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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.optimism.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This page lists common troubleshooting scenarios and solutions for node operators.

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401 Unauthorized: Signature Invalid

If you see a log that looks like this in op-node: 
WARN [12-13|15:53:20.263] Derivation process temporary error       attempts=80 err="stage 0 failed resetting: temp: failed to find the L2 Heads to start from: failed to fetch current L2 forkchoice state: failed to find the finalized L2 block: failed to determine L2BlockRef of finalized, could not get payload: 401 Unauthorized: signature is invalid
It means that the op-node is unable to authenticate with execution client’s authenticated RPC using the JWT secret.

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Solution

  1. Check that the JWT secret is correct in both services.
  2. Check that execution client’s authenticated RPC is enabled, and that the URL is correct.

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403 Forbidden: Invalid Host Specified

If you see a log that looks like this in op-node: 
{"err":"403 Forbidden: invalid host specified\n","lvl":"error","msg":"error getting latest header","t":"2022-12-13T22:29:18.932833159Z"}
It means that you have not whitelisted op-node’s host with execution client.

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Solution

  1. Make sure that the --authrpc.vhosts parameter in execution client is either set to the correct host, or *.
  2. Check that execution client’s authenticated RPC is enabled, and that the URL is correct.

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Failed to Load P2P Config

If you see a log that looks like this in op-node: 
CRIT [12-13|13:46:21.386] Application failed                       message="failed to load p2p config: failed to load p2p discovery options: failed to open discovery db: mkdir /p2p: permission denied"
It means that the op-node lacks write access to the P2P discovery or peerstore directories.

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Solution

  1. Make sure that the op-node has write access to the P2P directory. By default, this is /p2p.
  2. Set the P2P directory to somewhere the op-node can access via the --p2p.discovery.path and --p2p.peerstore.path parameters.
  3. Set the discovery path to memory to disable persistence via the --p2p.discovery.path and --p2p.peerstore.path parameters.

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Wrong Chain

If you see a log that looks like this in op-node: 
{"attempts":183,"err":"stage 0 failed resetting: temp: failed to find the L2 Heads to start from: wrong chain L1: genesis: 0x4104895a540d87127ff11eef0d51d8f63ce00a6fc211db751a45a4b3a61a9c83:8106656, got 0x12e2c18a3ac50f74d3dd3c0ed7cb751cc924c2985de3dfed44080e683954f1dd:8106656","lvl":"warn","msg":"Derivation process temporary error","t":"2022-12-13T23:31:37.855253213Z"}
It means that the op-node is pointing to the wrong chain.

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Solution

  1. Verify that the op-node’s L1 URL is pointing to the correct L1 for the given network.
  2. Verify that the op-node’s rollup config/--network parameter is set to the correct network.
  3. Verify that the op-node’s L2 URL is pointing to the correct instance of execution client, and that execution client is properly initialized for the given network.

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Error: eth_sendRawTransaction Does Not Exist

If an RPC call to your execution client (op-geth, Nethermind, etc.) returns a response like: 
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "error": {
    "code": -32601,
    "message": "the method eth_sendRawTransaction does not exist/is not available"
  }
}
This -32601 JSON-RPC error means the sequencer endpoint you configured does not expose eth_sendRawTransaction. The request path looks like: 
Client → eth_sendRawTransaction → op-geth:8545
                                ↓
                      op-geth forwards to sequencer
                                ↓
              eth_sendRawTransaction → op-node:8547
                                ↓
              ❌ ERROR: "method does not exist/is not available"
                 (op-node has no eth namespace!)
Because op-node only exposes rollup-specific RPC methods—there is no eth_* namespace—it cannot accept raw transaction submissions. When op-geth forwards the transaction to an op-node URL it immediately fails with -32601. This situation almost always happens when:
  • --rollup.sequencerhttp (or ROLLUP_SEQUENCER_HTTP) is pointed to your own op-node instead of the hosted public sequencer.
  • The sequencer container was launched with that flag by mistake, so your node tries to submit transactions to itself.
For canonical Optimism networks you must point --rollup.sequencerhttp at the public sequencer endpoint published in the network config. For user-deployed L2s that host their own sequencer, do not set this option at all so the execution client talks directly to your local sequencer and never forwards to an op-node.

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Solution

  1. Confirm your execution client exposes the eth namespace on its HTTP API (--http.api eth,net,engine,... for geth/op-geth). If eth is disabled, raw transactions will be rejected before they reach the sequencer.
  2. Inspect the environment/CLI flags of every component that speaks to the sequencer (op-node, execution client, op-batcher, op-proposer, scripts). The --rollup.sequencerhttp flag must point to the public sequencer URL for the chain (for example, https://mainnet-sequencer.optimism.io), not to your own op-node.
  3. For user-deployed L2s where you run the sequencer yourself, leave --rollup.sequencerhttp unset so the client forwards locally and never falls back to an op-node endpoint.
  4. If you templated docker-compose or systemd files, make sure ROLLUP_SEQUENCER_HTTP is not being overwritten by another .env file or compose override. Remove any accidental references to your local node.
  5. Restart the affected services after correcting the flag so they pick up the new endpoint. The error should disappear as soon as they can reach the proper sequencer RPC.

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Unclean Shutdowns

If you see a log that looks like this in execution client: 
WARN [03-05|16:18:11.238] Unclean shutdown detected                booted=2023-03-05T11:09:26+0000 age=5h8m45s
It means execution client has experienced an unclean shutdown. The geth docs say if Geth stops unexpectedly, the database can be corrupted. This is known as an “unclean shutdown” and it can lead to a variety of problems for the node when it is restarted.

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For op-geth

It is always best to shut down Geth gracefully, i.e. using a shutdown command such as ctrl-c, docker stop -t 300 <container ID> or systemctl stop (although please note that systemctl stop has a default timeout of 90s - if Geth takes longer than this to gracefully shut down it will quit forcefully. Update the TimeoutSecs variable in systemd.service to override this value to something larger, at least 300s). This way, Geth knows to write all relevant information into the database to allow the node to restart properly later. This can involve >1GB of information being written to the LevelDB database which can take several minutes. Solution In most cases, op-geth can recover automatically from an unclean shutdown when you restart it. The warning message is informational and doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem. However, if op-geth fails to restart properly after an unclean shutdown, you can use the removedb subcommand as a last resort: 
geth removedb --datadir=<path to data directory>
This command will delete all state database data. After running removedb, you must manually restart the node to begin the resync process from the ancient database, which can take significant time. Only use this when the node actually fails to restart, not for every unclean shutdown warning.

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For Nethermind

Unclean shutdowns in Nethermind can lead to database corruption. This typically happens when:
  • The node experiences hardware failures (disk failures, memory errors, overheating)
  • Power cuts cause abrupt shutdowns
  • The process is terminated without proper cleanup
Solutions
  1. Lock File Issues If Nethermind complains about lock files after an unclean shutdown, run: 
    find /path/to/nethermind_db -type f -name 'LOCK' -delete
  2. Block Checksum Mismatch If you encounter block checksum mismatch errors, you can enable direct I/O: 
    --Db.UseDirectIoForFlushAndCompactions true
    Note: This may impact performance.
  3. Complete Resync In cases of severe corruption, a full resync is recommended: 
    sudo systemctl stop nethermind
sudo rm -rf /path/to/nethermind_db/mainnet
sudo systemctl start nethermind