What is a blockchain node?

Solana (SOL) became one the most popular blockchains for dApps in 2021.

04:11 08 February 2023

Solana (SOL) became one the most popular blockchains for dApps in 2021. Thanks to its impressive computational resources, it supports all types of decentralized applications: DEXes, wallets, NFT marketplace, games, and so on.

The time has come to demonstrate the roles of nodes and the basic manual about connecting computers to Solana (SOL).

What is a blockchain node?

A blockchain node is a computer or other device that is connected to a blockchain network and participates in the maintenance and validation of the network. It can be a miner, which contributes computational power to the network to validate transactions and create new blocks, or a full node. Crypto segment needs them to maintain copies of the entire blockchain and validate transactions. 

Within the node crypto ecosystem, the computers communicate with each other to propagate transactions and blocks throughout the network.

Typically, every blockchain relies on four types of nodes:

• Full nodesmaintain a complete copy of the blockchain's ledger and validate transactions and blocks. They are responsible for enforcing the network's consensus rules and relaying new transactions and blocks to other nodes. They are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the blockchain and are critical to the security and stability of the network.

• Light nodesdo not maintain a full copy of the blockchain's ledger, but still participate in the network by relaying transactions and blocks to the peers. They use less resources than full nodes and are typically used by users who are not actively participating in the network, such as those who are only using a blockchain-based application.

• Archive nodesare used to store the history of all blockchain transactions since its genesis block. They serve for analytical and research purposes and for some sophisticated decentralized applications (dApps).

• Mining nodesparticipate in the mining process, which is the process of adding new blocks to the blockchain. They are responsible for solving complex mathematical problems in order to validate transactions and create new blocks. Miners are rewarded with cryptocurrency for their efforts, which is an incentive for them to participate in the network.

What is the Solana (SOL) blockchain?

Solana is a blockchain platform that aims to provide high performance and scalability for decentralized applications. It was created by Solana Labs and uses a unique consensus algorithm called ‘Proof-of-History’, which allows for fast and efficient transaction processing. Former Qualcomm engineer Anatoly Yakovenko is known as the key figurehead of the platform.

Since its launch in 2017, Solana (SOL) was promoted as an ‘Ethereum killer’ to amplify its commitment to surpassing major rivals in bandwidth, speed and resource-efficiency. Its architecture is designed to handle high throughput, with the capacity to process up to 65,000 transactions per second. This makes it well-suited for use cases such as gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and other applications that require fast and low-cost transactions.

Solana employs a token, called SOL, which is used to pay for transaction fees and access to certain features on the network.

What is a Solana (SOL) node?

Just like with all blockchains, a Solana node is an essential component for the functioning of decentralized applications built on the Solana blockchain. It serves as a client that connects to the broader distributed ledger (blockchain), storing copies of all blocks and chain state in its own local memory. 

As such, it processes transactions, verifies them according to existing rules and policies (known as consensus), checks balances before network confirmations take place and keeps track of new events while providing various features necessary for specific tasks. For instance, they are responsible for handling stake delegation or staking activities related with validators distributed across networks globally.

How to connect to a Solana (SOL) node?

To connect to a Solana node, you will need to use the command-line interface (CLI) tool, called "solana-cli". You can use this tool to connect to Solana by specifying its IP address and port.

1. Install the Solana CLI by following the instructions on the official website.

2. Once installed, open a terminal and use the following command to connect to a Solana node:

solana-cli --url http://:

For example, if the node's IP address is "123.456.789.0" and the port is "8899", the command would be:

solana-cli --url http://123.456.789.0:8899

3. Once connected, you can use various commands to interact with Solana, such as checking its status, creating and managing accounts, and submitting transactions.

Note: You can do the same via websocket.

solana-cli --url ws://: