Validators take action to restore service as Solana network experiences outage.

Solana validators have begun preparations for a restart following a major outage on the Solana mainnet. The block production and progression on the blockchain have come to a halt, prompting core engineers and validators to investigate the issue. The Solana blockchain explorer has confirmed the downtime, labeling it as a “major outage.”


Solana blockchain outage warning. Source: Solana
Social media users were quick to notice that the Solana blockchain had not produced a block for over 25 minutes, significantly longer than its usual block production time of 400 milliseconds.


Solana blockchain stops block production. Source: X
According to Solana validator Stakewiz, developers are currently working on a fix and are in the process of building a release. Once the release is complete and tested, further instructions will be provided to validators. Stakewiz also mentioned that validators have started generating snapshots using their local ledger state to prepare for the restart while core engineers work on the release.
Currently, validators are producing snapshots for slot 246464040 and ensuring consistency in the bank hash at this slot.
Validators will be restarting the Mainnet-Beta cluster using version 1.17.20, with the jito-solana release also available. So far, no inconsistencies have been found, and validators are waiting for final confirmation from core engineers before proceeding.
Snapshots serve as a representation of the global Solana state at a specific slot. The last optimistically confirmed slot is the most recent slot processed by all validators. Although a supermajority has confirmed it, it is not yet finalized. Validators use this slot to ensure that no transactions are rolled back.
Solana has also released version v1.17.20 and has asked validators to upgrade and restart following the provided GitHub instructions.
The Solana network outage has already had an impact on crypto exchanges, with Upbit deciding to suspend deposits and withdrawals of Solana-based tokens, including SOL, GMT, Raydium, and Access Protocol’s ACS.
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This is not the first time that the Solana blockchain has experienced a network outage or block production downtime. The network has faced multiple outages since its launch, and the current outage marks the eleventh within a span of two years.
The Solana blockchain was introduced in March 2020, aiming to provide scalable solutions for a decentralized ecosystem that rivals Ethereum in terms of faster transaction processing times and lower fees. The network gained prominence during the last bull cycle in 2021 due to its increasing adoption rate and token price. However, it has been plagued by network-related issues, resulting in multiple restarts.
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