Proxy server

This page describes the proxy server, a readonly frontend to tezos-node which is designed to lower the load of full nodes. It can be run separately from a node and will handle some RPC requests by itself. It is named after two things:

  • The proxy mode of the client on which it builds upon.

  • Regular HTTP proxies, as proxy servers are meant to be deployed in front of a node, to lower the node’s load.

While the proxy server can only serve a subset of the RPCs a full node can serve (detailed below), one can transparently use a proxy server as a replacement for a full node, in the manner described below: it will use HTTP redirects to redirect clients to the node when it cannot handle a certain request.

Launching a proxy server

The minimal arguments to launch a proxy server are --endpoint and --rpc-addr:

  • --endpoint specifies the URL of the RPC server of the node to do requests to obtain data (RPCs of the form /chains/<chain_id>/blocks/<block_id>/context/raw/bytes).

  • --rpc-addr specifies the URL that the proxy server should serve.

Another important argument is --data-dir:

  • --data-dir specifies the directory of the node from which to obtain data. This argument can only be used when the proxy server has actual access to the specified data directory. In this case, this option will reduce the number of RPC calls to the node, thereby reducing its IO consumption.

The full list of arguments is detailed below.

Example with the sandbox

In this section, we show examples of usage of a proxy server when using the sandboxed node. For convenience we repeat instructions for the sandboxed mode here, but refer the reader to the sandboxed mode page for further details. First, edit src/proto_alpha/parameters/sandbox-parameters.json to set the first value of time_between_blocks to 15 seconds (it’s the time between two blocks in the chain, we set it to 15 seconds, so that the scenario below is easier to understand):

{ ...,
  "time_between_blocks": [ "15", "0" ],
  ...
}

In a terminal, start a sandboxed node:

$ ./src/bin_node/tezos-sandboxed-node.sh 1 --connections 1
  April 21 11:05:32.789 - node.config.validation: the node configuration has been successfully validated.
  Created /tmp/tezos-node.Uzq5aGAN/config.json for network: sandbox.
  ...

Leave that terminal running. In a second terminal, prepare the appropriate environment for using a proxy server:

$ eval `./src/bin_client/tezos-init-sandboxed-client.sh 1`

Then upgrade the node to protocol alpha:

$ tezos-activate-alpha
$ tezos-client bake for bootstrap1

To avoid warnings being printed in upcoming commands (optional):

$ export TEZOS_CLIENT_UNSAFE_DISABLE_DISCLAIMER=y

You’re now ready to use a proxy server. Open a third terminal, and launch a proxy server as shown below. We specify debug variables in TEZOS_LOG to have debug output showing what the proxy server is doing (see the proxy mode page for more details).

$ export TEZOS_LOG="proxy_rpc_ctxt->debug; alpha.proxy_rpc->debug; proxy_server_run->debug; proxy_getter->debug; proxy_services->debug"
$ ./tezos-proxy-server --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18731 --rpc-addr http://127.0.0.1:18732
  protocol of proxy unspecified, using the node's protocol: ProtoALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaDdp3zK
  Apr 21 11:09:22.092 - proxy_server_run: starting proxy RPC server on 127.0.0.1:18732

Now, start a fourth terminal, and make a client request data from the proxy server:

$ export TEZOS_CLIENT_UNSAFE_DISABLE_DISCLAIMER=y
$ ./tezos-client --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18732 rpc get /chains/main/blocks/head/context/contracts
  [ "tz1gjaF81ZRRvdzjobyfVNsAeSC6PScjfQwN",
    "tz1ddb9NMYHZi5UzPdzTZMYQQZoMub195zgv",
    "tz1faswCTDciRzE4oJ9jn2Vm2dvjeyA9fUzU",
    "tz1KqTpEZ7Yob7QbPE4Hy4Wo8fHG8LhKxZSx",
    "tz1b7tUupMgCNw2cCLpKTkSD1NZzB5TkP2sv" ]

In the proxy server’s terminal, you should see this output (tree sizes may vary):

Apr 21 11:10:07.474 - alpha.proxy_rpc: chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/header
Apr 21 11:10:07.474 - alpha.proxy_rpc: proxy cache created for chain main and block head
Apr 21 11:10:07.476 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (v1/constants)
Apr 21 11:10:07.476 - proxy_getter: split_key heuristic triggers, getting v1 instead of v1/constants
Apr 21 11:10:07.476 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/v1
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - alpha.proxy_rpc: received tree of size 2
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (v1/cycle_eras)
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (pending_migration_balance_updates)
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/pending_migration_balance_updates
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (pending_migration_operation_results)
Apr 21 11:10:07.477 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/pending_migration_operation_results
Apr 21 11:10:07.478 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (contracts/index)
Apr 21 11:10:07.478 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/contracts/index
Apr 21 11:10:07.479 - alpha.proxy_rpc: received tree of size 115

Lines of the form alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/... show requests that the proxy server does to the node to obtain data.

