Protocol 21: What validators need to do to preapre

Justin Rice

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May 7, 2024, 2:01:28 PM5/7/24

to Stellar Validators

Hey, validators!

Today, we announced plans for the Protocol 21 Upgrade.

Key dates:

May 14: Testnet upgrade
June 18: Mainnet upgrade vote

Two important things for validators to pay attention to:

1. Protocol 21 provides one of the largest performance optimizations for validators to date: a brand new database backend called BucketListDB. It's pretty exciting. You can read all about it here: https://stellar.org/blog/developers/upcoming-database-changes-in-protocol-21

As part of that change, Stellar-core version 21.0 will introduce a new config flag called DEPRECATED_SQL_LEDGER_STATE. If this flag is not set, stellar-core will not be able to start. This flag must be set when a node upgrades to the stellar-core 21.0 package. This flag must be set when the package is deployed, not when the network actually upgrades to Protocol 21.

This flag’s default setting, and the setting that most validator operators should use, is DEPRECATED_SQL_LEDGER_STATE=false. If DEPRECATED_SQL_LEDGER_STATE=true, the node may experience performance degradation and fall behind the rest of the network. For more info, check the post linked above.

2. The Mainnet upgrade vote is scheduled for June 18 at 1700 UTC. To arm your validator for the vote, use the following command:
upgrades?mode=set&upgradetime=2024-06-18T17:00:00Z&protocolversion=21

In addition to the BucketListDB, this upgrade introduces secp256r1 support to allow passkey signing for Soroban transactions, improves state archival functionality, and adds some fee and cost modeling optimizations. You can read all about those new features in the announcement post:

For complete and up-to-date information on what you need to do to prepare, check out the Protocol 21 Upgrade Guide: https://stellar.org/blog/developers/protocol-21-upgrade-guide

Questions? Concerns? Please raise them here or in the validators channel of the Stellar Dev Discord.

Justin Rice

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May 14, 2024, 1:21:40 PM5/14/24

to Stellar Validators

Hey, validators!

Today, the Stellar Testnet upgraded to Protocol 21. As per usual, it will live there for a bit so people can experiment with it, and so we can observe it to make sure everything is working as expected. Then…

May 30: stable versions of Stellar Core, Horizon, and RPC will be available
June 18, 1700 UTC: validators will vote on the Mainnet upgrade

So please plan to install the stable release, set the DEPRECATED_SQL_LEDGER_STATE flag, and arm your node for the vote between May 30 and June 18.

For more info — including specific instructions about that flag you need to set — see https://stellar.org/blog/developers/protocol-21-upgrade-guide

Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions?

Please raise them here or in the Stellar Dev Discord #validator channel: https://discord.gg/stellardev

Justin Rice

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May 31, 2024, 7:36:27 AM5/31/24

to Stellar Validators

Hey validators,

Stellar Core v21.0.0 — the stable release that supports Protocol 21 — is now available! Find more here: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core/releases

The Protocol 21 Mainnet upgrade vote is scheduled for June 18 at 1700 UTC! Before then, please make sure to:

Upgrade Stellar Core to v21.0.0
Set the DEPRECATED_SQL_LEDGER_STATE flag when you deploy the package
Arm your node for the vote: upgrades?mode=set&upgradetime=2024-06-18T17:00:00Z&protocolversion=21