How does Solana handle the case of split network?
I understand there is always one validator only at any moment, does that mean if you can't reach it you can't make any transaction on Solana?
Thank you!
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"there is always one validator only at any moment" is not correct. There is always one leader at any moment. There are many validators.– mikemaccana ♦Commented Jun 18 at 15:05
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1 Answer
If there's a network partition that splits the network 50-50, the big issue is that blocks won't ever get confirmed because 66% of the network won't see the block. Leaders will continue to process transactions during their slots, create blocks, and attempt to send them to the rest of the network.
When the network partition is recovered, validators on each side will receive all of the blocks and votes, at which point they should theoretically be able to resolve the deep forking between both halves of the network.
Practically speaking, we're not sure if the network would actually recover based on the current implementation of repair and fork choice.
