The Wheel of Life — When You Upload Data on A Decentralized Storage Consensus Network
The Saga of a technological emergence brought about by the blockchain technology, wherein the data you upload can be stored on any network, not one dedicated server but many. We are so accustomed to the traditional cloud architecture driven by centralization that the first sentence might baffle many of you, if not all.
But that is exactly how decentralized cloud storage works! So then, you are left to ponder, is it technologically possible to store data on multiple networks? Is my data and privacy even safe? I am the true and only owner of my own data (that already sounds too good to be true!). So many questions!
But trust us, when we tell you it’s all possible; it is the new wave, one that is truly spectacular. Today, we will take you on a wonder ride — offering a sneak peek into a brief lifecycle of data you upload on the decentralized data storage consensus network, a.k.a Calculus.
The Calculus network achieves economies of scale by allowing anyone to participate as a storage provider. Gradually, the network shall consist of hundreds of storage providers spread across the globe Content addressing and cryptographic storage proofs verify that data is being stored correctly and securely over time on miner’s hardware, which creates a robust and reliable service.
To store files on Calculus, users must first import them in their local Calculus node. This step produces a data content identifier, an ID that uniquely describes the content. Later, the data is transferred to a miner. Another method of storing data or files on the Calculus network is offline, which will be covered later in subsequent posts.
But first, let’s understand the –
Basic Networking Logic of Calculus
It is important to appreciate the fact that the nodes within the Calculus network have two different key functions. One pertinent to the network (blockchain) consensus, and second, for effective storage. Meaning, the Calculus network naturally includes a dual data storage mechanism and block verification.
Hence, the storage layer of the network adapts to several decentralized storage mechanisms, including IPFS, DAT, and other P2P network architectures, as well as DHT technologies. This ensures a robust and high-speed storage and distribution of data blocks. The verification network is mainly responsible for verifying node information and maintaining the blockchain data. For example, when a node applies for access to the Calculus network, the interaction will verify the TEE instance initiated by the node. At the same time, the verification result will be recorded on the chain.
Once the TEE instance is restarted or destroyed, the node must re-verify its access to the network. When the storage state of a node changes, such as user data storage or storage amount changes, it is necessary to check the change of external storage state in TEE, update the storage declaration report, and link the new storage state.
The Lifecycle of data on Calculus
When a user needs to store a file in the Calculus network, the deal is paid to the network based on the system pricing formula, and the storage order is broadcasted to the entire network. The order submits the basic information of the file to the blockchain, including the Hash value of the file, the file size, the number of super nodes that can be rewarded, and so on.
After receiving the broadcast order information, the super node in the network can search the corresponding file in the IPFS network, download it and save it in the node server of the super node.
When a super node submits the storage certificate of the saved file to the blockchain, the storage order of this user becomes effective. To ensure that a super node can search for files that users need to store, users need to upload files locally.
After the user’s storage order comes into effect, the fee paid by the user to the network is divided into two parts. One part is paid to the reward pool of the whole network, which is used to distribute to the nodes that provide CAL token staking in the whole network. The other part is paid to the reward pool of the file stored by the user, which is used to distribute to the super node that provided the storage certificate of this file.
Upload The File On the Calculus Network:
Users can store files on the Calculus Network via three different channels:
1. You can store files by directly using Calculus dApp
2. Users can store files by adapting the standard (local) IPFS
3. Developers can develop storage features based on Calculus
You can get corresponding order rewards and increase your stake limit after becoming a storage merchant and successfully storing user files. Storing data on the Calculus network allows users to utilize the power of the distributed network, one that is non-custodial and maintained by potentially hundreds and even thousands of different miners of storage resource providers.
The Calculus Data Storage Ecosystem
Calculus consensus on storage workload is an implementation of the Proof-of-Spacetime consensus mechanism. However, out of the scope of Proof-of-Spacetime, Calculus takes it a step further since the encapsulation and verification logic of the valid storage proof is handled by the local TEE implementation. Once the Calculus storage node receives the user’s file, the node then performs encryption encapsulation and saves it in TEE. Via this mechanism, only the TEE can restore the file in the external storage, and the node cannot carry out an attack.
After the fast local storage verification of each cycle, TEE signs a workload report on the chain. Other nodes in the chain only need to verify the signature of the workload report, which greatly simplifies the storage consensus process. Therefore, compared with the verification based on a complex remote challenge algorithm, TEE-based verification reduces the consumption of network and computing resources.
The three key competitive advantage of the Calculus network are –
Low Threshold, High Performance, and unbelievable fast transmission speed!
Calculus is a set of decentralized storage protocols that employ the distributed hash table technology. CAL indexes data mainly by file content (hash) rather than file path (URI). Larger files are divided into fixed-size data blocks, which are then distributed on multiple nodes. The primary goal of this system is to find a balance between redundancy and reliability. CAL plans to solve this contradiction by token incentive mechanisms and establishing super nodes. Users can choose the reliability requirements of files. Files with low reliability can be stored and accessed for free or almost free, and super nodes shall be able to provide high-reliability files. Meanwhile, CAL will set access rights for these files via contracts.
In addition, CAL can be used in combination with a wallet to issue, transmit, and revoke the digital certificate of a Peer-to-Peer record wallet without being managed by a centralized server. In the future, old block data can be stored in CAL so that most complete nodes can release old data, obtain higher scalability, and ensure the integrity of historical data. The storage price is set by the equipment owner himself, and the expenses will be paid to the equipment owner slowly in a step-by-step manner.
Next on Calculus -
This post covered some of the concepts related to storing and retrieving data on Calculus, as well as the brief lifecycle of a file on the network. A detailed flow for storage and retrieval mechanism from the perspective of both users and super nodes shall be released shortly, which expands more on today’s topic. We have an interesting post on the reputation systems coming soon, so stay tuned!