15 seconds after the previous command, the proxy server should clear the data it obtained, because time_between_blocks was set to 15 seconds at the beginning of this scenario:

Apr 21 11:10:22.478 - proxy_services: clearing data for chain main and block head

Now, in the fourth terminal, retrieve the contracts again, but twice in a row:

$ ./tezos-client --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18732 rpc get /chains/main/blocks/head/context/contracts
  [ "tz1gjaF81ZRRvdzjobyfVNsAeSC6PScjfQwN",
    "tz1ddb9NMYHZi5UzPdzTZMYQQZoMub195zgv",
    "tz1faswCTDciRzE4oJ9jn2Vm2dvjeyA9fUzU",
    "tz1KqTpEZ7Yob7QbPE4Hy4Wo8fHG8LhKxZSx",
    "tz1b7tUupMgCNw2cCLpKTkSD1NZzB5TkP2sv" ]
$ ./tezos-client --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18732 rpc get /chains/main/blocks/head/context/contracts
  # ... same output ...

In the meantime, in the proxy server’s terminal, you should see:

Apr 21 11:14:04.262 - alpha.proxy_rpc: chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/header
Apr 21 11:14:04.263 - alpha.proxy_rpc: proxy cache created for chain main and block head
Apr 21 11:14:04.266 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (v1/constants)
Apr 21 11:14:04.266 - proxy_getter: split_key heuristic triggers, getting v1 instead of v1/constants
Apr 21 11:14:04.266 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/v1
Apr 21 11:14:04.266 - alpha.proxy_rpc: received tree of size 2
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (v1/cycle_eras)
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (pending_migration_balance_updates)
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/pending_migration_balance_updates
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (pending_migration_operation_results)
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/pending_migration_operation_results
Apr 21 11:14:04.267 - proxy_getter: Cache miss: (contracts/index)
Apr 21 11:14:04.268 - alpha.proxy_rpc: /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes/contracts/index
Apr 21 11:14:04.269 - alpha.proxy_rpc: received tree of size 115
Apr 21 11:14:06.511 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (v1/constants)
Apr 21 11:14:06.512 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (v1/cycle_eras)
Apr 21 11:14:06.512 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (pending_migration_balance_updates)
Apr 21 11:14:06.512 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (pending_migration_operation_results)
Apr 21 11:14:06.512 - proxy_getter: Cache hit: (contracts/index)

The last four lines show that the proxy server is answering the request without delegating anything to the node: there is no alpha.proxy_rpc line. The proxy server is reusing the data it obtained for <head> from the first request, because less than time_between_block (15 seconds) have passed.

Reducing RPC calls: --data-dir

To make the proxy server read the node’s data-dir instead of doing /chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/context/raw/bytes RPC calls, kill the proxy server you have launched above), and restart it as follows:

$ ./tezos-proxy-server --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18731 --rpc-addr http://127.0.0.1:18732 --data-dir /tmp/tezos-node.Uzq5aGAN
  protocol of proxy unspecified, using the node's protocol: ProtoALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaALphaDdp3zK
  Apr 21 11:09:22.092 - proxy_server_run: starting proxy RPC server on 127.0.0.1:18732

The value of the --data-dir argument was obtained by looking at the output of the terminal where tezos-node was launched (see above).

Now, in the fourth terminal (the client’s terminal), redo the request to retrieve contracts:

$ ./tezos-client --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18732 rpc get /chains/main/blocks/head/context/contracts
  # ... same output as above ...

Now the output in the proxy server terminal should be:

Apr 21 11:22:44.359 - alpha.proxy_rpc: chains/<main>/blocks/<head>/header
Apr 21 11:22:44.360 - alpha.proxy_rpc: proxy cache created for chain main and block head
Apr 21 11:22:59.362 - proxy_services: clearing data for chain main and block head

There are far fewer alpha.proxy_rpc lines! That is because the proxy server obtained its data by reading the node’s data-dir, instead of performing RPC calls.

