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Validator Guide: Troubleshooting

There is a #validator-support Discord channel available to reach other testnet participants, https://solana.com/discord

Blockstore

The validator blockstore rocksdb database can be inspected using the ldb tool. ldb is part of the rocksdb code base and is also available in the rocksdb-tools package.

RocksDB Administration and Data Access Tool

Upgrade

If a new software version introduces a new column family to the blockstore, that new (empty) column will be automatically created. This is the same logic that allows a validator to start fresh without the blockstore directory.

Downgrade

If a new column family has been introduced to the validator blockstore, a subsequent downgrade of the validator to a version that predates the new column family will cause the validator to fail while opening the blockstore during startup.

List column families:

ldb --db=<validator ledger path>/rocksdb/ list_column_families

Warning: Please seek guidance on discord before modifying the validator blockstore.

Drop a column family:

ldb --db=<validator ledger path>/rocksdb drop_column_family <column family name>