This guide covers managing OpenScan.AI explorer instances over their lifecycle — from launch through scaling, reindexing, and decommissioning. It applies to both hosted EaaS instances (managed with the OpenScan.AI team) and self-hosted deployments.
Instance Lifecycle
Launch
- Deploy the stack (Setup & Installation) or request a hosted instance via the contact form.
- Wait for the initial index to catch up to the chain head.
- Run Explorer Verification, then announce the explorer to your community.
Steady State
- Keep an eye on Monitoring dashboards.
- Apply Updates & Maintenance on a regular cadence.
Scaling
- API under load — add replicas behind a load balancer; the API is stateless.
- Database under load — increase RAM, move to faster storage, or add read replicas.
- Indexing too slow — check chain-node capacity first; it is usually the bottleneck.
Reindexing
Occasionally a release or a data issue requires reindexing part or all of history:
- Take a database backup.
- Trigger the reindex for the affected range (or full history) via the indexer’s admin command:
docker compose exec indexer ./bin/reindex --from-block 0- Expect reduced data freshness until the range catches up; the explorer stays online throughout.
Multi-Instance Management
Running explorers for several chains:
- Keep each instance’s configuration, database, and containers fully isolated.
- Name resources per chain (
openscan-xdc-postgres,openscan-wan-api) to avoid operational mistakes. - Upgrade one instance at a time and verify before moving on.
Decommissioning
- Redirect or remove DNS for the explorer domain.
- Take a final database backup if the data has archival value.
- Stop the stack and remove volumes:
docker compose down -v- For hosted instances, coordinate shutdown with the OpenScan.AI team.