> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.harmony.one/home/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.harmony.one/home/network/validators/node-setup/syncing-db.md).

# 3. Syncing DB

## Simple algorithm to distinguish between snapshot types

Using answers for these questions you can easily understand which snapshot type you will need

<figure><img src="https://3781397247-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LlEOlYqEG_GKuO5Rehq%2Fuploads%2FepjL3Mnm2lBDiF7kzMyY%2FDB_types_harmony.png?alt=media&amp;token=f24d9494-3acb-4e47-95df-3fb239916dda" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Validator Nodes

{% hint style="warning" %}
This document introduces another centralized fast state syncing method using rclone. Please use it with caution. This guide is mainly used for a newly started node to catch up with the blockchain faster. Otherwise, the blockchain syncing may take weeks from genesis block.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
Rclone db snapshot is synced with blockchain frequently. However, there maybe a potential race condition when the rclone may fail due to our nodes were updating the db files at the same time. In this case, just re-run the rclone command to re-sync again.
{% endhint %}

### 1. Installing Rclone

For installing Rclone, please follow the instructions at [https://rclone.org](https://rclone.org/).

**TL;DR:** on a Linux system, you may run the following command:

```bash
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Make sure your rclone version is above **v1.53.2** . you can check version by `rclone version`
{% endhint %}

### 2. Configuring Rclone

To check the location of the `rclone.conf`file run:

```bash
rclone config file
```

The `rclone.conf` file is usually located at `~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf` .

Now run the following command to create the rclone.conf file:

```bash
cat<<-EOF > ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
[snap]
type = webdav
vendor = other
user = snap
pass = ufbTDtK0fENuutwuDOHae57xT8URsZVIcdotK30T5A
EOF
```

### 2.1 BEWARE: Understanding the \`rclone sync\`

{% hint style="danger" %}
The most important parts in bold:

Sync the source to the destination, **changing the destination only**. Doesn't transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. **Destination is updated to match source, including deleting files if necessary** (except duplicate objects). [Link to the full rclone documentation](https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_sync/).

`sync` command was chosen because you need to have your blockchain data folder to be identical with the snapshot data
{% endhint %}

**As user you need to carefully get the full path to the folder and as destination. If you have some important data in the destination, please move it somewhere else.**&#x20;

{% hint style="info" %}
Usually data dir folder is \``` ./` `` which means folder in which harmony is running

You can double check this via:

`ls -l | grep 'harmony_db_'`

`Expected result id is name with shard number on the end, e.x. harmony_db_0.`
{% endhint %}

Q: How to get the full path to the your blockchain data folder if it isn't **default**?

1. Check how do you start harmony via `ps -ef | grep harmony`  and check for the `--datadir` option, if you don't have it go to the following step, else to the 3rd
2. Check the harmony.conf for DataDir option or check your `grep DataDir harmony.conf`
3. Go to the folder from the cmd option if have it or to folder from config if you don't have cmd option, do the following:

```bash
cd your_data_dir # folder from the cmd line or config
ls -l # it will give the shard folder name like harmony_db_0/
pwd # now you have full path to your data dir
```

### 3. Shard 0 validator - Snap DB sync

{% hint style="info" %}
SnapDB is a type of DB that contain a snapshot of the state at a given block. It doesn't have any **block history** and **hence not suitable for RPC node.**
{% endhint %}

Below is the command to sync the Snap DB for the shard 0. It is around 130+ Gb as of Aug 2026:

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://snapdb.s0.t.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_0" \
  --multi-thread-streams 8 \
  --transfers=256 \
  --checkers=256 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &
  
# u can use the following commands to monitor progress
taif -f ~/rclone.log # last log entries
pgrep -af rclone # rclone is still running
```

