Block Height Routing

Intelligent Block Height Routing

Backpac's Block Height Routing system ensures your blockchain services and applications access the most up-to-date data. By dynamically routing traffic to the RPC provider with the highest blockchain block height, Backpac enhances the precision and reliability of read requests and critical RPC methods. This approach minimizes stale data risks, providing valid, real-time results for blockchain operations.

Using block height routing for load balancing is a great solution to ensure that traffic is always routed to the most up-to-date nodes, reducing issues related to out-of-sync nodes. This, in turn, should improve both performance and reliability in your blockchain infrastructure by preventing errors and ensuring data consistency for clients interacting with your network.

How Block Height Routing Helps

1. Routing Based on Sync Status

With block height routing, the Backpac load balancer can ensure that clients are directed to nodes that are in sync with the current block height. Nodes that are behind in sync will be excluded from receiving requests, ensuring that clients only interact with nodes that are up-to-date.

2. Preventing Out-of-Sync Nodes

If a node falls behind or becomes out of sync (e.g., due to network issues or failure to process blocks), it will have a lower block height than other nodes that are in sync. The load balancer will detect this and avoid routing traffic to that node, instead directing requests to a node with a higher or the latest block height.

3. Post Request Monitoring

The load balancer checks the block height of each node, ensuring that it always routes traffic to the most up-to-date nodes. This also helps prevent any potential errors or inconsistencies caused by using a node that isn't fully synchronized.

4. Graceful Handling of Block Height Gaps

If a node is temporarily behind (e.g., while catching up), the load balancer will continue routing requests to the other nodes that are fully synchronized, maintaining service availability without interruptions.

How Block Height Routing Works

1. Real-Time Block Height Monitoring

Backpac continuously monitors the block heights of all connected RPC providers for each blockchain network. This data is updated in near real-time to identify the provider with the highest block height.

2. Load Balancer Integration

The load balancer intelligently uses block height information to prioritize traffic routing:

• For Read Requests: Directs requests to the provider with the highest block height to ensure the freshest data.
• For Critical Methods: Ensures methods requiring up-to-date blockchain state, such as eth_call, are routed to the provider with the most current data.

3. Fallback and Redundancy

If the provider with the highest block height becomes unavailable:

• Backpac automatically routes traffic to the next highest block height provider.
• This redundancy guarantees uninterrupted service and reliable data access.

---

Steps to Configure Block Height Routing

Step 1: Connect and Monitor Providers

1. Add all your RPC providers (e.g., Alchemy, Infura, QuickNode) to the Backpac system.
2. The block height monitoring feature is automatically enabled for each provider.

Step 2: Test and Validate

1. Send test requests to your Backpac endpoint.
2. Verify that:
   • Traffic is routed to the provider with the highest block height.
   • The response contains the freshest blockchain data.

RPC Methods That Benefit from Block Height Routing

Solana

These Solana RPC methods require the most up-to-date block height to ensure accurate results:

• getBlockHeight: Retrieves the current block height.
• getBalance: Fetches the balance of a specific account.
• getProgramAccounts: Returns all accounts owned by a specific program.
• getConfirmedSignaturesForAddress2: Fetches confirmed signatures for transactions involving an account.
• getSlot: Retrieves the current slot information.
• getTransaction: Fetches details about a specific transaction.
• getTokenSupply: Returns the supply of a specific token.

Ethereum

For Ethereum, these RPC methods benefit from routing to the provider with the highest block height:

• eth_blockNumber: Retrieves the latest block number.
• eth_getBalance: Fetches an account's balance at the latest or a specific block.
• eth_call: Executes a read-only smart contract call at a specific block height.
• eth_getBlockByNumber: Returns information about a specific block by its number.
• eth_getLogs: Fetches logs for a given range of blocks.
• eth_getTransactionByHash: Retrieves a transaction by its hash.
• eth_getTransactionReceipt: Fetches the receipt of a specific transaction.

---

Example Use Case: Highest Block Height for getProgramAccounts (Solana)

1. Request: A client calls getProgramAccounts to fetch accounts associated with a program.
2. Routing:
   • Backpac checks the block heights of all connected providers.
   • The request is routed to the provider with the highest block height.
3. Result:
   • The client receives the most accurate and up-to-date account details.

---

Benefits of Block Height Routing

• Enhanced Accuracy: Ensures read requests and RPC methods rely on the latest blockchain data.
• Improved Reliability: Automatically handles provider failures by routing to the next best option.
• Optimized Performance: Reduces latency by avoiding stale or outdated providers.

---

By leveraging Block Height Routing, Backpac maximizes the precision and reliability of your blockchain applications, ensuring they always operate with the most current data available.