Common commands

This guide provides a curated list of common commands and Polygon-specific operations essential for node operators. Whether you’re setting up a full node, validator node or troubleshooting, these commands will assist you in managing your Polygon PoS environment effectively.

Frequently used commands for Bor & Heimdall¶

Bor¶

To execute Bor IPC commands, use the following syntax:

bor attach .bor/data/bor.ipc <command>

IPC Command	RPC Command	Description
`admin.peers.length`	`curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "net_peerCount", "params": [], "id": 74}' localhost:8545`	Retrieves the number of peers connected to the node.
`admin.nodeInfo`		Provides detailed information about the node.
`eth.syncing`	`curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "eth_syncing","params": []}' localhost:8545`	Indicates whether the node is syncing (`true`) or not (`false`).
`eth.syncing.highestBlock - eth.syncing.currentBlock`		Compares the current block of your node to the highest block.
`eth.blockNumber`	`curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "eth_blockNumber","params": []}' localhost:8545`	Returns the latest block number processed by the node.
`debug.setHead("0x"+((eth.getBlock('latest').number) - 1000).toString(16))`		Rewinds the blockchain to 1000 blocks prior.
`admin.nodeInfo.enode`		Retrieves the public enode URL of the node.
`eth.syncing.currentBlock * 100 / eth.syncing.highestBlock`		Calculates the remaining percentage for block synchronization.
`eth.getBlock("latest").number`	`curl http://YourIP:8545 -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id":1, "method":"bor_getSigners", "params":["0x98b3ea"]}'`	Queries the height of the latest Bor block.
	`curl http://YourIP:8545 -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"method":"eth_chainId","params":[],"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}'`	Retrieves the `chainID`.

Heimdall¶

Command	Description
`curl localhost:26657/net_info?`	Returns the number of connected peers using `jq .result.n_peers`.
`curl -s localhost:26657/status`	Retrieves Heimdall’s current block height using `jq .result.sync_info.latest_block_height`.
`curl localhost:26657/net_info`	Queries the node using its moniker with `grep moniker`.
`curl -s localhost:26657/status`	Checks if Heimdall is in sync using `jq .result.sync_info.catching_up`.
`curl -s localhost:26657/status`	Verifies Heimdall’s sync status using `jq .result \\| jq .sync_info`.
`heimdalld unsafe-reset-all`	Resets the database in case of issues.
`curl localhost:26657/status`	Provides comprehensive information about Heimdall.

Node management commands¶

Description	Command
Locate Heimdall genesis file	`$CONFIGPATH/heimdall/config/genesis.json`
Locate heimdall-config.toml	`/etc/heimdall/config/heimdall-config.toml`
Locate config.toml	`/etc/heimdall/config/config.toml`
Locate heimdall-seeds.txt	`$CONFIGPATH/heimdall/heimdall-seeds.txt`
Start Heimdall	`$ sudo service heimdalld start`
Start Heimdall rest-server	`$ sudo service heimdalld-rest-server start`
Start Heimdall bridge-server	`$ sudo service heimdalld-bridge start`
Locate Bor genesis file	`$CONFIGPATH/bor/genesis.json`
Start Bor	`sudo service bor start`
Retrieve Heimdall logs	`/var/log/matic-logs/`
Check Heimdall logs	`tail -f heimdalld.log`
Check Heimdall rest-server logs	`tail -f heimdalld-rest-server.log`
Check Heimdall bridge logs	`tail -f heimdalld-bridge.log`
Check Bor logs	`tail -f bor.log`

Useful configuration commands¶

Sync status of Heimdall¶

To check if Heimdall is synced, run:

curl http://localhost:26657/status

Latest block height on Heimdall¶

To check the latest block height on Heimdall, run:

curl localhost:26657/status

Latest block height on Bor¶

To check the latest block height on Bor, use:

curl http://<your ip>:8545 -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id":1, "method":"bor_getSigners", "params":["0x98b3ea"]}'

Cleanup: deleting remnants of Heimdall and Bor¶

For Linux package:

sudo dpkg -i matic-bor
sudo rm -rf /etc/bor

For Binaries:

sudo rm -rf /etc/bor
sudo rm /etc/heimdall

Terminate Bor process¶

For Linux:

ps -aux | grep bor
sudo kill -9 <PID>

For Binaries:

cd CS-2003/bor
bash stop.sh

Retrieve latest peer details¶

To retrieve the latest peer details, run:

bor attach bor.ipc
admin.peers.forEach(function(value){
    console.log(value.enode+',')
})
exit

Stop Heimdall and Bor services¶

For Linux packages:

sudo service heimdalld stop
sudo service bor stop

For binaries:

pkill heimdalld
pkill heimdalld-bridge
cd CS-2001/bor
bash stop.sh

Remove Heimdall and Bor directories¶

For Linux packages:

sudo rm -rf /etc/heimdall/*
sudo rm -rf /etc/bor/*

For binaries:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/heimdalld/
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/bor