# Sync from Snapshot

After joining a network, your node will need to catch up to the current state of the blockchain which may take some time. You can significantly accelerate the synchronization process by providing palomad with a recent snapshot of the network state.

# Check Sync Status

To check if your node is all caught curl your node RPC endpoint

# Query via the RPC (default port: 26657)
curl http://localhost:26657/status | jq .result.sync_info.catching_up

If this command returns true then your node is still catching up. If it returns false then your node has caught up to the network current block.

You can also compare the block that your node is currently on against another source such as the explorer (opens new window) to check on the progress of your node's sync via:

curl http://localhost:26657/status | jq .result.sync_info.latest_block_height 

# Available Snapshots

# Paloma Snapshot

Paloma makes snapshots available for download here here. (opens new window)

The archived snapshot contains the state and transactions of the network, which are stored in the ~./paloma/data/ folder by default. You should navigate exactly to the ~./paloma/ folder before proceeding to unpack it, or make sure that the contents of the archive are placed into ~./paloma/.

  1. Stop Paloma if it's currently running and remove any existing data

    service palomad stop 
    rm -rf ~/.paloma/data
    
  2. Download and unpack the snapshot in the .paloma directory.

    cd ~/.paloma
    wget https://download.palomachain.com/testnet.paloma.snapshot.tar.gz
    tar -xf testnet.paloma.snapshot.tar.gz
    

    Due to the size of the network, this may take some time.

  3. After the snapshot is completely unpacked, start palomad:

    service palomad start
    

# NodeJumper Snapshots

NodeJumper Validator also provides a snapshot to the community. See details and instructions on their website. (opens new window)

# Sync faster during testing

Sometimes you may want to sync faster by foregoing checks. This command should only be used by advanced users in non-production environments. To speed up the sync process during testing, use the following command:

palomad start --x-crisis-skip-assert-invariants