# Troubleshooting Observer

# Overview

ar.io observer epoch distribution reports include a list of failed observers for the epoch, along with an accounting of the errors which caused the observer to fail. When possible, the error messages will give you a starting point to being the troubleshooting process. Below is a list of possible error messages, along with more detailed information on how to address the issues.

# Observer not running and/or unable to connect

#

Your observer was not able to connect with the contract at all. The most likely causes for this are internet connection problems, or your observer not running.

Verify your observer is running

sudo docker ps

Your output should look something like this:

    CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                                   COMMAND                  CREATED       STATUS                PORTS                                                                                             NAMES
    264637d3e24d   ghcr.io/ar-io/ar-io-envoy:01952702b78be1e464b9d192e77b38a119bdc4ee      "/docker-entrypoint.…"   2 days ago    Up 2 days             0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp, :::3000->3000/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9901->9901/tcp, :::9901->9901/tcp, 10000/tcp   ar-io-node_envoy_1
    f42a4fbed8c5   ghcr.io/ar-io/ar-io-core:484bd31abb78709e09395f139ca57792bc6c3eb0       "/bin/sh docker-entr…"   2 days ago    Up 2 days (healthy)   0.0.0.0:4000->4000/tcp, :::4000->4000/tcp                                                         ar-io-node_core_1
    dd2e0b64b0b4   redis:7                                                                 "docker-entrypoint.s…"   10 days ago   Up 2 days             0.0.0.0:6379->6379/tcp, :::6379->6379/tcp                                                         ar-io-node_redis_1
    ed98aba1c4f6   ghcr.io/ar-io/ar-io-observer:6449bcb6dda778fef68a94bd29343190524439db   "/nodejs/bin/node ./…"   10 days ago   Up 2 days (healthy)   0.0.0.0:5000->5000/tcp, :::5000->5000/tcp                                                         ar-io-node_observer_1

If the line for observer does not say "up", then your observer is not running. You should restart your gateway, and then watch your observer logs to get a better idea of why your observer stopped:

sudo docker-compose down

sudo docker-compose up -d

sudo docker-compose logs -f observer

# Observer wallet has no AR

#

Your Observer Wallet does not have any AR tokens.

Your observer wallet needs to be able to submit reports to the Arweave blockchain. To do this, it needs to have a small amount of AR tokens in order to pay for the submission. ar.io recommends depositing 1 AR token into your observer wallet to ensure that you remain funded throughout the entire testnet.

# Observer wallet ... does not match the 'observerWallet' set on the gateway ...

#

The observer wallet set locally on your gateway does not match the observer wallet for your gateway in the ar.io network.

Check to make sure that you have OBSERVER_WALLET set in your .env file, and that the keyfile for your observer wallet is properly provided in the wallets directory in your gateway.

You will need to restart your gateway if you make any changes to the .env file or your observer wallet keyfile.

Then check to make sure that the value for observerWallet on your gateway in the testnet contract (opens new window) matches that.

This video (opens new window) shows exactly what should be done to correct it if it does not.

# Uncertain - confirm your OBSERVER_WALLET is set in the .env file and corresponding wallet is located in wallets/< address >.json...

#

The cause for the error could not be reliably determined.

"Uncertain" is the default value returned when evaluating a failed observer. It means that none of the above error messages perfectly matched the problems with your gateway.

You should first ensure that your observer wallet is set correctly locally (opens new window), and then check your observer logs for any additional error messages.

sudo docker-compose logs -f --tail=50 observer

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