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Block Propagation Monitoring

1 min read
Pronunciation
[blok prop-uh-gay-shun mon-i-ter-ing]
Analogy
Like timing how fast a news bulletin reaches different TV stations around the world.
Definition
The continuous measurement of how quickly and reliably new blocks spread across a blockchain’s peer‑to‑peer network.
Key Points Intro
Monitoring propagation highlights network health and potential centralization risks.
Key Points

Latency metrics: Time for block receipt at probes.

Peer coverage: Percentage of nodes receiving block within threshold.

Geographic analysis: Regional propagation differences.

Alerting: Notify when propagation degrades or lags spike.

Example
Using custom probes in AWS and GCP regions to log Ethereum block receipt times and trigger alerts if 90th percentile latency exceeds 2 s.
Technical Deep Dive
Probes connect via WebSocket RPC, timestamp block `newHeads` events, and store metrics in Prometheus. Grafana dashboards display P95/P99 latencies. Analysis correlates propagation delays with block size and peer degrees. Automated scripts test TCP vs libp2p transports.
Security Warning
Slow propagation can enable selfish mining and increase orphan rates; maintain diverse peer connections.
Caveat
Probe placement may bias results; include diverse cloud and on‑prem nodes.
Related Terms
Selfish Mining
P2P Network
Latency
Prometheus

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