►
From YouTube: Post-Merge Testnets by Afri Schoedon | Devcon Bogotá
Description
Visit the https://archive.devcon.org/ to gain access to the entire library of Devcon talks with the ease of filtering, playlists, personalized suggestions, decentralized access on Swarm, IPFS and more.
https://archive.devcon.org/archive/watch/6/post-merge-testnets/
The merge of the beacon-chain consensus layer with the EVM execution layer is a major milestone for Ethereum, if not the most significant. The changes introduced are also affecting testing infrastructure. It's an excellent opportunity to look at the public testnet infrastructure, compare the various networks, and present the Sepolia and Goerli testnets to teams and developers still relying on Kovan, Rinkeby, or Ropsten.
Speaker(s): Afri Schoedon
Skill level: Intermediate
Track: Developer Infrastructure
Keywords: testnets,infrastructure,tooling
Follow us: https://twitter.com/efdevcon, https://twitter.com/ethereum
Learn more about devcon: https://www.devcon.org/
Learn more about ethereum: https://ethereum.org/
Devcon is the Ethereum conference for developers, researchers, thinkers, and makers.
Devcon 6 was held in Bogotá, Colombia on Oct 11 - 14, 2022.
Devcon is organized and presented by the Ethereum Foundation, with the support of our sponsors. To find out more, please visit https://ethereum.foundation/
A
A
So
what
I'm
going
to
cover
today
is
I
want
to
briefly
dive
into
the
ethereum
protocol
history
prior
to
the
merge
and
then
specifically
take
a
close
look
at
the
implications
of
the
merge
on
the
test,
Nets
and
finally
give
a
quick
guide
to
selecting
a
test
net
for
your
project.
So
yeah.
Let's
dive
right
into
the
protocol
history,
everything
started
with
a
test
net.
Does
anyone
here
know?
What's
the
meaning
of
the
ethereum
Genesis
extra
data?
Is,
you
might
know
the
Bitcoin
extra
data
or
against
this
accelerator
contains
a
news
headline?
A
Does
anyone
know
what
the
meaning
of
the
ethereum
accelerators?
It's?
Actually,
a
block
hash
from
a
test
net
ethereum
was
publicly
fairly
launched
by
announcing
a
block
number
on
a
Olympic
test
net
that
was
128
201
and
once
this
test
net
was
mined
on
the
test.
Once
this
block
was
mined
on
the
test
net,
this
hash
could
be
inserted
into
the
ethereum
Genesis
and
the
public
mining
on
ethereum
mainnet
could
start.
A
Most
of
us
probably
remember
the
Shanghai
attacks
during
Defcon
2
in
2016
an
attacker
exploited,
the
long
discrete
time
of
the
X
code,
size
op
code
in
one
of
the
client
implementations,
which
caused
the
denial
of
service
of
the
issue
main
net.
Here's
a
photo
of
the
amazing
guest
team
investigating
the
issues
and
coming
up
with
a
solution
to
address
this
issue.
Two
subsequent
hard
Forks
were
scheduled
for
ethereum
the
tanguine
whistle
Fork
to
fix
the
attack
vector
and
dispers
dragon
Fork
to
allow
cleaning
up
the
state
afterwards.
However,
this
protocol
change
caused
a
consensus.
A
Failure
on
Modern.
This
was
specifically
caused
by
the
different
ways
how
the
clients
handled
this
custom
starting
loans,
and
it
was
then
decided.
It's
not
not
a
good
idea
to
have
a
custom
protocol
on
a
test
net
and
therefore
modern,
was
discontinued
and
replaced
by
a
new
testnet
called
ribstone
groups
was
the
first
tester
to
launch
with
shine
ID
right
from
Genesis.
The
chain
ID
served
the
purpose
of
a
simple
replay
protection
according
to
EIP
155,
so
the
roof's
intestine
was
also
powered
by
the
isage
proof
of
work
engine.
