MaxChains Announcement / GANDALF Distribution Guide

Announcements Foundation
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PNF is excited to announce August 19th as the date for the first phase of PUP - 34: GANDALF 2.0 🧙‍♂️ ("Let’s Go Shannon" Proposal 1).

MaxChains will be changed from 15 to 8 on Monday, August 19th, at 12pm EST.

To assist large node runners with distributing their nodes across a new number of chains, I’ve constructed a GANDALF Distribution Helper.

HOW IT WORKS

  1. Each provider has an assigned section (URLs are shown in row 1)

  2. Each provider is shown how many chains they need to support and how many nodes they need to distribute.

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  1. Each provider can track how many nodes are available for each chain, and start assigning nodes to the chains they desire to serve.

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NOTE: Until MaxChains = 1, a single node needs to be represented in multiple chains. This means each provider has a number of Sessions Slots (which is Total Nodes x MaxChains).

  1. Provider will get RED CELLS if they:
    a. Assign more nodes to a chain than they currently have
    b. Take more than 50% of a chain

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  1. The Assigned Chains field will turn green which it is equal to, or greater, than your Minimum Chains. Also, once 95% of your nodes have been placed, you will receive a green column. By assigning most nodes to the network, this will everyone an idea of what chains different provider will be on.

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  1. If everything is green, and you have no red cells, you are now good to go! The rest of the network knows what chains you plan to serve in this next phase, and everyone can plan accordingly.

FAQ

1. Why do different providers have different “Minimum Chains”?

The more nodes one has, the more chains they will need to spread their nodes across as MaxChains is lowered. The Minimum Chains in this spreadsheet is an estimation on how many chains a provider will need for their number of nodes. However, having more chains will always give provides better spread of rewards. With each phase, each provider will have to decide how many chains they want to support.

2. How was “Balanced Nodes” calculated?

This sheet shows how many nodes should be on each chain, according to their traffic. That means this sheet represents what a balanced network would look like if every node on the network was generating the same amount of reward on each chain. Obviously the network won’t be perfectly balanced in reality, but this at least should let folks an idea of what balanced would look like, allowing them to strategize accordingly.

NOTE: In Shannon, the providers that generate the most reward will likely be those that are able to balance their nodes across chains. Shannon’s tokenomics are designed to reward balance over anything else, thus it would be worth it for each provider to start figuring out their tooling and strategy now.

3. What if other providers are on chains I want to serve?

Well, this is a free market :sweat_smile: This spreadsheet is simply a way for providers to publicly organize if they desire. At the end of the day, if too many nodes are on a chain, that chain’s rewards will be less, so it is in everyone’s best interest to optimize for balance. Providers can absolutely over populate chains if they desire.

Many providers would rather coordinate then waste resources on chains that may be over provisioned, hence why I’ve put together this Distribution Helper.

NOTE: If providers want to publicly coordinate, they are welcome to do so in the newly created GANDALF thread in Discord. All providers in this sheet will be tagged so they can find it.

4. Once I identify the chains I want to serve, what do I need to do on Monday the 19th?

Ultimately all nodes will need to have their staked updated so they are staked for the right amount of chains. Currently most nodes are staked for 15 chains, but on the 19th that will need to changed to 8 chains in this first phase. Providers with large amounts of nodes should try to stagger their update stake transactions so as to not overload the chain.

Adjusting MaxChains is a new territory for POKT, but I will do my best to assist everyone in this transition and answer any questions with the knowledge I have. Ultimately we will have to work together on this.

Feel free to join the discussion here or in the GANDALF Discord thread :+1:

Rest assured, the whole PNF team will be helping with this transition :wink:

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