# Besu Configuration Deployment Monitoring Guide

**Last Updated:** 2026-01-31  
**Document Version:** 1.0  
**Status:** Active Documentation

---

**Date**: 2026-01-17  
**Purpose**: Guide for monitoring Besu configuration deployments and verifying correct operation

---

## Overview

After deploying cleaned Besu configurations to running nodes, monitor the deployment to ensure services start correctly, configuration changes are applied, and no issues arise.

---

## Post-Deployment Monitoring Period

**Recommended**: 24-48 hours after deployment

**Intensive Monitoring**: First 4-6 hours  
**Standard Monitoring**: 24-48 hours  
**Ongoing Monitoring**: Regular health checks

---

## Monitoring Checklist

### Immediate (0-1 hour after deployment)

- [ ] Verify all services started successfully
- [ ] Check for configuration errors in logs
- [ ] Verify no restart loops
- [ ] Check logging levels are correct
- [ ] Test RPC endpoints (if applicable)

### Short-term (1-6 hours after deployment)

- [ ] Monitor service status
- [ ] Check for configuration-related errors
- [ ] Verify network connectivity
- [ ] Test consensus participation (validators)
- [ ] Test archive queries (sentries)

### Medium-term (6-48 hours after deployment)

- [ ] Monitor resource usage (memory, CPU, disk)
- [ ] Check peer connections
- [ ] Verify sync status
- [ ] Monitor for performance issues
- [ ] Check metrics endpoints

---

## Service Status Verification

### Check Systemd Service Status

```bash
# For each node (example for validator 1000)
pct exec 1000 -- systemctl status besu-validator.service

# Check if service is active
pct exec 1000 -- systemctl is-active besu-validator.service
# Expected: "active"

# Check service logs
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service -n 50 --no-pager
```

### Verify No Restart Loops

```bash
# Check restart count (should be 0 or low after deployment)
pct exec 1000 -- systemctl show besu-validator.service | grep NRestart
# Expected: NRestart=0 or low number

# Check for frequent restarts
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service --since "1 hour ago" | grep "Started\|Stopped" | tail -10
```

---

## Configuration Verification

### Verify Logging Levels

**Validators and RPC**: Should log at `WARN` level
**Sentry nodes**: Should log at `INFO` level

```bash
# Check Besu logs for logging level (should show WARN or INFO)
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service -n 20 | grep -i "log\|WARN\|INFO"

# Validators/RPC: Should see WARN-level messages (minimal logs)
# Sentries: Should see INFO-level messages (detailed logs)
```

### Check for Configuration Errors

```bash
# Look for configuration errors
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service | grep -i "error\|unknown option\|configuration"

# Should NOT see:
# - "Unknown options in TOML configuration file"
# - "Configuration error"
# - Deprecated option warnings
```

---

## Functional Verification

### Validator Nodes

**Check Consensus Participation**:
```bash
# Verify validator is synced
curl -X POST http://192.168.11.100:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'
# Expected: false (fully synced)

# Note: Validators have RPC disabled, so use internal tools or metrics
```

**Check Metrics** (validators enable metrics):
```bash
curl http://192.168.11.100:9545/metrics | grep besu_blocks_total
```

### Sentry Nodes (Archive)

**Check Archive Functionality**:
```bash
# Test historical query (verify archive mode)
curl -X POST http://192.168.11.150:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_getBalance","params":["0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000","0x100"],"id":1}'
# Should return historical balance (archive nodes only)
```

**Check Sync Status**:
```bash
curl -X POST http://192.168.11.150:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'
# Expected: false (fully synced)
```

### RPC Nodes

**Test RPC Endpoints**:
```bash
# Test HTTP-RPC
curl -X POST http://192.168.11.250:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'

# Test chain ID
curl -X POST http://192.168.11.250:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_chainId","params":[],"id":1}'
# Expected: "0x8a" (138 in hex)
```

**Verify Logging Level** (should be WARN, minimal logs):
```bash
# Check logs show minimal output (WARN level)
pct exec 2500 -- journalctl -u besu-rpc.service -n 20 --no-pager
# Should see mostly warnings/errors, not info messages
```

---

## Network Connectivity

### Peer Connections

**Check Peer Count**:
```bash
# Via metrics (if available)
curl http://192.168.11.150:9545/metrics | grep besu_peers

# Via logs (look for peer connection messages)
pct exec 1500 -- journalctl -u besu-sentry.service | grep -i "peer\|connected"
```

**Expected**:
- Validators: Connected to sentries (and other validators)
- Sentries: Connected to validators and external peers
- RPC: Connected to internal peers (sentries/validators)

---

## Performance Monitoring

### Resource Usage

**Memory Usage**:
```bash
# Check Besu process memory
pct exec 1000 -- ps aux | grep besu | awk '{print $4,$11}'

# Check systemd memory limit
pct exec 1000 -- systemctl show besu-validator.service | grep MemoryMax
```

**CPU Usage**:
```bash
# Monitor CPU usage
pct exec 1000 -- top -bn1 | grep besu
```

**Disk I/O**:
```bash
# Check disk usage
pct exec 1500 -- df -h /data/besu

# Check database size
pct exec 1500 -- du -sh /data/besu/database/
```