A
We
all
know
proof
of
work
is
fairly
permissionless,
so
there
is
no
good
incentive
to
secure
a
zero
value.
Proof
of
work
test
bet,
so
attackers
moved
to
DOS
rubstone
and
the
test
net
was
unusable
for
weeks.
In
response,
parity
launched
the
coven
proof
of
authority,
test
net
and
guests
launched
during
the
approval
for
Authority
test
net.
For
the
first
time,
ethereum
had
a
way
to
have
a
more
stable
test
net
environment.
However,
coven
used
the
parity,
Aura
consensus,
engine
and
drink
be
used
to
guess,
click,
consensus
engine
and
they
were
not
con
compatible.
A
So
in
2018,
the
girl
initiative
attempted
to
address
this
by
ideating
a
cross-client
proof
of
authority
test
net.
In
the
end,
the
initiative
managed
to
implement
click
and
parity
and
subsequently,
in
2019,
the
early
Testament
was
launched
as
a
first
cross-client
proof
of
authority
test
mode
with
validators
from
both
guests
and
parity
ethereum.
A
At
the
same
time,
coincidentally,
after
Defcon
I
believe
the
pantheon
client
was
released.
So
there
was
a
even
a
third
client
available
for
running
validators
on
this
test
net
and
soon
after
also
nazamine
joined
the
validator
set.
You
know
later
the
same
year,
parity
except
ethereum
and
leaving
coven
fairly
unmaintained.
A
A
A
A
Coven
diet
was
poverty,
leaving
ethereum
Rigby
was
also
deprecated.
Just
a
couple
of
months
ago-
and
that
leaves
us
with
scurry
and
sympolia
as
the
latest
test
nets
for
ethereum
and
now,
let's
just
take
a
look
at
what
it
actually
means
to
merge.
Yeah
I
took
a
lot
of
time
to
build
these
slides.
So
in
ethereum
this
the
merch
stands
for
an
event
where
two
blockchains
are
literally
glued
together.
A
A
A
On
the
other
hand,
a
proof
of
authority
is
permissioned.
Obviously
only
authorized
accounts
may
take
part
in
consensus
and
then
again
proof
of
stake
is
fairly
permissionless.
You
have
a
token
and
you
can
stake
it
to
take
part
in
consensus.
So
what
does
it
mean
for
SEO
mainnet?
The
merge,
obviously
moving
from
proof
of
work
to
proof
of
stake.
A
Just
does
not
change
much.
In
this
perspective,
it
was
permissionless
before
the
merge
is
still
permissionless
after
the
merge.
But
how
does
it
look
like
for
the
test?
Nets,
so
girly
was
merged
with
a
beacon
chain
test
net
and
to
access
to
get
access
to
the
consensus
on
the
growly
test
net
prior
to
the
merge
was
con
was
permissioned,
so
girly
was
running,
a
community
maintained,
Valley
data
set.
However,
after
the
merge
it
transitioned
to
a
proof
of
stake
consensus.
Interestingly,
and
suddenly
everyone
can
participate
in
consensus.
A
Given
you
have
access
to
girlies,
so
girly
used
to
be
permissioned
is
now
permissionless,
but
what
about
zipolia,
as
I
mentioned
prior
to
the
merge
it
was
powered
by
the
permissionless
esash,
a
proof
of
work
algorithm
here
you
can
see
my
sepolia
Miner
I
was
happy
that
I
once
again
can
mine
a
test
net
and
yeah
I
did
not
ask
for
permission.
I
can
just
I
was
just
able
to
mine
the
blocks.
I
got
a
lot
of
zipolia
either,
but
now
there's
something
unique
about
the
C
polier
Beacon
chain.
A
So
in
that
case,
zipolia
is
a
proof
of
authority
version
of
The
Beacon
chain
and
therefore
the
access
to
the
polio
consensus
is
permissioned.
So
let's
take
a
look
at
this
overview
again.
This
is
a
timeline
actually
on
the
x-axis
axis.