Small explanation for flags used to save your time with rclone manual: &#x20;

```bash
nohup - keep rclone running after you disconnect from SSH
--webdav-url - WebDAV source address
YOUR_DATA_DIR/harmony_db_0 - local destination path
-P - show live progress, transfer speed and ETA
-L - follow symlinks
--checksum - compare files by checksum and size instead of modification time
snap: - rclone remote name from rclone.conf
--multi-thread-streams=8 - use up to 8 streams for a single large file
--transfers=256 - transfer up to 256 files in parallel
--checkers=256 - compare up to 256 files in parallel
--fast-list - speed up listing for very large directories by keeping more of the remote file tree in memory
--verbose - show detailed transfer information
sync - make the destination match the source exactly; matching files are skipped, missing or changed files are transferred, and destination-only files are deleted
>> ~/rclone.log - append command output to a log file in the current user home directory
2>&1 - redirect stderr to the same log file as stdout
& - run the command in the background
Important: sync can delete files from the destination if they do not exist on the source
```

### 4. Full db sync for appropriate shard &#x20;

{% hint style="info" %}
Since v4.3.12 shard 1 doesn't need to download anymore shard 0 DB. Instead, the node will download automatically the blocks required for the node in shard 1 to work.
{% endhint %}

### 4.1 Fast download for Shard0 RPC Explorer node (non archival), use if you have fast(>1Gb/s) network interface

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://fulldb-fast.s0.t.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_0" \
  --multi-thread-streams 8 \
  --transfers=256 \
  --checkers=256 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &

# u can use the following commands to monitor progress
taif -f ~/rclone.log # last log entries
pgrep -af rclone # rclone is still running
```

### 4.2 Shard0 RPC Explorer node (non archival)

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://fulldb.s0.t.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_0" \
  --multi-thread-streams 4 \
  --transfers=32 \
  --checkers=64 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &

# You can use the following commands to monitor progress
tail -f ~/rclone.log # show the latest log entries
pgrep -af rclone     # check that rclone is still running
```

### 4.3 Shard 1 validator

{% hint style="info" %}
If you need to spin up RPC as soon as possible you can use Harmony node with faster network interface and do rlcone faster
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://fulldb.s1.t.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_1" \
  --multi-thread-streams 4 \
  --transfers=32 \
  --checkers=64 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &

# You can use the following commands to monitor progress
tail -f ~/rclone.log # show the latest log entries
pgrep -af rclone     # check that rclone is still running
```

### Archival snapshot for the Non-Validating/Explorer Nodes <a href="#archival-snapshot-for-the-non-validating-explorer-nodes" id="archival-snapshot-for-the-non-validating-explorer-nodes"></a>

{% hint style="info" %}
**As of 1st August 2026, the size for the shard 0 on mainnet is \~24TiB.**&#x20;
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
Please contact us at <devops@harmony.one> if you need to access our archival db and we will do it as soon as possible. \
We have done it before multiple times with either rclone or rsync.
{% endhint %}

### 5. Testnet snapshots <a href="#archival-snapshot-for-the-non-validating-explorer-nodes" id="archival-snapshot-for-the-non-validating-explorer-nodes"></a>

If you want to quickly test your validator/RPC setup via the testnet network, please use the setup from [#id-2.-configuring-rclone](#id-2.-configuring-rclone "mention")and the info below.

### 5.1 Testnet shard 0

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://fulldb.s0.b.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_0" \
  --multi-thread-streams 4 \
  --transfers=32 \
  --checkers=64 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &

# You can use the following commands to monitor progress
tail -f ~/rclone.log # show the latest log entries
pgrep -af rclone     # check that rclone is still running
```

### 5.2 Testnet shard 1

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.
{% endhint %}

```bash
YOUR_DATA_DIR='./' # This is the default installation, change it if you use something else

nohup rclone -P -L \
  --webdav-url 'http://fulldb.s1.b.hmny.io/webdav' \
  --checksum sync \
  snap: "${YOUR_DATA_DIR}harmony_db_1" \
  --multi-thread-streams 4 \
  --transfers=32 \
  --checkers=64 \
  --fast-list \
  --verbose \
  >> ~/rclone.log 2>&1 &

# You can use the following commands to monitor progress
tail -f ~/rclone.log # show the latest log entries
pgrep -af rclone     # check that rclone is still running
```