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Transaction pool

All nodes maintain a transaction pool to store pending transactions before processing.

Options and methods for configuring and monitoring the transaction pool include:

note

When submitting private transactions, the privacy marker transaction is submitted to the transaction pool, not the private transaction itself.

Layered transaction pool

The layered transaction pool is the default transaction pool implementation. This implementation separates the pool into layers according to value and executability of the transactions. That is, the first layer keeps only transactions with the highest value and that could feasibly go into the next produced block. The two other layers ensure that Besu always has a backlog of transactions to fill blocks, gaining the maximum amount of fees.

With the layered transaction pool, Besu produces more profitable blocks more quickly, with more denial-of-service protection, and using less CPU than with the legacy transaction pool.

If you previously configured transaction pool behavior, upgrade to the layered transaction pool by:

You can opt out of the layered transaction pool implementation by setting the --tx-pool option to legacy, but the legacy implementation will be deprecated soon, so we recommend using the layered pool.

Dropping transactions when the transaction pool is full

When the transaction pool is full, it accepts and retains local transactions in preference to remote transactions. If the transaction pool is full of local transactions, Besu drops the oldest local transactions first. That is, a full transaction pool continues to accept new local transactions by first dropping remote transactions and then by dropping the oldest local transactions.

Replacing transactions with the same sender and nonce

You can replace a pending transaction with a transaction that has the same sender and nonce but a higher gas price.

If sending a legacy transaction, the old transaction is replaced if the new transaction has a gas price higher than the existing gas price by the percentage specified by --tx-pool-price-bump.

If sending an EIP1559 transaction, the old transaction is replaced if one of the following is true:

  • The new transaction's effective gas price is higher than the existing gas price by the percentage specified by --tx-pool-price-bump AND the new effective priority fee is greater than or equal to the existing priority fee.

  • The new transaction's effective gas price is the equal to the existing gas price AND the new effective priority fee is higher than the existing priority fee by the percentage specified by --tx-pool-price-bump.

The default value for --tx-pool-price-bump is 10%.