Estimate replay distance from a Solana snapshot pair

A full snapshot may be old while its matching incremental snapshot is fresh. A restart estimate should account for the newest usable state in the pair.

Identify the base and incremental slots

Query the node supplying snapshots. A result with full equal to 80000 and incremental equal to 80800 describes an incremental snapshot built on that full base. When incremental is null, use only the full slot for the estimate.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "getHighestSnapshotSlot",
  "params": []
}

Calculate distance and inspect actual archives

Against a reference finalized slot of 81000, replay from the pair spans roughly 200 slots. From the full snapshot alone it spans 1000. Slot distance measures chain progress. Archive download speed, unpacking time and local replay throughput determine elapsed recovery time.

Record the pair before downloading. Verify the archives actually available to the recovering node and their compatible base. A response naming two slots alone does not establish that a transfer completed.

Documentation