Nimbus update: v1.0.12 release (Prater testnet support)
This is a short announcement to highlight our v1.0.12 release and bring attention to the Prater testnet which is now open up to the public.
The Prater testnet has launched!🎡https://t.co/SyFMS4HB6u pic.twitter.com/8iVHgLDfF6
— Butta.eth (@Butta_eth) March 23, 2021
Prater's objective is to ensure that the network remains stable under a higher load than we've seen so far on mainnet. To elaborate a little, we want to make sure that the network is able to function properly with considerably more validators -- the genesis count for Prater was 210k (almost double the size of the Beacon Chain Mainnet).
next, we discuss Prater testnet: https://t.co/00M0F67Pyy@q9fmz has been coordinating this testnet -- we want to deploy a testnet w/ over 200k validators so we can stress-test clients before we get there on mainnet
— Alex Stokes (@ralexstokes) March 11, 2021
How do things change with more validators? Ben Edgington provides a good explanation in his latest newsletter:
Increasing the number of validators increases the state size, increases the amount of work done to process that state, and increases the number of messages being gossipped on the network. Blocks also become fuller, which explores a new kind of constraint as clients need to optimise better for attestation inclusion.
Both Pyrmont and Prater will co-exist for the foreseeable future (we will be testing the Altair fork on Pyrmont, for example). However, in the medium term we expect Prater to replace Pyrmont.
We'll have both for a good while. Testing the Altair fork on Pyrmont, as large as mainnet, is a good thing. In the meantime we can stress the validator count on the new net, and let users transition from Pyrmont to Prater at their own convenience.
— protolambda.eth (@protolambda) March 23, 2021
If you're already validating with Nimbus, you should start thinking about transitioning from Pyrmont to Prater at some point over the next few weeks. However, there is no immediate rush, so please do so at your own convenience. If you're new to Nimbus then you could try starting directly with Prater.
- The Prater launchpad is live here (use it to make a deposit): https://prater.launchpad.ethereum.org/en/
- To run a Prater node after making a deposit, update Nimbus  and then execute
./run-prater-beacon-node.sh