Breaking Web3: Node Ops at Scale, Hard Fork Havoc, and Bare-Metal Mastery - DEVOPS 241

Adventures in DevOps

In this episode of Adventures in DevOps, we welcomed Paul Marston from Anchor (yes, the Web3 infrastructure powerhouse) to dive deep into the world of blockchain node operations — and wow, what a ride it was!
We kicked things off with some podcast housekeeping (hey, did you fill out the listener survey yet? There are AWS credits on the line! 👀) before diving headfirst into Paul’s fascinating journey from underwriting loans on green-screen terminals to managing sprawling, bare-metal blockchain infrastructure.
Key Takeaways & Highlights:
1. Web2 vs. Web3 Infra:
We loved Paul's analogy-rich walkthrough of moving from financial services into Web3. Turns out, while the fundamentals of system resilience and scale remain, Web3 brings a whole new tempo — no weekends, no downtime, just constant evolution. He put it best: "We don't have bank holidays in Web3."
2. What Anchor Actually Does:
Paul explained it beautifully — imagine AWS for Web3, but on high-performance bare metal. They're running 100+ chains, handling everything from provisioning nodes to ensuring high availability and ultra-low latency. And yes, that includes crazy challenges like scaling archive nodes with terabytes of blockchain history.
3. Hard Fork Hysteria:
Ever wonder what it’s like to be on the front lines of a hard fork? Paul’s firsthand stories (like the Ethereum Pectra upgrade chaos) showed us just how critical real-time response and coordination are. These aren't just code releases — they're make-or-break moments for decentralized networks.
4. Load Balancing in Web3 is... Intense:
Forget simple health checks. Their load balancer routes traffic based on node sync status, archive availability, and even request type. If you're into distributed systems, this was catnip.
5. AI's Role in DevOps? It’s Getting Real:
Anchor's bringing AI (shout-out to "Monica") into their ops stack. From diagnosing node issues to answering internal questions, it's early days, but the impact is promising — and growing fast.
6. The Vinyl Vibe:
In the spirit of "tech meets tactile," Paul’s pick of the week? A quirky vertical turntable from the Netherlands that scans and indexes your records like a CD. 🎶 Old-school meets innovation — just like this episode.
Tune in, nerd out, and don’t forget to leave us that survey feedback (preferably helpful, but we’ll take weird too): adventuresindevops.com/survey