Guides
Running the infrastructure, not just calling it
11 articles on getting, choosing, running, scaling and watching a node — general where the problem is general, and per chain where it is not. Written for the decisions that come before picking a provider from the rankings, and the ones that come after deciding not to.
Ethereum
BSC
Solana4 articles in clientsWhich node software exists on each chain, and what changes with each.
- Clients· All three chains
Why the client mix matters
“Does it matter which client everybody else is running?”
What a supermajority client bug costs at 33% and at 66%, why the published diversity figures disagree with each other by more than they agree, and what any of it changes for an application rather than a validator.
- ClientsEthereum
Ethereum clients
“Which Ethereum client should I run, and why are there two of them?”
The five execution clients and six consensus clients, why an Ethereum node is two processes joined by a shared secret, and which clients the Ethereum endpoints measured here report running.
- ClientsBSC
BNB Smart Chain clients
“What can I actually run on BNB Smart Chain?”
Two supported clients since Erigon was retired, why both answer to their parents' names, and what the version number in a BSC banner does and does not mean.
- ClientsSolana
Solana clients
“Agave, Firedancer, Frankendancer, Jito — which is which?”
Three implementations and a fourth thing people call a client, why an RPC node is a different job from a validator, and why getVersion cannot tell you which one you are talking to.