XDP will be default enabled on Agave starting with v4.2 (early August on mainnet). try it out NOW so we can fix any unique driver/NIC combo issues you might have

Luckiest @solana validators ... Check more at dashboards.validblocks.com/n…

Phase Delegation's website is now live. This affects both new prospective validators and current program members. More details below.

Since DoubleZero Edge launched on April 16th, validators publishing shreds have been accumulating earnings. And today, those validators are getting paid. Real rewards, in the form of real rev-share, from real network participation. @Solana validator Edge publishers: here's how to claim ↓

GM. Be part of a $50,000,000,000 governance VOTE. 🗳️ Calling all @solana validators! We are running a test VOTE, now on v4.0. Go VOTE and get comfortable with the voting flow and lock down your security setup. There are some potentially SPICY votes coming up and you dont want to get left behind. 🌶️ Voting ends on epoch 982! ⏰ To vote via CLI, grab the repo here → github.com/solana-foundation… To vote via the frontend, head here → solana-governance.vercel.app… If you have any questions, please reach out here or in the Solana tech discord. NCN by @exo_tech_ and svmgov by @solanaturbine If you have any questions on governance there is an excellent breakpoint video discussing the current and proposed flow by @tushar_jain and @DrNickA Find it here -> youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7B8bm9…

193 nodes on testnet have XDP on now. Retransmit time plummeting. Once we're done, retransmit will settle at ~400 microseconds. We finish testnet, then we do mainnet, then we finally do 100M CUs.

XDP zero copy enabled for Valid Blocks validator! 🔥

Light/dark mode switch now available for our dashboards. See dashboards.validblocks.com

hey validators, lets make solana faster by enabling xdp. xdp improves turbine packet handling by cutting packet overhead, copies and context switches. more shred propagation headroom = better validator performance under load and more room for solana to scale. add: --experimental-poh-pinned-cpu-core <core> \ --experimental-retransmit-xdp-cpu-cores <core> \ --experimental-retransmit-xdp-zero-copy bnxt_en: --experimental-poh-pinned-cpu-core <core> \ --experimental-retransmit-xdp-cpu-cores <core> \ --experimental-retransmit-xdp-interface <physical_interface> \ extend your systemd service: AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_RAW CAP_NET_ADMIN CAP_BPF CAP_PERFMON CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_NET_RAW CAP_NET_ADMIN CAP_BPF CAP_PERFMON LimitMEMLOCK=2000000000 notes: - dont run poh and xdp on the same physical core - keep poh away from the xdp cores shared L3 / numa domain - validate your actual topology with lscpu -e/hwloc or solanahcl/solanahcl/blob/main/public/topology/ easy rule of thumb: - 7965wx: 24c across 4x ccds -> 6 cores/ccd first ccd: 0–5c, next ccd starts at 6c - 9375f: 32c across 8x ccds -> 4 cores/ccd first ccd: 0–3c, next ccd starts at 4c common xdp-capable drivers: i40e, ixgbe, ice, igc, mlx5_core, mlx4_core, bnxt_en dont use bonded interface with xdp. for broadcom / bnxt_en: dont enable zero-copy. copy mode is the safe path. if you run into "huge page alloc failed", remove the zero-copy flag and set the xdp interface to the physical interface: --experimental-retransmit-xdp-interface <physical_interface> check the ring sizes: it needs to be power of 2 IFACE=$(ip route get 1.1.1.1 | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i ) if($i=="dev") print $(i 1)}') sudo ethtool -g "$IFACE" # if you see values like rx: 511 or tx: 511, thats likely the issue. sudo ethtool -G "$IFACE" rx 512 tx 512 restart and voila, you are not a potato anymore.

Alpenglow Community Cluster restart in progress - bigger this time (86 validators, up from 49) and on a patched build with fixes from the previous run. Watch it come back to life: ag.validblocks.com

You can now track @solana stake pools rebalances over time (up to 50 epochs) using the new heatmap dashboard. Go to dashboards.validblocks.com/s…

Excited to announce the launch of FireBAM! 🔥💥 FireBAM, the Frankendancer-compatible BAM client, is now live on both testnet and early third-party onboarding, expanding BAM as well as the Early Subsidy Program to an additional ~12% of Solana validators! More on this below. 🧵

Thank you @JPoolSolana for including Valid Blocks in the first cohort of the Community Good Validators Program (3 points ⭐⭐⭐)! Huge thanks to the whole cohort and everyone building public goods for Solana - together we're making the network stronger 💪💪💪 Check our live dashboards: dashboards.validblocks.com First public Alpenglow explorer: ag.validblocks.com Excited to keep contributing!

Operators! We have a lot more testing to do. Sign up and help test the biggest protocol change in Solana’s history

Alpenglow is live on the community test cluster The biggest consensus change in Solana's history, now running on validator infrastructure ahead of mainnet We’re now inviting more validator operators to participate in the next community cluster👇

Proud to have been one of the 49 genesis validators of the @Solana Alpenglow community cluster. And just after launch we shipped the first block explorer for it: ag.validblocks.com Small independent validators are the backbone of decentralization.

Finally, gone! Check it out on the first alpenglow explorer: ag.validblocks.com The vote txs strategy was truly awesome and it worked magic to bootstrap the @solana network usage.. (hats off @toly for that!) but the removal is long overdue!

🚨 Alpenglow successfully enabled on the community test cluster, with Solana finalization time reportedly improved by 100x. If replicated on mainnet, Alpenglow could mark one of the biggest consensus performance upgrades in Solana’s history — pushing the network even closer to real-time finality. 🔥