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Messaging Limits


The volume and size of peer-to-peer communication for a Zilliqa node is controlled by several factors at different parts of the stack.

Message Size

  • MIN_READ_WATERMARK_IN_BYTES: The minimum number of bytes read from the socket before we act on the data. It is basically the lowmark parameter required by the libevent function bufferevent_setwatermark.
  • MAX_READ_WATERMARK_IN_BYTES: The maximum number of bytes read from the socket before we stop accepting further input. It is basically the highmark parameter required by the libevent function bufferevent_setwatermark.
  • MAX_GOSSIP_MSG_SIZE_IN_BYTES: The maximum size of a socket message with start byte = START_BYTE_GOSSIP. If a message reaches this size, the sender is blacklisted.

Message Count

  • MAXSENDMESSAGE: The number of active threads for the outgoing message pool.
  • MAXRECVMESSAGE: The number of active threads for the incoming message pool.
  • SENDQUEUE_SIZE: The maximum size of the outgoing message queue (before transfer to the outgoing pool), beyond which any further messages are dropped.
  • MSGQUEUE_SIZE: The maximum size of the incoming message queue (before transfer to the incoming pool), beyond which any further messages are dropped.

Sending Frequency

  • MAXRETRYCONN: The maximum number of socket connection attempts to perform for sending messages to a peer.
  • PUMPMESSAGE_MILLISECONDS: The maximum wait time (minimum being 1 ms) before re-attempting socket connection.

Active Connections

  • MAX_PEER_CONNECTION: The maximum number of active connections to a specific peer.