88 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
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# 0003. Geth node for Beta
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| 2018-05-14 | architecture, p2p, scope |
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## Status
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proposed
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## Context
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On the path to releasing a usable beta we've faced a variety of performance
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issues:
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- https://github.com/status-im/ideas/issues/55
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- https://ideas.status.im/ideas/071-low-traffic
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- https://ideas.status.im/ideas/076-smooth-ui
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- https://ideas.status.im/ideas/083-energy-efficient
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Some of these performance issues are related to the use of LES, especially on
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Mainnet. Examples of problems include: slow/hot sync, disk filling up, bandwidth
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usage, etc. This can partly be remedied by the use of CHT to speed up sync
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(https://github.com/status-im/status-go/wiki/Updating-CHT-BloomTrie).
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In order to simplify the problem, we decided earlier this year to not spend too
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much time looking into performance improvements related to LES, instead focusing
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our efforts on improving the performance on Whisper and in client-side code.
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This also means we don't have a full picture of to what extent LES is a
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performance bottleneck for the Status app. It is possible proper use of CHT,
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slowing sync down, vary load depending on if you are on WiFi or not, etc, can
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solve these problems. However, the consensus right now is that ULC is the more
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promising route to take.
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However, since ULC isn't ready yet, this means we are relying on Infura. This
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is a bad idea from a decentralization and security point of view. This can be
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partly remedied by allowing the user to run an upstream node. It is still a bad
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trust model, relying on third-party Ethereum nodes, and we want to get away
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from this as soon as possible.
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With ULC it is possible to connect to more than one node, which increases
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decentralization and security.
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## Decision
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1. Rely on upstream nodes for beta. For the closed beta scheduled to be releases
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Q2 we will provide two ways of accessing the Ethereum network:
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- Upstream RPC with Infura (default)
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- Custom upstream node (https://github.com/status-im/status-react/issues/3994)
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From a decentralization point of view we need the latter before we can release
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the beta.
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2. ULC MVP. Additionally, as soon as beta is released, assess and start to
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introduce ULC as an experimental non-default mode in the app.
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By doing this we also support the network, since it is still a very new
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protocol. ULC requires trusted peers to operate, and right now trust is
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established by config (list of trusted peers).
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Initially we could hardcode these nodes, with option to add your own. Later on
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we can have some form of distributed directory with a rating system. This also
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likely requires merging ULC upstream, so we aren't the only ones running trusted
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nodes.
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3. LES track (optional). If we still have resources and there's interest,
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optionally run a parallel track to clean up LES usage (update CHT, cluster) and
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understand exact performance impact and viablity of running LES on
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resource-constrained devices.
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These three decisions balances the following trade-offs:
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- get a usable beta released as soon as possible
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- provide users with options to get minimal amount of decentralization
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- pave the way for trustless usage by default (ULC/LES node)
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## Consequences
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Most of this is captured above.
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- 1. Make sure custom upstream RPC is in beta and works
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- 2. Disable LES from beta release as it currently doesn't work reliably
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- 3. Continue work on https://github.com/status-im/ideas/pull/254/files, consider
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adding more resources to get it into MVP state as soon as possible
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