Algorand node not syncing with mainnet - a firewall issue?

Hello everyone,

I’m new to Algorand and now trying to initialise a relay node following the instructions on the developer portal. I’m installing the node on Ubuntu 18 and was following the instructions for Debian.

Unfortunately, my node is not connecting to the mainnet - when I check its status with goal node status -d /var/lib/algorand, I always get this output:

Last committed block: 0
Time since last block: 0.0s
Sync Time: 0.0s
Last consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/tree/5615adc36bad610c7f165fa2967f4ecfa75125f0
Next consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/tree/5615adc36bad610c7f165fa2967f4ecfa75125f0
Round for next consensus protocol: 1
Next consensus protocol supported: true
Last Catchpoint: 
Genesis ID: mainnet-v1.0
Genesis hash: wGHE2Pwdvd7S12BL5FaOP20EGYesN73ktiC1qzkkit8=

When I check the status of algorand with sudo systemctl status algorand it says that everything is running and when I tail the node.log with tail -f /var/lib/algorand/node.log, it continues to produce logs.

Has any of you had this issue? I suspect this is a firewall issue - how would I go about fixing it?

Thank you so much in advance! Would be really grateful for any suggestions.

Welcome to Algorand!

The most common issue is that your firewall is blocking some DNS servers or DNSSec.

See DNS problem with Algorand Server on Ubuntu 20.04 - #4 by fabrice

Hi @fabrice - thank you for sharing this!
I tried everything on the feed you mentioned, and it is still not syncing. I’m using an Ubuntu VM connected to my local network (Vodafone in Italy as well :)).
Any other suggestions you might have?

Thought I will post the output for the commands you indicated in the other post for a quicker solution:

The output for dig @8.8.8.8 _algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network srv:

; <<>> DiG 9.11.3-1ubuntu1.15-Ubuntu <<>> @8.8.8.8 _algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network srv
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 14002
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 8, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1220
; COOKIE: b6f8bc2f944bda54a93cafbc6176642247752ad1080d73c3 (good)
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. IN SRV

;; ANSWER SECTION:
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 oregong-algorand-test-1.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 80 relay-switzerland1-testnet-algorand.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 londong-algorand-test-2.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 singaporeg-algorand-test-2.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 londong-algorand-test-1.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 r19.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 relay-virginia-testnet-algorand.algorand-testnet.network.
_algobootstrap._tcp.testnet.algorand.network. 300 IN SRV 1 1 4161 singaporeg-algorand-test-1.algorand-testnet.network.

;; Query time: 19 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Mon Oct 25 08:00:34 UTC 2021
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 651

The output for goal -d /var/lib/algorand/ version -v:

Version: [v1 v2] 
GenesisID: mainnet-v1.0 
Build: 3.0.1.stable [rel/stable] (commit #b619b940)

The output for goal node status -d /var/lib/algorand/:

Last committed block: 0
Time since last block: 0.0s
Sync Time: 0.0s
Last consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/tree/5615adc36bad610c7f165fa2967f4ecfa75125f0
Next consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/tree/5615adc36bad610c7f165fa2967f4ecfa75125f0
Round for next consensus protocol: 1
Next consensus protocol supported: true
Last Catchpoint: 
Genesis ID: mainnet-v1.0
Genesis hash: wGHE2Pwdvd7S12BL5FaOP20EGYesN73ktiC1qzkkit8=

I also tried changing DNS settings in config.json and running the node from the new data folder with genesis.json copied. Nothing seems to work.

Would you be able to find a way to share your node.log file with the forum ?

The reason for your node not being able to catchup is almost certainly there.

I’d like to avoid the round-trip model where I ask you “do you have XX in your node.log?”… no ? “oh… do you have YY in your node.log?”.