Empty block periods for QBFT chains
Draft PR https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6965 is work-in-progress and aims to add support for a different block period when no transactions are in the TX pool to be included in a block. It will have the benefit of reducing storage requirements for permissioned chains when no transactions are submitted to the network.
QBFT, Bonsai, & Snap Sync
This feature adds experimental support for QBFT chains using snap sync to sync new nodes with an existing permissioned chain.
PR https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/7140 was included in Besu 24.7.0 and once the function has been exercised enough by other users it will be migrated out of experimental.
Permissioned chain performance
Wiki page QBFT Performance outlines work done by two of the Besu maintainers to understand some of the bottlenecks in a QBFT chain and determine the best tuning/configuration to improve overall TPS achievable in a permissioned chain.
As of 2H 2024 further performance work is on hold while other features (see below) are prioritised
Bonsai archive support
Draft PR https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/5865 started the work necessary to provide access to archive state when using Bonsai DB. This was paused for a period of time, and is now actively being progressed (see discord thread https://discord.com/channels/905194001349627914/1261348506648707133/1261348712047706243). It is an important step towards the deprecation and removal of the Forest database, since archive nodes will not be possible with Bonsai until this feature is implemented.