The
first
test
net
to
merge
was
rubson
was
fairly
similar
to
mainnet.
It
was
proof
of
work
and
after
the
merge
it
was
proof
of
stake
right.
So
permission
less
permission
less
then
zipolia
transitioned
with
this
modified
Beacon
chain.
A
So
technically
the
consensus
algorithm
is
still
proof
of
stake.
But
through
this
permission
esc20
token
that
you
require
to
take
part
in
consensus,
I
call
it
for
Simplicity
proof
of
authority
here,
because
access
to
this
consensus
is
actually
permissioned
and
then
girly
merge
was
Prada
and
test
net
were
exactly
the
opposite,
happened
the
proof
of
authority
test,
and
it
became
a
proof
of
stake,
girly
test
net
after
the
merge
and
then
yeah.
A
We
are
here
eventually
just
a
couple
of
weeks
ago,
the
mainnet
merge
occurred
so
yeah
just
take
a
look
at
the
post,
merge
test
net
landscape
I
showed
you
that
groups
merged.
However,
it
has
been
deprecated
by
the
ethereum
foundations.
A
protocol
support
team
and
it
leaves
us
with
girly
and
simpleia-
is
the
only
long-standing
public
post
merge
test
Nets.
A
A
I
I
mentioned
how
amazing
Museum
block
is
it's
just
a
great
resource
I
found
this
slide
on
on
the
ethereum
Block,
basically
just
Recaps
what
I
just
said:
the
open
value
data
set
for
girly.
On
the
one
hand,
the
closed
value
data
set
for
zipolia.
On
the
other
hand,
obviously,
since
Gurley
is
much
older,
it
has
a
large
state
that
gives
some
better
Network
effect.
A
So
if
you
have
an
application
that
you
want
to
deploy
Deploy
on
girly
and
you
require
other
applications
or
interfaces,
you
might
find
some
on
the
polio
girly,
but
not
on
the
polio,
because
the
polio
is
fairly
new
and
not
many
applications
and
libraries
are
deployed.
Yet,
however,
it's
also
longer
to
sink
and
more
involved
to
run
girly
infrastructure.
A
Girly
is
especially
interesting
for
you
if
you
plan
to
test
a
beacon
chain
validator.
If
you
want
to
test
your
setup,
if
you
want
to
test
upgrading
client
versions,
if
you
want
to
test
going
through
protocol
upgrades,
girly
is
potentially
the
best
or,
if
not
even
the
only
test
Network.
You
can
actually
conduct
this.
A
Yes,
please
also
do
use
the
sepolia
testnet
sepolia
comes
with
the
best
stability
guarantees
due
to
the
permissioned
validator
set,
since
it's
fairly
new,
it
is
fastest
to
sync,
and
also
it
has
the
best
long-term
guarantees.
So
I
would
lean
towards
a
recommending
to
test
your
applications
or
even
migrate.
Your
applications
to
sepolia
instead
of
Gurley
at
this
point,
yeah
do
not
use
groups
and
obviously
I
when,
when
I
prepared,
my
slides
I
realized
that
we
are
just
in
this
transition
phase,
where
big
service
providers
already
start
shutting
down
infrastructure.
A
So
you
have
to
expect
interruptions
and
downtime,
don't
use
coven
for
obvious
reasons,
and
yes,
also
I
would
not
recommend
using
Rigby,
even
though
there
is
some
long-term
support
planned
for
rink
B
for
almost
another
year,
but
you
will
potentially
not
get
more
protocol
upgrades
on
that
Network,
so
I
would
also
not
recommend
using
ring
B
and
that
regard
yeah
right.
There
are
some
caveats
so,
as
I
mentioned,
the
girly
test
net
has
Esa
supply
issues
due
to
the
sheer
amount
of
users
trying
to
test
their
validator
set
up.
