Monitoring a Validator

The Docker commands will assume you have the same prefix to get you executing a command within the docker: docker exec validator . If you want to make it easier, you can always create an alias such as: alias miner="docker exec validator miner".

Confirm the network is working

Visit the Helium Validator Status Page (and sign up for alerts, if you haven't already).

This status page will provide the latest updates on important issues that impact validators like chain halts or other major events.

Check the p2p network

Perform a health check to see if your validator node can see other validators.

Once your validator is running, perform an initial health check to verify you're connected to peers, your NAT type has been correctly identified, and that you have listen addresses:

Source: miner peer book -s

Docker: docker exec validator miner peer book -s

note

It could take several minutes before the peers appear in the table.

Once you have an address listed in listen_addrs and peers in the table at the bottom, you're connected to the p2p network.

View block height

When the genesis block is loaded, this query will work and return height 1 at least:

Source: miner info height

Docker: docker exec validator miner info height

If you’re syncing, something similar to the following should appear:

~$ docker exec validator miner info height
14        449

The first number is the election epoch and the second number is the block height of your validator.

To be considered 'online' in Explorer and be eligible for election into a consensus group, your node must be staked and the block height needs to be caught up (within 100 blocks of the block height of the chain). You can view the current block height of the chain through the Explorer. Block heights may sync slowly, it may take a few days if your validator is just coming online.

View p2p summary

When your validator is running, you can check the summary of the connection, NAT, and block height. These parameters are described in the Deployment Guide.

Source: miner info p2p_status

Docker: docker exec validator miner info p2p_status

If you are properly connected and staked, it should look similar to this:

~$ docker exec validator miner info p2p_status
+---------+------+
|  name   |result|
+---------+------+
|connected| yes  |
|dialable | yes  |
|nat_type | none |
| height  |911834|
+---------+------+