the light at the end of the tunnel
The Erigon team is pleased to release Erigon v3 Beta-1, a milestone update that focuses on efficiency, scalability, and usability. Designed with the needs of node operators in mind, this release introduces key performance and storage improvements while ensuring scalability as Ethereum evolves.
Erigon v3 Benchmarks: Performance and Efficiency
Erigon v3 Beta-1 demonstrates significant advantages over other execution clients, particularly in terms of storage, performance, and sync times.
Ethereum Mainnet Benchmarks @block 21,639,500
| Metric | Erigon 3.0.0-unstable | Nethermind v1.30.2 | Geth v1.14.12 | Reth v1.1.4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archive Node Disk Requirements | 1.79 TB | 18 TB | 18 TB | 2.4 TB |
| Validating Node Disk Requirements | 949 GB | 1.2 TB | 1.2 TB | 1.2 TB |
| Archive Node Sync Time | 18 hours | 21 days | 21 days | 3.1 days |
| Full Node Sync Time | 6.4 hours | 11 hours | 16 hours | 3.1 days |
Polygon Chain Benchmarks
| Metric | Erigon 3.0.0-unstable | Geth v1.14.12 |
|---|---|---|
| Full Node Disk Requirements | 1.2 TB | 3.9 TB |
| Archive Node Disk Requirements | 4.6 TB | 56 TB |
Gnosis Chain Benchmarks
| Metric (Erigon 3.0) | Database Size | Sync Time |
|---|---|---|
| Full Node Disk Requirements |
268 GB |
53 minutes |
| Archive Node | 486 GB | 1 hour 32 minutes |
Key Features and Improvements
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Faster Sync Times
Erigon v3 Beta-1 significantly reduces archive node sync times. While competing clients like Geth and Nethermind require 21 days, Erigon achieves the same result in just 18 hours. -
Optimized Storage Requirements
Erigon remains a leader in storage efficiency:- Mainnet archive nodes require only 1.79 TB (@ block 21,639,500) , a fraction of the space used by Geth and Nethermind (18 TB).
- Full nodes on Polygon consume 1.2 TB, significantly less than Geth’s 3.9 TB.
Future updates will further reduce Mainnet storage by 200 GB and Polygon storage by 400 GB.
-
Scalability with State Growth
Erigon v3 has been engineered to scale effectively as the Ethereum state grows:- Small Hot Database: Most state data is stored in external files, reducing the size and load on the hot database.
- Reduced Overhead for State Reads: This design minimizes the performance impact of database size increases.
- Write Amplification Immunity: Erigon avoids the performance degradation often caused by write amplification, ensuring smooth operation as the blockchain grows.
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Flat Database Usage
Database fragmentation issues have been resolved, ensuring that disk usage remains flat over time. This contrasts with Geth, which may see full node disk usage grow to 1.6 TB after a year, even with path-based storage.
State Growth Challenges: How Erigon v3 Fixes the Problem
As Ethereum continues to expand, the ever-increasing state size poses a major hurdle for execution clients. This growth can lead to:
- Increased storage requirements, making it costly and resource-intensive to run nodes.
- Decreased read and write performance, as larger databases slow down over time.
- Fragmentation and storage inefficiency, as data updates generate excessive overhead.
Erigon’s Solutions for State Growth
Erigon v3 Beta-1 introduces architectural improvements to effectively manage state growth:
- Most State Kept in Files: Instead of relying on large, monolithic databases, Erigon stores the majority of state data in external files. This ensures minimal load on the hot database and reduces the overhead for state reads and writes.
- Scalable with Blockchain Growth: Erigon’s design is inherently scalable, maintaining consistent performance as the state size increases.
- Write Amplification Immunity: Erigon avoids the pitfalls of write amplification, a common issue in traditional database architectures, ensuring stable performance under heavy workloads.
- Flat Disk Usage: With resolved database fragmentation, Erigon’s storage usage remains flat over time, even as state size grows.
These innovations make Erigon uniquely equipped to handle Ethereum’s long-term state growth, providing a reliable foundation for operators.
Feature: Minimal Node
For users with limited disk space, Erigon v3 Beta-1 introduces the Minimal Node mode. This feature allows operators to prune unnecessary blocks, significantly reducing storage requirements while maintaining full network functionality.
- Optimized for Staking: Minimal Node mode is ideal for users running Ethereum validators who do not need historical block data.
- Ideal for Layer 2 Nodes: Operators running L2 nodes can utilize Minimal Node mode alongside Erigon, provided the L2 snapshot is recent enough.
- Reduced Storage Footprint: By eliminating unneeded state data, Minimal Node enables more efficient use of disk space while maintaining seamless Ethereum execution.
This feature enhances accessibility for node operators, allowing them to maintain high-performance Ethereum nodes with minimal storage overhead.
Focus on Full Nodes and Staking
With this release, Erigon is shifting its focus from archive nodes to full nodes and staking performance. By prioritizing full nodes and staking, Erigon ensures the best possible performance for operators looking to participate in Ethereum’s consensus mechanisms without the shortcomings and inefficiencies of Erigon v2.
We decided to not fix staking performance there because the architecture of Erigon v2 was not designed to efficiently support the needs of modern Ethereum staking. Instead of implementing workarounds in an outdated system, we built Erigon v3 from the ground up to be a highly optimized execution client. This allows for:
- Better validator performance: Reducing latency and improving efficiency for Ethereum validators.
- More efficient database management: Avoiding the fragmentation and inefficiencies seen in previous versions.
- Future-proof scalability: Designed to support the continued growth of Ethereum without requiring major overhauls.
In practice this also means that by default Erigon runs as a full node and the archive node needs to be enabled with the flag --prune.mode=archive
Deprecation Notice: Polygon Chain and Caplin (–internalcl)
As part of our ongoing effort to streamline development, we are officially deprecating support for the Polygon chain and Caplin (–internalcl) in Erigon v2.0.
- No further support will be provided for these configurations in Erigon v2.0.
- Users are encouraged to transition to Erigon v3 for continued improvements and support.
Erigon v3 Beta-1 represents a major step forward in Ethereum node efficiency and scalability. With optimized storage, faster sync times, and the new Minimal Node mode, Erigon continues to set the standard for execution clients. We look forward to the community’s feedback and further refinements in upcoming releases.