A
Each
validator
requires
32
is,
and
if
you
want
to
have
a
more
involved
setup
with
I,
don't
know
1000
validators
it
quickly
becomes
a
huge
burden,
huge
problem
to
access
these
required
test
net
tokens.
This
is
something
we
still
need
to
figure
out
going
forward.
So
if
you
have
an
idea,
please
hit
me
up
yeah
and
in
terms
of
testnet
age.
Gurley
is
also
fairly
old,
so
it
has.
A
And
yes,
the
polio
is
relatively
new,
as
I
mentioned,
it
I
wrote
down
lack
of
infrastructure,
I
put
it
in
Brackets,
because
it's
changing
really
rapidly
right.
Now,
I
just
noticed,
while
preparing
my
slides
that
even
metamask
has
a
sepolier
test,
Nets,
which
now
so
it's
happening,
I'm
really
happy
that
we
get
all
these
Integrations.
Now,
oh
yeah,
okay,
this
is
my
subjective
recommendation.
If
you
want
to
test
infrastructure,
if
you
want
to
test
your
validators,
I
would
recommend
you
to
run
them
on
girly.
A
Okay,
this
was
my
talk.
Please
use
girly
or
sepolia
going
forward,
find
me
for
some
spare
Visa
cards
from
East
Berlin.
They
are
pre-loaded
with
girly
and
sipolia
Isa.
So
if
you
want
some
I
will
not
throw
them
into
the
audience
if
I
just
fight
me
after
the
talk.
And
yes
since
we
have
a
couple
of
minutes
left,
please
ask
questions.
C
Maybe
two
questions
here:
one
when
eip1559
came
around.
It
was
very
hard
to
test
that
in
advance
because
you
have
these
proof
of
authority
networks
that
had
no
fee
market,
and
then
you
have
these
proof
of
work
networks
that
had
like
kind
of
a
fee
Market
you
could
kind
of
Reason
about
sort
of
what
that
change
would
do.
C
C
A
C
Spec
was
sort
of
the
goal
because,
like
you
had
like
you
know,
open
ethereum
or
parity
and
Geth
and
whether
they
synced
up
or
not
in
terms
of
where
they're
executing
you
know,
evm
basically
correctly,
was
always
a
question
right
if
they
ever
split
so
so
I.
That's
that's
what
I'm
asking
where
are
the:
where
is
the
test
net
infrastructure
sort
of
going
in
terms
of
forks
and
things
they're,
just
gonna
spin
it
up
whenever
or
whatever
I
want
to
beat
this
to
death.
A
A
So
if
we
want
to
test
execution
layer
changes
the
content,
layer,
changes
and
whatnot,
you
usually
go
from
from
like
a
local
simulations
to
to
permissioned
deafness
to
through,
like
a
lot
of
hurls
until
you
actually
get
to
a
public
test
net
and
these
test
Nets
like
when
I
recommend,
Gurley
or
sepolier,
they
will
only
get
protocol
upgrades
that
have
been
sufficiently
tested
before
I,
don't
know
if
this
answers
your
question.
Okay,.
D
A
Yeah
I
think
that's
a
very
good
question.
The
reason
is
that
it
merged
with
the
product
test
net,
which
you
used
to
be
a
consensus
layer
testment
for
a
very
long
time
where
many
teams
already
tested
running
validators
for
more
than
a
year
or
one
and
a
half
year.
So
it
was
already
this
proof
of
stake
test
net
available
and
it
was
decided
not
to
launch
a
new
test
Beacon
chain
test
net
for
currently
specifically
and
just
use
the
existing
one.
So
this
is
that's
why
we
had
this
flip.
A
E
To
have
validators
or
the
external
participants
on
these
test
Nets
and
you
need
to
do
a
bug
fix
when
you
need
to
do
a
bug
fix
on
the
test
net
code.
Are
the
external
participants
such
as
validators
having
to
rebuild
their
their
validators
on
a
new
machine
image
or
a
new
version
of
the
code
base?
And
how
often
does
that
happen
during
the
test
net
phases.