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Builders
Node Operators
Tutorials
Running OP Mainnet from Source

Running OP Mainnet from Source

Please complete the first tutorial on building a node from source, if you have not done so.

Get the data directory

The next step is to download the data directory for op-geth. You will need 500+ GB for this part alone.

Download the data directory snapshot

This is a large file so expect it to take some time. Bedrock Data Directory (303GB) (opens in a new tab)

đź’ˇ

Use a tool like aria2 (opens in a new tab) to reduce the chance of your data directory being corrupted.

Check the validity of your download

This is an important step. Corrupted data directories will make your node fail. So ensure your checksum matches.

sha256sum mainnet-bedrock.tar.zst
# expected output
ec4baf47e309a14ffbd586dc85376833de640c0f2a8d7355cb8a9e64c38bfcd1  mainnet-bedrock.tar.zst

OR

sha512sum mainnet-bedrock.tar.zst
# expected output
c17067b7bc39a6daa14f71d448c6fa0477834c3e68a25e96f26fe849c12a09bffe510e96f7eacdef19e93e3167d15250f807d252dd6f6f9053d0e4457c73d5fb mainnet-bedrock.tar.zst

Create the op-geth data directory and fill it

This will take time.

Navigate to location you want to put your op-geth directory and unpack the compressed data directory

mkdir op-geth-datadir
cd op-geth-datadir
tar xvf <<PATH_TO_DATA_DIR>>

(Optional - OP Mainnet Archive Node) Get the data directory for l2geth

Download the data directory snapshot

This is a large file so expect it to take some time. Legacy Geth Data Directory (2.9TB) (opens in a new tab)

đź’ˇ

Use a tool like aria2 (opens in a new tab) to reduce the chance of your data directory being corrupted.

Check the validity of your download

This is an important step. Corrupted data directories will make your node fail. So ensure your checksum matches.

sha256sum mainnet-legacy-archival.tar.zst
# expected output
4adedb61125b81b55f9bdccc2e85092050c65ef2253c86e2b79569732b772829  mainnet-legacy-archival.tar.zst

OR

sha512sum mainnet-legacy-archival.tar.zst
# expected output
e348488c458baa755510f23bbc8601619bc66bea78a89354c949ba7be3c6b39ed7dd2c50516621e38df6120299407da0d24445b96bf94a50364ed07bb8234b26 mainnet-legacy-archival.tar.zst

Create the data directory in l2geth and fill it

This will take time.

Navigate to location you want to put your l2geth directory and run these commands:

mkdir l2geth-datadir
cd l2geth-datadir
tar xvf <<PATH_TO_DATA_DIR>>

Create a shared secret between op-geth and op-node

Navigate into your op-geth directory

Create a random number

This will be the shared secret for op-geth and op-node to communicate over the engine API authrpc.

openssl rand -hex 32 > jwt.txt

(Optional - Archive Node) Start l2geth

Navigate into your l2geth directory

Start l2geth with the following command

USING_OVM=true \
  ETH1_SYNC_SERVICE_ENABLE=false \
  RPC_API=eth,rollup,net,web3,debug \
  RPC_ENABLE=true \
  RPC_PORT=8546 \ # need to rebind port because op-geth uses the same default port
  ./build/bin/geth --datadir << /path/to/l2geth-datadir>>

Start op-geth

Navigate into your op-geth directory

Start op-geth with the following command

  • Make sure you update your path to your data directory
./build/bin/geth \
  --datadir=<</path/to/op-geth-datadir>> \
  --http \
  --http.port=8545 \
  --http.addr=0.0.0.0 \
  --authrpc.addr=localhost \
  --authrpc.jwtsecret=./jwt.txt \
  --verbosity=3 \
  --rollup.sequencerhttp=https://mainnet-sequencer.optimism.io/ \
  --nodiscover \
  --syncmode=full \
  --maxpeers=0 \
  --op-network=op-mainnet

Archive Nodes You will need to point op-geth at l2geth with --rollup.historicalrpc: Enables the historical RPC endpoint. This endpoint is used to fetch historical execution data from Legacy Geth from before the Bedrock upgrade (opens in a new tab). This flag is only necessary for OP Mainnet.

You will also need to add --gcmode archive.

