Transition runbook

Transition approach

Here we outline the transition approach for Palm network becoming a Proof-of-Stake network using Polygon Edge.

The way the transition will work is for the Edge software to replay the history of the Palm network from its original Block 0 to a specified block. At that specified transition block, the old validators will be stopped, and the Polygon Edge validators will start up using Edge’s PolyBFT consensus mechanism, effectively creating a hard fork. At this point all the state from the current network will be retained so that balances for PALM and other token ledger entries (such as ERC-20 or NFTs) are guaranteed to be the same as they were on the previous instance of the network. New blocks will then start to be created.

Milestones

Milestone	Activities	Status
Step 1 06/2023 - 07/2023	Add besu support for the current Palm Network to Polygon Edge software. This allows Edge to replay the existing blocks up to the point of transition (hard fork) The following Edge node software components will be updated: P2P Consensus Commitment Data Structures & Cryptography	Complete
Step 2 07/2023 - 09/2023	Carry out differential testing of the network, compares node blocks created by both Besu & Edge for differences. Carry out JSON-RPC API testing to ensure that the methods are compatible and return the same data	Complete - with some RPC differences
Step 3 08/2023 - 09/2023	Design the hard fork process, and create “shadow forks” for testing purposes. The replacement genesis files will be created and tested to ensure that the network works as expected.”Shadow forks” are copies of the network used for testing purposes - these have all the existing blocks and have had a transition added to simulate the hard fork. This is the stage where dapps, node operators and validators should test out their software using the shadowforks prior to the go-live / transition date - please refer to Testing	Network in place.
Step 4 10/2023	Transition (hard-fork) Palm Testnet to Polygon Edge. See Transition Timetable below	Completed Target block for transition 14223600 (Oct 2nd 2023)
Step 5 10/2023	Transition (hard-fork) Palm Mainnet to Polygon Edge. See Transition Timetable below	Completed Target block for transition 14286240 (Oct 30th 2023)

Transition timetable

Prior to Hard Fork:

Existing Validators switch to a fork of besu that stops block validation on transition block but still allows RPC
New Validator nodes spun up in “fork” mode to keep up to date with legacy network, using the new genesis file

Transition:

Final block mined on besu-based network

Hard Fork:

New blocks start to be validated using Polygon Edge

Next steps

Get ready for transition! These are the things you need to prepare:

For existing validators

You will be contacted by the team about switching out your besu node binaries for a forked version that will stop new blocks being created from the transition point
Refer to Validators for information on getting your replacement nodes set up

For besu transaction node operators

If you run a besu node, then please refer to Self-hosted nodes and JSON-RPC API changes for details of what’s changing
If you want to continue to run your own node for your web3 application(s), you will need to set up replacement Polygon Edge node(s).
Alternatively you can use RPC nodes provided by commercial suppliers (Infura or Blast API)
Carry out regression Testing for your application using our “shadow fork” test nodes

For developers and web3 applications that support Palm Network

Refer to Developer updates to find out what you need to do - checking that your JSON-RPC provider continues to support the API methods that you use and testing is essential to ensure continued operation of your application
Carry out regression Testing for your application using our “shadow fork” test nodes