Updating Execution Clients

Procedure for upgrading Geth, Nethermind, Besu, etc.

Updating Execution Clients

The update process for Execution Clients (EL) generally involves downloading the new binary, stopping the service, swapping the files, and restarting.

⚠️ Critical: Always check the specific release notes. Major version upgrades (e.g., Erigon v2 to v3) may require a full database resync — old data is not always compatible.

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General Workflow

1. Stop the Service: sudo systemctl stop <service_name>

2. Download New Binary: Fetch the latest release.

3. Replace Binary: Overwrite the old file in /usr/bin/ or /usr/local/lib/.

4. Restart: sudo systemctl start <service_name>

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🔵 Geth (Go-Ethereum)

Since we installed Geth via PPA, the update process is automated via the package manager.

# 1. Update repository and install latest version
sudo apt update && sudo apt install geth

# 2. Restart the service to apply changes
sudo systemctl restart geth

# 3. Verify new version
geth version

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⚫ Nethermind

Since we installed Nethermind via PPA, the update process is the same as Geth — automated via the package manager.

# 1. Update repository and install latest version
sudo apt update && sudo apt install nethermind

# 2. Restart the service to apply changes
sudo systemctl restart nethermind

# 3. Verify new version
nethermind --version

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🟢 Besu

Download the new tarball and extract it.

# 1. Stop service
sudo systemctl stop besu

# 2. Download new release (Check https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/releases)
wget https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/releases/download/<VERSION>/besu-<VERSION>.tar.gz -O besu.tar.gz

# 3. Extract and overwrite
# Note: Besu extracts into a versioned folder. Use --strip-components to flatten it.
sudo tar -xvzf besu.tar.gz -C /usr/local/lib/besu --strip-components=1

# 4. Cleanup and restart service
rm besu.tar.gz
sudo systemctl start besu

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🟣 Erigon

Download the new binary and replace the existing one.

# 1. Stop service
sudo systemctl stop erigon

# 2. Download new binary (Check https://github.com/erigontech/erigon/releases)
wget https://github.com/erigontech/erigon/releases/download/v<VERSION>/erigon_<VERSION>_linux_amd64.tar.gz -O erigon.tar.gz

# 3. Extract and replace
sudo tar -xvzf erigon.tar.gz -C /usr/local/lib/erigon

# 4. Ensure correct permissions
sudo chown -R ethereum:ethereum /usr/local/lib/erigon
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/lib/erigon/erigon

# 5. Cleanup and restart service
rm erigon.tar.gz
sudo systemctl start erigon

⚠️ Erigon v2 → v3 Migration: Erigon v3 is not compatible with v2 data. If upgrading from v2, you must re-sync with a fresh --datadir. See the Erigon v3 release notes for details.

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🔴 Reth

Download the new binary and replace the existing one.

# 1. Stop service
sudo systemctl stop reth

# 2. Download new binary (Check https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases)
wget https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases/download/v<VERSION>/reth-v<VERSION>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz -O reth.tar.gz

# 3. Extract and replace
sudo tar -xvzf reth.tar.gz -C /usr/local/lib/reth

# 4. Ensure correct permissions
sudo chown -R ethereum:ethereum /usr/local/lib/reth
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/lib/reth/reth

# 5. Cleanup and restart service
rm reth.tar.gz
sudo systemctl start reth