Epoch

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An epoch is a unit of time when validators of the network remain constant.

• Both testnet and mainnet have an epoch duration of ~12 hours or 43,200 seconds to be exact.
• You can view this setting by querying the protocol_config RPC endpoint and searching for epoch_length.

Note: Nodes garbage collect blocks after 5 epochs (~2.5 days) unless they are archival nodes.

Example:

“`json
{
“jsonrpc”: “2.0”,
“id”: “dontcare”,
“method”: “EXPERIMENTAL_protocol_config”,
“params”: {
“finality”: “final”
}
}
“`

“`bash
http post https://rpc.testnet.near.org jsonrpc=2.0 id=dontcare method=EXPERIMENTAL_protocol_config
params:='{
“finality”: “final”
}’
“`

Example Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "protocol_version": 44,
        "genesis_time": "2020-07-21T16:55:51.591948Z",
        "chain_id": "mainnet",
        "genesis_height": 9820210,
        "num_block_producer_seats": 100,
        "num_block_producer_seats_per_shard": [
            100
        ],
        "avg_hidden_validator_seats_per_shard": [
            0
        ],
        "dynamic_resharding": false,
        "protocol_upgrade_stake_threshold": [
            4,
            5
        ],
        "epoch_length": 43200,
        "gas_limit": 1000000000000000,
        "min_gas_price": "1000000000",
        "max_gas_price": "10000000000000000000000",
        "block_producer_kickout_threshold": 90,
        "chunk_producer_kickout_threshold": 90,

// ---- snip ----
}

You can learn more about how epoch’s are used to manage network validation in the Validator FAQ.

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