---

## Configuration Drift Detection

### Compare Running Configs to Templates

```bash
# Use audit script
./scripts/audit-besu-configs.sh

# Manual comparison
# 1. Copy running config from node
pct exec 1000 -- cat /etc/besu/config-validator.toml > /tmp/running-config.toml

# 2. Compare to template
diff /tmp/running-config.toml smom-dbis-138-proxmox/templates/besu-configs/config-validator.toml
```

**Expected**: Running configs should match templates (after deployment)

---

## Troubleshooting

### Issue: Service Fails to Start

**Symptoms**:
- Service status: `failed` or `inactive`
- Frequent restarts
- Configuration errors in logs

**Diagnosis**:
```bash
# Check service status
pct exec 1000 -- systemctl status besu-validator.service

# Check logs for errors
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service -n 100 --no-pager
```

**Common Causes**:
1. Configuration syntax error
2. Deprecated options still present
3. Invalid option values
4. Missing required files (genesis.json, etc.)

**Resolution**:
1. Validate config with `validate-besu-config.sh`
2. Check for deprecated options
3. Review Besu logs for specific errors
4. Restore from backup if needed

---

### Issue: Configuration Not Applied

**Symptoms**:
- Logging level unchanged
- Service running but with old settings

**Diagnosis**:
```bash
# Check if config file was updated
pct exec 1000 -- stat /etc/besu/config-validator.toml

# Check actual logging level in Besu logs
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service | grep -i "logging\|WARN\|INFO"
```

**Resolution**:
1. Verify config file was copied correctly
2. Ensure service was restarted after config update
3. Check for file permission issues
4. Verify Besu is reading correct config file

---

### Issue: Logging Level Incorrect

**Symptoms**:
- Validators showing INFO logs (should be WARN)
- RPC nodes showing INFO logs (should be WARN)
- Sentries showing WARN logs (should be INFO)

**Diagnosis**:
```bash
# Check config file logging setting
pct exec 1000 -- grep "^logging" /etc/besu/config-validator.toml
# Expected: logging="WARN" for validators

# Check actual log output
pct exec 1000 -- journalctl -u besu-validator.service -n 20
# Should see minimal logs (WARN level)
```

**Resolution**:
1. Verify config file has correct `logging="WARN"` or `logging="INFO"`
2. Ensure service was restarted
3. Clear log cache if needed: `journalctl --vacuum-time=1s`

---

## Monitoring Scripts

### Automated Monitoring

Create monitoring script to check all nodes:

```bash
#!/bin/bash
# monitor-besu-deployment.sh

NODES=(1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1500 1501 1502 1503 2500 2501 2502)

for vmid in "${NODES[@]}"; do
    echo "Checking VMID $vmid..."
    
    # Check service status
    status=$(pct exec $vmid -- systemctl is-active besu-*.service 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")
    echo "  Service status: $status"
    
    # Check for errors in logs
    errors=$(pct exec $vmid -- journalctl -u besu-*.service --since "1 hour ago" | grep -i "error" | wc -l)
    echo "  Errors in last hour: $errors"
    
    # Check restart count
    restarts=$(pct exec $vmid -- systemctl show besu-*.service | grep NRestart | cut -d= -f2 | head -1)
    echo "  Restart count: $restarts"
done
```

---

## Success Criteria

### Deployment Successful If:

✅ **All services running**:
- Systemd status: `active`
- No restart loops
- Services stable for 24+ hours

✅ **Configuration applied**:
- Logging levels correct (WARN for validators/RPC, INFO for sentries)
- No deprecated options in use
- All configs match templates

✅ **Functionality verified**:
- Validators participating in consensus
- Sentries providing archive queries
- RPC nodes serving API requests
- Network connectivity normal

✅ **No errors**:
- No configuration errors in logs
- No "Unknown options" errors
- Services starting cleanly

---

## Monitoring Timeline

### Hour 0-1: Immediate Verification
- Service status
- Configuration errors
- Basic functionality

### Hour 1-6: Intensive Monitoring
- Service stability
- Performance metrics
- Network connectivity
- Detailed verification

### Hour 6-24: Standard Monitoring
- Ongoing health checks
- Resource usage
- Performance trends

### Day 2+: Ongoing Monitoring
- Regular health checks
- Performance monitoring
- Configuration drift detection

---

## Post-Deployment Checklist

- [ ] All services running (validators, sentries, RPC)
- [ ] No configuration errors in logs
- [ ] Logging levels correct (WARN/INFO as appropriate)
- [ ] No restart loops
- [ ] Validators participating in consensus
- [ ] Sentries providing archive queries
- [ ] RPC nodes serving API requests
- [ ] Network connectivity normal
- [ ] Peer connections healthy
- [ ] Resource usage within expected ranges
- [ ] Configuration drift: None detected

---

## Related Documentation

- `scripts/deploy-besu-configs.sh` - Deployment script
- `scripts/audit-besu-configs.sh` - Configuration audit
- `scripts/validate-besu-config.sh` - Configuration validation
- `docs/04-configuration/BESU_CONFIGURATION_GUIDE.md` - Configuration reference

---

**Last Updated**: 2026-01-17  
**Status**: Monitoring Guide