c485
commit c085b94b43
1 changed files with 31 additions and 11 deletions
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docs/src/running-validator/validator-start.md
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@ -371,17 +371,37 @@ Once your validator is operating normally, you can reduce the time it takes to
restart your validator by adding the `--no-port-check` flag to your
`solana-validator` command-line.
### Using a ramdisk for the accounts database to reduce SSD wear
If your machine has plenty of RAM, a ramdisk
### Disable snapshot compression to reduce CPU usage
If you are not serving snapshots to other validators, snapshot compression can
be disabled to reduce CPU load at the expense of slightly more disk usage for
local snapshot storage.
Add the `--snapshot-compression none` argument to your `solana-validator`
command-line arguments and restart the validator.
### Using a ramdisk with spill-over into swap for the accounts database to reduce SSD wear
If your machine has plenty of RAM, a tmpfs ramdisk
([tmpfs](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/tmpfs.5.html)) may be used to hold
the accounts database.
the accounts database
Assuming your tmpfs ramdisk is mounted at `/mnt/solana-accounts` and writable
by the validator user, add the `--accounts /mnt/solana-accounts` argument to
your validator command-line to use it. Once your validator restarts, you should
now see activity in `/mnt/solana-accounts` instead of the `accounts/`
subdirectory of your ledger (`--ledger` argument) directory.
When using tmpfs it's essential to also configure swap on your machine as well to
avoid running out of tmpfs space periodically.
For Mainnet Beta it's recommended that a ramdisk of 64GB be used. Note that if
your machine has less than 100GB of RAM in total, using a ramdisk is not
recommended.
A 300GB tmpfs partition is recommended, with an accompanying 250GB swap
partition.
Example configuration:
1. `sudo mkdir /mnt/solana-accounts`
2. Add a 300GB tmpfs parition by adding a new line containing `tmpfs
/mnt/solana-accounts tmpfs rw,size=300G,user=sol 0 0` to `/etc/fstab`
(assuming your validator is running under the user "sol"). **CAREFUL: If you
incorrectly edit /etc/fstab your machine may no longer boot**
3. Create at least 250GB of swap space
- Choose a device to use in place of `SWAPDEV` for the remainder of these instructions. Ideally select a free disk partition of 250GB or greater on a fast disk. If one is not available, create a swap file with `sudo fallocate -l 250G /swapfile`, set its permissions with `sudo chmod 0600 /swapfile` and use `/swapfile` as `SWAPDEV` for the remainder of these instructions
- Format the device for usage as swap with `sudo mkswap SWAPDEV`
4. Add the swap file to `/etc/fstab` with a new line containing `SWAPDEV swap swap defaults 0 0`
5. Enable swap with `sudo swapon -a` and mount the tmpfs with `sudo mount /mnt/solana-accounts/`
6. Confirm swap is active with `free -g` and the tmpfs is mounted with `mount`
Now add the `--accounts /mnt/solana-accounts` argument to your `solana-validator`
command-line arguments and restart the validator.