NERVA Mining FAQ
Here we aim to address some of the most commonly asked questions about mining.
What is Mining?
Mining is the process by which transactions are validated on the blockchain. If you're new to (proof-of-work) cryptocurrencies and haven't grasped the basics of mining, that is beyond the scope of this document and there are many learning resources elsewhere. Basically though, miners compete to win a reward of XNV (consisting of the block reward, and transaction fees from any transactions in that block) by solving complex equations.
Most blockchains are mainly mined by large GPU pools or ASIC mining farms. In the case of NERVA, anybody with a computer can mine, and this is a guiding principle of the project.
How do I start mining?
Refer to the CLI Guide or GUI Guide according to which you are using.
How do I see my hashrate?
In the GUI, your hashrate is shown visually. In the CLI you can use the status command. You can also use the show_hr and hide_hr commands to toggle between a constant output of your current hashrate.
How will I know if I find a block?
A message will be displayed in the daemon along the lines of Found block at height: xxxxxx.
If you have your wallet open, you will also see the block reward as an incoming transaction.
What is the current block reward?
Refer to the block explorer to see the current block reward.
Understanding threads
A thread is simply a virtual representation of a CPU core. Modern CPU's have 2-8+ cores, with some very high end models packing 32 or more cores. Most modern CPU's also feature Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT), also known as HyperThreading, which allows for multiple threads per core.
Basically, if you have a quad core CPU, it will have either 4 or 8 threads depending on whether it supports SMT. You can easily check how many threads you have by looking up your CPU model.
So, you should mine on all the threads, right? Probably not. Not only will it slow down anything else you try to do on the computer while mining, but it will often result in a suboptimal hashrate as well due to other hardware bottlenecks. You should experiment to find what works best for your hardware configuration.
Can I really mine on any CPU?
Yes, with a few caveats. The official NERVA binaries require support for the AES-NI instruction set. Practically all modern CPU's support this instruction set, but older (5+ years) models may not. It's possible to build NERVA to work without AES support, but mining isn't practical on CPU without it. For this reason it isn't officially supported.
As for whether it is practical to mine on a given CPU, this will vary depending on your hardware configuration. Your CPU should be reasonably modern to be competitive. It is beneficial to have a large amount of cores and cache, and memory frequency will impact your hashrate as well, amongst other things. Some NERVA CPU benchmarks are available on Forkmaps (collected by JerMe404), as well as in the #benchmarks channel in Discord (search for yours or a similar CPU model). These resources should allow you to get an idea of what hashrate to expect, and thereby decide whether mining is worth it for you.
What about 32-bit (i386) systems?
It's possible to build 32-bit binaries yourself, but these are not officially provided or supported. 32-bit operating systems are no longer mainstream and you probably shouldn't be using one.
What about non-x86 platforms?
NERVA previously had an official build for Android (with mining support) but it was discontinued due to limited use and practicality. Again, you're welcome to attempt to build the software for other platforms, but it isn't an official focus at this time. (However, a mobile wallet for both Android and iOS is in development and nearing completion).
Can I mine NERVA at the same time as GPU-mining another coin?
Definitely! Mining NERVA is actually great way to boost the efficiency and profitability of your GPU mining rig - its CPU is mostly idle, and the electricity cost of an increased load to the CPU is negligible compared to the power consumption of your GPU(s). Depending on the requirements of the GPU mining software you're using, it may be best to leave one or more threads free for it, while mining NERVA on the remaining theads.
Can I mine on a VPS / cloud server?
Yes, but be aware that mining may be against the ToS of some providers.
Probability of finding a block
For a quick answer, look at Block Time in NERVA Desktop Wallet and Miner (GUI).
The amount of time needed to have a certain probability of finding a block can be calculated through this formula:
t= time in secondsp= probability (eg 0.95 for 95% probability)h= your hashrated= difficulty.
