Solana Launches New Update to Solve Network Congestion

Solana has rolled out a new software update, version 1.17.31, developed by Anza, a division of Solana Labs, to resolve the congestion issues plaguing its network due to spam transactions.

This update introduces a stake-weighted quality of service (SWQOS) that prioritizes transactions from staked validators, allocating 80% of network connections to them to enhance overall performance.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Anza urged MainnetBeta validators to implement the new version when their delinquent stake is below 5% and to monitor their nodes closely after the upgrade.

Solana Status has also endorsed the update for all MainnetBeta validators, highlighting its role in easing network congestion.

Trent.sol from Anza communicated via social media that the full benefits of SWQOS depend on widespread adoption and noted that immediate improvements in traffic from unstaked TPUs should not be expected.

Upgrades must keep delinquency under 5%. Rex St. John emphasized that this is only the first series of updates, with more enhancements anticipated in version 1.18.

Technical details shared on GitHub reveal improvements in managing staked and non-staked packets and the BankingStage Forwarding Filter, which is crucial for network efficiency.

This significant update is vital for Solana, which is facing challenges in managing high transaction volumes without a traditional mempool.

The development community hopes these and future updates will greatly improve network stability and performance.