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Management APIs

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Jeffrey Wilcke edited this page May 3, 2016 · 30 revisions

Beside the official DApp APIs interface go-ethereum has support for additional management APIs. Similar to the DApp APIs, these are also provided using JSON-RPC and follow exactly the same conventions. Geth comes with a console client which has support for all additional APIs described here.

Enabling the management APIs

To offer these APIs over the Geth RPC endpoints, please specify them with the --${interface}api command line argument (where ${interface} can be rpc for the HTTP endpoint, ws for the WebSocket endpoint and ipc for the unix socket (Unix) or named pipe (Windows) endpoint).

For example: geth --ipcapi admin,eth,miner --rpcapi eth,web3 --rpc

  • Enables the admin, official DApp and miner API over the IPC interface
  • Enables the official DApp and web3 API over the HTTP interface

The HTTP RPC interface must be explicitly enabled using the --rpc flag.

Please note, offering an API over the HTTP (rpc) or WebSocket (ws) interfaces will give everyone access to the APIs who can access this interface (DApps, browser tabs, etc). Be careful which APIs you enable. By default Geth enables all APIs over the IPC (ipc) interface and only the db, eth, net and web3 APIs over the HTTP and WebSocket interfaces.

To determine which APIs an interface provides, the modules JSON-RPC method can be invoked. For example over an ipc interface on unix systems:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"modules","params":[],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

will give all enabled modules including the version number:

{  
   "id":1,
   "jsonrpc":"2.0",
   "result":{  
      "admin":"1.0",
      "db":"1.0",
      "debug":"1.0",
      "eth":"1.0",
      "miner":"1.0",
      "net":"1.0",
      "personal":"1.0",
      "shh":"1.0",
      "txpool":"1.0",
      "web3":"1.0"
   }
}

Consuming the management APIs

These additional APIs follow the same conventions as the official DApp APIs. Web3 can be extended and used to consume these additional APIs.

The different functions are split into multiple smaller logically grouped APIs. Examples are given for the JavaScript console but can easily be converted to an RPC request.

2 examples:

  • Console: miner.start()

  • IPC: echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

  • HTTP: curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[],"id":74}' localhost:8545

With the number of THREADS as an arguments:

  • Console: miner.start(4)

  • IPC: echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[4],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

  • HTTP: curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[4],"id":74}' localhost:8545

List of management APIs

Beside the officially exposed DApp API namespaces (eth, shh, web3), Geth provides the following extra management API namespaces:

  • admin: Geth node management
  • debug: Geth node debugging
  • miner: Miner and DAG management
  • personal: Account management
  • txpool: Transaction pool inspection
admin debug miner personal txpool
addPeer dumpBlock start listAccounts status
[peers] (#admin_peers) [getBlockRlp] (#debug_getblockrlp) stop newAccount
importChain printBlock hashrate unlockAccount
exportChain processBlock setExtra
verbosity seedHash setGasPrice
setSolc setHead startAutoDAG
startRPC traceTransaction stopAutoDAG
stopRPC traceBlock makeDAG
startWS traceBlockFromFile
stopWS traceBlockByNumber
getBlockRlp
seedHash
setHead

API endpoint reference

admin_addPeer

Requests connecting to a remote node and also maintaining the new connection at all times, even reconnecting if it is lost.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.AddPeer(url string) bool
Console admin.addPeer(url) returns boolean
RPC {"method": "admin_addPeer", "params": [url]}

Reference:

  • url: enode URL of the remote peer to start tracking
  • return: indicates whether the peer was accepted for tracking

admin_peers

This property will show all connected peers.

Example

admin.peers

admin_importChain

Import an exported chain from file into node. This only works if no chain already exists: it does not delete any existing data.

Parameters

  • Filename, the fully qualified path to the file containing the chain to be imported

Return

boolean indicating if chain was imported

Example

admin.importChain("/tmp/chain.txt")

admin_exportChain

Export the blockchain to a file

Parameters

  • Filename, the fully qualified path to the file where the blockchain must be exported

Return

boolean indicating if chain was exported

Example

admin.exportChain("/tmp/chain.txt")

admin_verbosity

Set loglevel

Parameters

  • Level, the verbosity level with 0 the least and 6 the most verbose

Return

boolean indicating if chain was exported

Example

admin.verbosity(5)

admin_setSolc

Set the path to the solidity compiler for eth.compileSolidity.

