Witness - FAQ

How can I close the witness node in a clean way?

In windows use ctrl-c.

How do I check whether the witness node is already synceed?

Run the info command in the CLI client and check the head_block_age value.

If it seems to be unable to sync beyond a certain date

You should always make sure you use the newest build available here as earlier releases will get stuck due to hard-forks.

Is it safe to delete logs stored in witness_node_data_dirlogsp2p?

Yes, but

  • they’re rotated automatically after 24 hours anyway

  • if you don’t use them you should probably modify config.ini so they aren’t written to disk in the first place.

What is the best way to interact with the witness node?

The only way you can interact with the witness node is through the CLI client by using its API.

You can also use the GUI (i.e. the light client). Read more about : How to connect to your own Full Node (GUI)

What is the difference between public and private testnet?

Not much. The biggest difference is that public testnet are intended for wider audience and has fixed (not easy to change parameters), while private testnets can be setup with arbitrary settings.

What is the meaning of all those different text colors in the witness node console?

  • green - debug

  • white - info/default

  • yellow/brown - warning

  • red - error

  • blue - some kind of info, I don’t know

Related source files are in libraries/fc/include/fc/log/ and libraries/fc/src/log/.

Whose private key is [“BTS6MRyAjQ..”,”5KQwrPbwdL..”]? Why is it predefined in the config.ini?

It’s a shared key for some special purpose. (But I don’t remember what it is. If I remember BM or someone else has ever explained it in the forum, but I can’t find the post right now. Just let it be there. I think if you comment it out, it will appear again automatically, it’s generated by the code of witness_node.)