Additional arguments

We describe the entire list of arguments of the proxy server. This documentation is also available with ./tezos-proxy-server --help. Here is the list of possible arguments:

  • -c and --config specify the JSON file to use an input for the configuration. This JSON file is an object like this: {"endpoint": "http://127.0.0.1:18731", "rpc_addr": "http://127.0.0.1:18732", "sym_block_caching_time": 60}. This file can specify all command line arguments except -l/--log-requests. If an argument if specified both in the configuration file and on the command line, the command line takes precedence.

  • -d and --data-dir specify the path of the data directory of the node. If specified, the proxy server obtains data by reading the disk instead of performing the /chains/<chain_id>/blocks/<block_id>/context/raw/bytes RPC. If possible (i.e. if the proxy server can access the node’s disk), this option should be used, because it reduces IO consumption of the node.

    Note that this argument doesn’t make --endpoint optional, because the proxy server still needs to do RPC calls to obtain block headers. Further work removing all RPC calls is described in issue 2502.

  • -E and --endpoint specify the URL of the RPC server of the node to do requests to obtain data (RPCs of the form /chains/<chain_id>/blocks/<block_id>/context/raw/bytes).

  • -l and --log-requests specify to print the requests that are delegated to the node, in a verbose manner.

  • --rpc-addr specifies the URL that the proxy server should serve.

  • --rpc-tls specifies that the proxy server must use TLS. It should be a string of the form crt_file,key_file where crt_file is the path to the TLS certificate to use and key_file is the path to the key to use.

  • --sym-block-caching-time specifies the duration during which data for a symbolic block identifier (like head, head~1) is kept. Smaller values increase the endpoint’s load but yield more up-to-date to clients. Higher values decrease the endpoint’s load but make clients observe slightly deprecated values. If omitted, the value is defaulted to time_between_blocks. As time_between_blocks is hence regularly requested from the node, this incurs a higher load of the node.

All arguments are optional as they can either be specified in the configuration file or on the command line. However, the union of the configuration file and the command line should specify the endpoint to use and the RPC address to serve.

What the proxy server serves

The proxy server itself serves protocol-specific RPCs, which are listed here for protocol Alpha, but not all of them: since the proxy server is a readonly frontend for the underlying node, it only serves the readonly requests (GET requests, as well as a subset of the POST requests).

Because computations done by the proxy server are protocol dependent, the proxy server does not support all protocols. However, it is expected than, at any given time, the proxy server supports Alpha and the three protocols before that. In doubt, execute tezos-client list proxy protocols to see the supported protocols.

Unsupported RPCs

Requests that are not readonly can only be handled by a full node. However, it is possible to send any RPC to the proxy server: if the RPC is not supported by the proxy server, it will redirect clients to the appropriate endpoint on the underlying node using an HTTP redirect (301 Moved Permanently), and the node will then handle the request.

This can be easily demonstrated with a simple test: start a proxy server, and make a request to it with curl -vL <proxy server endpoint>/<any node-only RPC>. (For example, /chains/main/blocks/head/header is one such RPC.) The output from curl will show that the proxy server asks curl to follow a redirect to the node’s endpoint, which it will do because of the -L flag, and then it is finally responded to by the node. Any RPC that can be handled by the proxy server itself will of course not show this behaviour.

Clearly, making such requests to the proxy server does not decrease the load of the node. (To be precise, it in fact also adds a slight delay to the HTTP request if the redirect is not cached by the client.) However, it does allow the use of a single endpoint for all RPC requests, which may be more convenient for certain use-cases.

Deployment

As a proxy server is a readonly frontend to a node, you can spawn multiple proxy servers in front of a single node.

Because the proxy server is protocol-dependent, if the node it talks to changes protocol; the proxy server will start failing for RPCs concerning blocks of the new protocol. We hereby recommend to automatically restart proxy servers that have a high ratio of failures. Restarting a proxy server is always fine, they can be thrown away at any moment.

Heuristics

The proxy server has heuristics. For example there is an heuristic to make big map queries faster, when many queries to siblings keys of a given big map are done in burst. The list of heuristics is visible for protocol Alpha in proxy.ml. The heuristic is implemented in function split_key. For example, any request of the form rolls/owner/snapshot/i/j/tail is transformed into a request of the form rolls/owner/snapshot/i/j to obtain data for all possible values of tail at once. For the moment the heuristics cannot be specified on the command line. However, it would be possible to do so. Please contact us for requesting such a change, see the Support section.

Support

The proxy server is a project led by evertedsphere. To contact us: