120 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
120 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
Jami distributed network
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========================
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### Connectivity
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Jami relies on a [distributed
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network](tutorials/Jami-distributed-network), that brings multiple
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advantages when compared to federated networks:
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- No point of failure,
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- More resilient to censorship,
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- Do not depend on anything other than its users,
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- Trust amongst nodes is not necessary.
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This network forms a Distributed Hash Table (DHT)
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The core problem of distributed communication systems is peer
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connectivity, Jami achieves it through two elements:
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- Encrypted announcements on DHT,
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- Use of standard protocols for NAT hole punching.
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Jami is built on two distinct distributed networks:
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- the OpenDHT kademlia network to provide distributed connectivity
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establishment and message distribution,
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- the JamiNS blockchain to provide distributed name registration.
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The OpenDHT network
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-------------------
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See
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[<https://github.com/savoirfairelinux/opendht>](https://github.com/savoirfairelinux/opendht)
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for more information about OpenDHT, which provides a distributed
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key-value datastore for connectivity establishment (with ICE) and
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message distribution in Jami.
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An OpenDHT network can be joined by knowing about any node already
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connected to the network. This node will then share its knowledge about
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other nodes on the network.
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Jami clients use a persistent node cache to reconnect to the network
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after a first session. A configurable, known, stable "bootstrap" node is
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used for the first connection or if cached nodes don't answer.
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Jami clients currently use bootstrap.jami.net:4222 as the default
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(configurable) bootstrap node and network ID 0 (the default, public
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OpenDHT network).
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### Contribute to the OpenDHT network
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Every Jami account runs an OpenDHT node, contributing to the network and
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allowing Jami to scale.
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Jami users can have full independence by running their own stable
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OpenDHT node and configure it as a bootstrap node in Jami, while helping
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to improve stability, robustness and resilience for every user of the
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public OpenDHT network.
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A standalone node can be run using the [dhtnode
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utility](https://github.com/savoirfairelinux/opendht/wiki/Running-a-node-with-dhtnode)
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included with OpenDHT. dhtnode doesn't persist any data and has a
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default in-memory storage limit of 8 MiB.
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Stable community-run DHT nodes will be added to the default bootstrap
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list at the request of their owner, as more bootstrap nodes means a more
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resilient, independent network.
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The JamiNS blockchain
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---------------------
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The JamiNS blockchain is experimental and its architecture is expected
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to evolve.
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Jami clients don't run blockchain nodes themselves but rather
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communicate with a JamiNS server using HTTP for name registration and
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query, with a REST API. This is because the resources needed to run a
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blockchain node are too high for most end-users.
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The nameserver can be configured by-account in Jami, allowing to connect
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Jami clients to various more or less centralized user directories.
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### Contribute to the JamiNS blockchain
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The default Jami name service is ns.jami.net, provided by Savoir-faire Linux Inc.,
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connected to an Ethereum blockchain node; the goal being to give
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everyone the possibility (if they which so) to run their own blockchain
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node and HTTP service, mine some Ether, and use it to pay the
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transaction fee needed to register their username in Jami.
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Code of the Ethereum contract, the blockchain genesis file, and the
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NodeJS module (HTTP server) can be found here :
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[1](https://git.jami.net/savoirfairelinux/jami-nameservice)
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### Running a Jami Node
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#### Pre-requisites:
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1. Geth 1.8.23+ (download from [HERE](https://geth.ethereum.org/downloads/))
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2. Jami genesis file (download from [HERE](https://git.jami.net/savoirfairelinux/jami-nameservice/blob/master/instructions/genesis.json))
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#### Joining the Jami Network
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The process of joining the Jami network is similar to the process of joining a regular ethereum network with the difference that the genesis file is used to initialize the data directory.
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1. Download the Jami genesis file from the Jami github repo
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2. Create a directory on your computer which you will use to store the Jami blockchain data
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* Example for MacOS (/Users/username/jamichain)
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* Example for Linux (/home/username/jamichain)
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* Example for Windows (C:\Users\username\jamichain)
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3. Use geth to initialize the directory you created in (2) by running ```./geth --datadir /home/username/jamichain init genes is.json ```
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4. You can now start geth with the command-line options you need and specifying one of Jami's bootnodes as follows:
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```
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geth --datadir=/home/username/jamichain --syncmode=full --networkid 1551 --bootnodes "enode://11ba6d3bfdc29a8afb24dcfcf9a08c8008005ead62756eadb363523c2ca8b819efbb264053db3d73949f1375bb3f03090f44cacfb88bade38bb6fc2cb3d890a5@173.231.120.228:30301" console
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```
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This will start a geth daemon with an attached console which is now syncing with Jami's network.
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