Monitor Prysm for expected behavior
Expected behavior: Beacon node
When running a beacon node for the first time, it will attempt to process deposits from the execution-layer deposit contract. This deposit contract contains 32ETH deposits from all validators that have joined Ethereum's beacon chain. This process may take a few minutes. While processing these deposits, your beacon chain output should display INFO logs that look like this:
INFO powchain: Processing deposits...
Soon after, the beacon node will attempt to sync with its peers. "Syncing" is the process of downloading the Ethereum blockchain. While your beacon node is syncing, any validator client(s) connected to your beacon node won't be able to produce blocks or vote on others' blocks. A syncing beacon node will produce INFO logs that look like this:
Processing block 0x8fc287271... 222/12082 - estimated time remaining...
When your beacon node is done syncing, you should see a continuous stream of INFO logs that look like this:
INFO blockchain: synced new block block=0x7373721...
INFO blockchain: finished appluing state transition attestations=71...
INFO p2p: peer disconnected
INFO p2p: peer connected
Note that peers will be continuously disconnecting and connecting. If you notice anything concerning or have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us on Discord.
Expected behavior: Validator client
Validators are generally in one of the following states: Unknown, Deposited, Pending, Active, Exiting, Slashing, or Exited. To learn more about these states, visit Validator Lifecycle.
When your validator is in Deposited state, it will produce INFO logs that look like this:
INFO validator: Deposit processed, entering activation queue after finalization...
When your validator is Pending activation, it will produce INFO logs that look like this:
INFO validator: Waiting to be assigned activation epoch
A healthy Active validator client will produce INFO logs that look like this:
INFO validator: Submitted new attestations...
If you notice anything concerning or have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us on Discord.