This is only theoretical and real world outcomes will vary. In practice, it is quite common to find a number of blocks in quick succession and then not find a block for an extended period of time. Luck plays a significant role in a short timeframe, but has less and less weight the longer and more consistently you are mining for.
I was finding blocks before but not anymore, is something wrong?
This is a very common question and almost always just bad luck. Unless there is an error message or your hashrate has dropped (or network difficulty has risen significantly) you just need to wait. Things will average out and you will start finding blocks again.
Does my chance of finding a block increase over time?
All else being equal (ie if the network difficulty and your hashrate have not changed), no. You have the same likelihood each block, of finding that block. There is no advantage from having mined longer than someone else.
My transfer fails
If you've been mining Nerva for a long time and you have a lot of tail emission rewards of 0.3 XNV, you might run into this issue when trying to transfer around 130 XNV.
Do not fear, sweep_below is here. You need to run this command in nerva-wallet-cli (command line wallet):
sweep_below 0.5 YourWalletAddress
You can use the same address that you're trying to sweep in place of YourWalletAddress. This process can take some time, depending on how many 0.3 XNV rewards you have. It will combine 460 rewards into one transaction and send combined balance to itself. After this process is done, you should be able to send larger XNV amounts.
I don't have any IN/OUT connections
There could be several reasons for this. Follow below steps to troubleshoot
Re-start popping some blocks
If you forked off to your own chain, below might help:
- CLI: Restart passing pop-blocks command: nervad --pop-blocks 10000
- GUI: Go to Daemon > Restart with Command and put in: --pop-blocks 10000
Reset p2pstate file
If you still cannot connect to NERVA network or you have very few connections, try renaming your p2pstate file:
- Make sure your nervad is not running
- Go to: C:\ProgramData\nerva\ and rename p2pstate.nerva.v11.bin to something else
- Restart your nervad
P2pstate file keeps track of NERVA pears you connected to in the past. When you start nervad, it first tries to connect to other nodes that are saved in that file. If none of those are successful, seed node is called. Seed node returns 250 peers. Everything would work fine if nervad went through that entire list and tried to connect to each peer but that's not how it works. It will try to connect to couple of those peers BUT, it will prioritize the ones it connected to before so in reality it will try very few nodes that it does not know about if seed returns the nodes it knows about. Also, there is nothing in there that will keep track of the peers it already tried so it will keep trying to connect mostly to the same peers that are offline so they will not respond.
Open port 17565 in Firewall
If you don't get any IN connections, add inbound firewall rule to allow port 17565
- In Windows, open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security
- Go to Inbound Rules
- Click New Rule
- Choose Port as Rule Type
- In Specific local ports, put 17565
- Allow the connection under Action
- Make sure Domain, Private and Public are all selected in Profile
- Give the rule a name such as: Allow Port 17565
Running multiple nodes on the same network
If you have multiple Nerva nodes on the same network or are using the same external IP address you might run into some issues with synchronization. Here are some things you can try to resolve them
Use --add-priority-node option when starting nervad
Have one main node that connects to Nerva network in a regular way and when starting other nodes on the same network pass the IP of your main node as a parameter:
nervad --add-priority-node 192.168.0.x ...
Use --add-exclusive-node option when starting nervad
Have one node be primary node that connects to Nerva network and other nodes use it as exclusive node:
nervad --add-exclusive-node 192.168.0.x ...
With exclusive node, you can't connect to other nodes so you'll use your main node as a relay.
In the event your exclusive node goes offline, your miner will no longer be able to mine as it will be out of sync with the network.
Software does not start
There could be many reasons for NERVA software not starting. See below for some solutions
Windows Defender
Make sure your Windows Defender or Antivirus is not blocking/deleting files. For Windows Defender, go to: Windows Security > Virus & thread protection, under Virus & thread protection settings click Manage settings, scroll down and under Exclusions, click Add or remove exclusion. After that Add an exclusion, choose folder and pick the folder where Help > Debug Folder takes you. Windows doesn't make this easy...
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