Start op-node

Navigate to the op-node directory

Start op-node with the following command

  • Change L1 RPC URL to your local L1 node or a service provider's URL for the L1 node (L1 Ethereum). E.g. for Infura, https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/API_KEY.
  • Set L1 RPC KIND to the network provider you are using (options: alchemy, quicknode, infura, parity, nethermind, debug_geth, erigon, basic, any).
  • Set the /path/to/op-geth/jwt.txt to the path of the shared secret you generated in a previous step
./bin/op-node \
    --l1=<< L1 RPC URL >>  \
    --l1.rpckind=<< L1 RPC KIND >> \
    --l2=ws://localhost:8551 \
    --l2.jwt-secret=<< /path/to/op-geth/jwt.txt >> \
    --network=op-mainnet \
    --rpc.addr=0.0.0.0 \
    --rpc.port=8547

The initial synchronization

The datadir provided by Optimism is not updated continuously, so before you can use the node you need a to synchronize it.

During that process you get log messages from op-node, and nothing else appears to happen.

INFO [06-26|13:31:20.389] Advancing bq origin                      origin=17171d..1bc69b:8300332 originBehind=false

That is normal - it means that op-node is looking for a location in the batch queue. After a few minutes it finds it, and then it can start synchronizing.

While it is synchronizing, you can expect log messages such as these from op-node:

INFO [06-26|14:00:59.460] Sync progress                            reason="processed safe block derived from L1" l2_finalized=ef93e6..e0f367:4067805 l2_safe=7fe3f6..900127:4068014 l2_unsafe=7fe3f6..900127:4068014 l2_time=1,673,564,096 l1_derived=6079cd..be4231:8301091
INFO [06-26|14:00:59.460] Found next batch                         epoch=8e8a03..11a6de:8301087 batch_epoch=8301087 batch_timestamp=1,673,564,098
INFO [06-26|14:00:59.461] generated attributes in payload queue    txs=1  timestamp=1,673,564,098
INFO [06-26|14:00:59.463] inserted block                           hash=e80dc4..72a759 number=4,068,015 state_root=660ced..043025 timestamp=1,673,564,098 parent=7fe3f6..900127 prev_randao=78e43d..36f07a fee_recipient=0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000011 txs=1  update_safe=true

And log messages such as these from op-geth:

INFO [06-26|14:02:12.974] Imported new potential chain segment     number=4,068,194 hash=a334a0..609a83 blocks=1         txs=1         mgas=0.000  elapsed=1.482ms     mgasps=0.000   age=5mo2w20h dirty=2.31MiB
INFO [06-26|14:02:12.976] Chain head was updated                   number=4,068,194 hash=a334a0..609a83 root=e80f5e..dd06f9 elapsed="188.373µs" age=5mo2w20h
INFO [06-26|14:02:12.982] Starting work on payload                 id=0x5542117d680dbd4e

Estimate the synchronization time

To estimate how long the synchronization will take, you need to first find out how many blocks you synchronize in a minute. You can use this Foundry (opens in a new tab) script to get an estimated sync time.

Navigate to your scripts directory

Create a new file:

touch run-estimate.sh

Make it executable:

chmod +x run-estimate.sh

Insert this snippet of code into run-estimate.sh:

#!/usr/bin/bash
 
export ETH_RPC_URL=http://localhost:8545
CHAIN_ID=`cast chain-id`
echo Chain ID: $CHAIN_ID
echo Please wait
 
if [ $CHAIN_ID -eq 10 ]; then
  L2_URL=https://mainnet.optimism.io
fi
 
 
if [ $CHAIN_ID -eq 420 ]; then
  L2_URL=https://goerli.optimism.io
fi
 
 
if [ $CHAIN_ID -eq 11155420 ]; then
  L2_URL=https://sepolia.optimism.io
fi
 
T0=`cast block-number --rpc-url $ETH_RPC_URL` ; sleep 60 ; T1=`cast block-number --rpc-url $ETH_RPC_URL`
PER_MIN=`expr $T1 - $T0`
echo Blocks per minute: $PER_MIN
 
 
if [ $PER_MIN -eq 0 ]; then
    echo Not synching
    exit;
fi
 
# During that minute the head of the chain progressed by thirty blocks
PROGRESS_PER_MIN=`expr $PER_MIN - 30`
echo Progress per minute: $PROGRESS_PER_MIN
 
 
# How many more blocks do we need?
HEAD=`cast block-number --rpc-url $L2_URL`
BEHIND=`expr $HEAD - $T1`
MINUTES=`expr $BEHIND / $PROGRESS_PER_MIN`
HOURS=`expr $MINUTES / 60`
echo Hours until sync completed: $HOURS
 
if [ $HOURS -gt 24 ] ; then
   DAYS=`expr $HOURS / 24`
   echo Days until sync complete: $DAYS
fi

Run the following command to get an estimate:

./run-estimate.sh

Operations

It is best to start op-geth first and shut it down last.

Next Steps

Building a Node from SourceRunning OP Testnet from Source