Parameters

  • Path, full path to solidity compiler

Return

string in case the path was valid a brief description about the solidity compiler

Example

admin.setSolc("/tmp/solc")

admin_startRPC

Start the HTTP RPC interface

Parameters

(support for optional arguments requires geth version >=1.4)

  • ListenAddress, open listener on this host (optional, default "localhost")
  • ListenPort, open listener on this port (optional, default 8545)
  • CorsDomain, the cross origin resource shared header (optional, default"")
  • Apis, comma separated list with the API modules which are offered over this interface (optional, default "eth,net,web3")

Return

boolean indication if the interface was started

Example

admin.startRPC("127.0.0.1", 8545, "*", "eth,net,web3")

admin.startRPC(null, null, "http://chriseth.github.io", null)

admin_stopRPC

Stop the HTTP RPC interface

Return

boolean indication if the interface was stopped

Example

admin.stopRPC()

admin_startWS

Start the websocket RPC interface (requires geth version >=1.4)

Parameters

  • ListenAddress, open listener on this host (optional, default "localhost")
  • ListenPort, open listener on this port (optional, default 8546)
  • allowedDomains, server side check on the Origin header (optional, default "")
  • Apis, comma separated list with the API modules which are offered over this interface (optional, default "eth,net,web3")

Return

boolean indication if the interface was started

Example

admin.startWS("127.0.0.1", 8546, "*", "eth,net,web3")

admin.startWS(null, null, "http://chriseth.github.io", null)

admin_stopWS

Stop the websocket RPC interface

Return

boolean indication if the interface was stopped

Example

admin.stopWS()

Debug

The debug API gives you access to several non-standard RPC methods, which will allow you to inspect, debug and set certain debugging flags during runtime.

debug_traceTransaction

The traceTransaction debugging method will attempt to run the transaction in the exact same manner as it was executed on the network. It will replay any transaction that may have been executed prior to this one before it will finally attempt to execute the transaction that corresponds to the given hash.

In addition to the hash of the transaction you may give it a secondary optional argument, which specifies the options for this specific call. The possible options are:

  • disableStorage: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable storage capture (default = false).
  • disableMemory: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable memory capture (default = false).
  • disableStack: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable stack capture (default = false).
  • fullStorage: BOOL. Setting this to true will return you, for each opcode, the full storage, including everything which hasn't changed. This is a slow process and is therefor defaulted to false. By default it will only ever give you the changed storage values.
Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceTransaction(txHash common.Hash, logger *vm.LogConfig) (*ExecutionResurt, error)
Console debug.traceTransaction(txHash, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceTransaction", "params": [txHash, {}]}

Example

> debug.traceTransaction("0x2059dd53ecac9827faad14d364f9e04b1d5fe5b506e3acc886eff7a6f88a696a")
{
  gas: 85301,
  returnValue: "",
  structLogs: [{
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 162106,
      gasCost: 3,
      memory: null,
      op: "PUSH1",
      pc: 0,
      stack: [],
      storage: {}
  },
    /* snip */
  {
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 100000,
      gasCost: 0,
      memory: ["0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060"],
      op: "STOP",
      pc: 120,
      stack: ["00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d67cbec9"],
      storage: {
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004: "8241fa522772837f0d05511f20caa6da1d5a3209000000000000000400000001",
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006: "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
        f652222313e28459528d920b65115c16c04f3efc82aaedc97be59f3f377c0d3f: "00000000000000000000000002e816afc1b5c0f39852131959d946eb3b07b5ad"
      }
  }]

debug_traceBlock

The traceBlock method will return a full stack trace of all invoked opcodes of all transaction that were included included in this block. Note, the parent of this block must be present or it will fail.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlock(blockRlp []byte, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlock(tblockRlp, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlock", "params": [blockRlp, {}]}

References: RLP

Example

> debug.traceBlock("0xblock_rlp")
{
  gas: 85301,
  returnValue: "",
  structLogs: [{
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 162106,
      gasCost: 3,
      memory: null,
      op: "PUSH1",
      pc: 0,
      stack: [],
      storage: {}
  },
    /* snip */
  {
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 100000,
      gasCost: 0,
      memory: ["0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060"],
      op: "STOP",
      pc: 120,
      stack: ["00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d67cbec9"],
      storage: {
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004: "8241fa522772837f0d05511f20caa6da1d5a3209000000000000000400000001",
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006: "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
        f652222313e28459528d920b65115c16c04f3efc82aaedc97be59f3f377c0d3f: "00000000000000000000000002e816afc1b5c0f39852131959d946eb3b07b5ad"
      }
  }]

debug_traceBlockFromFile

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockFromFile accepts a file containing the RLP of the block.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockFromFile(fileName string, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockFromFile(fileName, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockFromFile", "params": [fileName, {}]}

References: RLP

debug_traceBlockByNumber

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockByNumber accepts a block number and will replay the block that is already present in the database.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockByNumber(number uint64, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockByNumber(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockByNumber", "params": [number, {}]}

References: RLP

debug_traceBlockByHash

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockByHash accepts a block hash and will replay the block that is already present in the database.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockByHash(hash common.Hash, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockByHash(hash, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockByHash", "params": [hash {}]}

References: RLP

debug_dumpBlock

Retrieves the state that corresponds to the block number and returns a list of accounts (including storage and code).

