Firedancer on Solana Explained

What is Firedancer?

Firedancer, developed by Jump Trading, is a new Solana validator built to supercharge the network's scalability. Written in C, it moves away from Solana’s current Rust-based validator and targets over 1 million transactions per second (TPS). It achieves this by cutting out third-party libraries and focusing on network and cryptographic optimizations to improve performance.

Technically, it uses advanced tools like QUIC-based networking and AVX512 cryptographic verification. Firedancer also bypasses the operating system’s kernel to reduce latency. Its modular architecture breaks down the validator into smaller processes, boosting fault tolerance and improving system efficiency.

By lowering the hardware requirements for validators, Firedancer makes running a node more accessible. The combination of speed, reduced costs, and higher resilience positions it as a key player in addressing Solana’s scaling issues.

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How Does Firedancer Work?

Firedancer transforms Solana’s validator architecture by breaking it into smaller, independent processes, each optimized for speed and efficiency. This modular design increases scalability and reduces the chance of system-wide failures. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the tech behind Firedancer sources from their Github:

• QUIC Networking: Custom QUIC protocol slashes latency, improving transaction throughput with superior flow control.
• AVX512 Cryptography: Speeds up ED25519 signature verification using advanced vectorized processing.
• Kernel Bypass: Directly handles network data with AF_XDP, cutting out OS kernel overhead for faster performance.
• Modular Tile Architecture: Isolates validator functions into independent processes, boosting scalability and minimizing failure risk.
• Turbine Protocol Optimization: Enhances block propagation and consensus speed with reworked packet routing.
• NUMA Awareness & Lockless Concurrency: Maximizes hardware efficiency with optimized memory usage and parallel processing, avoiding locking delays.

Firedancer’s approach is built for performance, making Solana capable of handling massive transaction loads with minimal hardware strain.

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Firedancer Hardware Requirements

Firedancer's hardware requirements are tailored to support its high-speed, low-latency performance. Here's what you need to run a Firedancer validator:

• CPU: Minimum 12-core CPU @ >2.5GHz. For best performance, a 32-core CPU @ >3GHz with AVX512 support is recommended to handle intensive cryptographic operations.
• RAM: A minimum of 64GB, though 128GB with ECC (Error-Correcting Code) is preferred for better handling of heavy workloads and ensuring stability.
• Storage: At least a 512GB SSD, but a 1TB NVMe SSD is ideal for fast data access, along with a separate disk for the operating system.
• Network: A 1 Gigabit per second connection is essential to process and propagate high volumes of transactions without delay.

These specs are essential to leverage Firedancer’s architecture and push Solana's performance to the next level.

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Why is Jump Building Firedancer?

Jump is building Firedancer to solve Solana's network stability issues, particularly the block halts caused by software glitches. Leveraging their expertise in high-frequency trading in traditional markets, Jump is applying the same optimization techniques to Solana’s validator.

However, some critics argue Jump’s real intent may be to capitalize on Solana’s growing MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) opportunities, which recently generated nearly $7 million in one week. MEV allows validators to earn extra revenue by optimizing the order of transactions within blocks.

While Jump claims Firedancer will enhance network stability and scalability, skeptics believe their focus may also be on capturing these lucrative MEV profits as Solana's MEV growth now rivals that of Ethereum.

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What is Frankendancer?

Frankendancer is a hybrid setup that merges Firedancer, the new Solana validator by Jump Trading, with Agave, the current Solana validator client.

By integrating Firedancer's innovations like QUIC networking and AVX512 signature verification alongside Agave’s runtime, it enables phased testing and deployment.

This side-by-side approach lets Firedancer roll out new features while Agave handles the core transaction execution and state tracking. It’s a practical way to boost Solana’s performance without waiting for the full Firedancer client to be completed.

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Firedancer Release Date

Firedancer is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2024. It’s currently live on Solana’s testnet, with phased rollouts underway, starting with Frankendancer on the mainnet. 

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Bottom Line

Firedancer is poised to take Solana’s scalability to the next level with an optimized architecture that aims to handle over 1 million TPS. The gradual rollout, starting with Frankendancer, integrates new features alongside the existing system to improve performance without disruptions.

By lowering hardware costs and improving resilience, Firedancer addresses Solana’s persistent downtime issues, positioning it as a critical solution to the network’s scaling challenges.