Online Delete support is now available in Hermes

TLDR: Online Delete support is now available in Hermes v0.4.1

Hermes is a layer 2 messaging network for storing and relaying XRPL validation messages. Since its release in Aug 2022, several operators have volunteered to run Hermes nodes and participate in the P2P network.

XRPL validators generate millions of validation messages collectively every day. The online deletion feature lets the service delete validation messages from older ledgers to keep disk usage from rapidly growing over time. The default config lets the service store all validation messages indefinitely. In order to enable online deletion, set ONLINE_DELETE setting in .env file to the number of latest validated ledgers you wish to keep.

To store validations from the last 10 days approx, use:

ONLINE_DELETE = 250000

or, to store validations from the last 1 month approx, use:

ONLINE_DELETE = 660000

If needed, MongoDB collection may be compacted to free up disk space and return it back to the OS.

$ npm run online-delete compact
[online-delete] Compact validations collection: 344 MB freed

The XRPScan team is committed to running a long term Hermes node and will add disk capacity if possible. As of today, we store more than 676 Million validation messages and are happy to serve anyone who wishes to peer.

However with this addition we hope the node operators would be able to have better control over their resource usage and associated costs.