Client Method invocation
Go debug.DumpBlock(number uint64) (state.World, error)
Console debug.traceBlockByHash(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_dumpBlock", "params": [number]}

Example

> debug.dumpBlock(10)
{
    fff7ac99c8e4feb60c9750054bdc14ce1857f181: {
      balance: "49358640978154672",
      code: "",
      codeHash: "c5d2460186f7233c927e7db2dcc703c0e500b653ca82273b7bfad8045d85a470",
      nonce: 2,
      root: "56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421",
      storage: {}
    },
    fffbca3a38c3c5fcb3adbb8e63c04c3e629aafce: {
      balance: "3460945928",
      code: "",
      codeHash: "c5d2460186f7233c927e7db2dcc703c0e500b653ca82273b7bfad8045d85a470",
      nonce: 657,
      root: "56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421",
      storage: {}
    }
  },
  root: "19f4ed94e188dd9c7eb04226bd240fa6b449401a6c656d6d2816a87ccaf206f1"
}

debug_getBlockRlp

Retrieves and returns the RLP encoded block by number.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.GetBlockRlp(number uint64) (string, error)
Console debug.getBlockRlp(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_getBlockRlp", "params": [number]}

References: RLP

debug_seedHash

Fetches and retrieves the seed hash of the block by number

Client Method invocation
Go debug.SeedHash(number uint64) (string, error)
Console debug.seedHash(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_seedHash", "params": [number]}

References: Ethash

debug_setHead

Sets the current head of the local chain by block number. Note, this is a destructive action and may severely damage your chain. Use with extreme caution.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.SetHead(number uint64)
Console debug.setHead(number)
RPC {"method": "debug_setHead", "params": [number]}

miner_start

This will generates the DAG if necessary and starts the miner

Parameters

integer, an optional integer which specifies the number of threads, if not specified the number of CPU's is used

Return

boolean indicating if the miner was started

Example

miner.start()

miner_stop

This will stop the miner

Parameters

none

Return

boolean indicating if the miner was stopped

Example

miner.stop()

miner_hashrate

Miner hashrate

Parameters

none

Return

integer hashes p/s

Example

miner.hashrate

miner_setExtra

Store additional data in a mined block

Parameters

string string with extra data (max 1024 bytes)

Return

boolean indication if the DATA was set

miner_setGasPrice

Set the gas price.

Parameters

string gas price, this can be a base8 (start with 0b), base10 (no prefix) or base16 representation (start with 0x)

Return

boolean indication if the new price was set

miner_startAutoDAG

Pregenerate the DAG, this will allow for a seamless transition between the different epochs. If not enabled the miner will need to generate the DAG when a new epoch begins (each 30k blocks). This takes some time and will stop the miner until the DAG is generated.

Parameters

none

Return

boolean indication if the command was successful

miner_stopAutoDAG

Stop DAG pregeneration.

Parameters

none

Return

boolean indication if the command was successful

miner_makeDAG

Start the DAG creator process.

Parameters

none

Return

boolean indication if the command was successful

net_peerCount

The number of connected peers

Parameters

none

Return

integer number of peers

Example

net.peerCount

net_listening

Indication if this node is currently listening for new peers

Parameters

none

Return

boolean indication if this node accepts new peers

Example

net.listening

personal_listAccounts

List all accounts

Parameters

none

Return

array collection with accounts

Example

personal.listAccounts

personal_newAccount

Create a new account

Parameters

string, passphrase to protect the account

Return

string address of the new account

Example

personal.newAccount("mypasswd")

personal_unlockAccount

Unlock an account

Parameters

string, address of the account to unlock

string, passphrase of the account to unlock (optional in console, user will be prompted if empty)

integer, unlock account for duration seconds, use 0 if the account must be locked forever. If not specified 300 is used by default.

Return

boolean indication if the account was unlocked

Example

personal.unlockAccount(eth.coinbase, "mypasswd", 300)

txpool_status

Number of pending/queued transactions

Parameters

NONE

Return

pending all processable transactions

queued all non-processable transactions

Example

txpool.status

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