CESS builds a new paradigm of storage: intelligent space management

Under the rapid development of the digital economy, the application of information technology has penetrated into every corner. The explosion of technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence has led to the generation and circulation of vast amounts of data every second. The surge in data liquidity is gradually revealing the limitations of traditional centralized cloud storage. The larger data volumes stored in centralized data centers make them more susceptible to attacks and leaks, while the centralized control of data by storage providers or platforms has increasingly highlighted issues such as profiting from selling data to third-party institutions and unauthorized leakage of private data.

It is against this industry backdrop that decentralized cloud storage models have emerged, aiming to provide enterprises and users with safer, more efficient, and flexible data management solutions. CESS, as a third-generation decentralized cloud storage protocol, is the first blockchain network to support large-scale commercial storage, dedicated to providing the best solutions for storing and retrieving high-frequency dynamic data in Web3.

CESS addresses the industry challenges faced by most decentralized storage projects through innovative technology, establishing a new paradigm of decentralized cloud storage in the Web3 era, supporting the return of data ownership to users, providing higher data security and privacy, and continuously creating a value-connected and shared data value network, bringing a true revolution to the field of data storage.

So, how does CESS construct this new storage paradigm? We will introduce CESS's storage functions, storage services, technical features, and innovative advantages one by one, explaining from a technical perspective how CESS will bring a new paradigm of decentralized storage to the Web3 industry. This article will focus on CESS's Smart Space Management, detailing how CESS effectively avoids waste of storage resources and achieves maximum utilization of network space through intelligent space management, utilizing "pooling" technology and scheduling.

Space Classification

The storage space in the CESS network is divided into three categories: unverified space, idle space, and active space.

Unverified Space: Unverified space refers to the space reported by storage nodes themselves. This part of the space is specified by miners through configuration items, indicating how much hard disk space is to be used for the CESS network. The larger the specified space, the more CESS tokens are staked, but this unverified space does not generate any income.

Idle Space: Idle space must be verified space. For the entire CESS network, it refers to space that can be purchased, while for users, it refers to the remaining space available for storing data. For storage nodes, it refers to the space for storing idle data, which can earn income for the storage nodes.

Active Space: When a user file needs to be stored, the storage node will select sufficient space from the idle space for replacement. The replaced space is referred to as active space. Active space can earn more income for the storage nodes.

Storage Node Space Management

As an important role in the CESS network, storage nodes are incentivized by providing verifiable storage space. How to manage the storage space of nodes distributed globally? CESS provides a standard paradigm through smart space management.

Under the management of storage node space, it is necessary to regularly check the hard disk status, calculate the available space on the hard disk and the space used by the storage node, and check the data of the storage node. This is mainly reflected in the following two aspects:

1. Ensure that storage nodes do not occupy more hard disk space than the specified configuration capacity. When the available hard disk space is less than 32GB, even if the configured capacity has not been reached, the storage node will still stop storing idle data;

2. Regularly clean up invalid data, including improperly formatted data, expired cached data, and data from failed challenges, ensuring that the data stored by the storage node is valid.

The storage node space management process is shown in the diagram below. After miners/node operators fill out the configuration file, the CESS network starts the storage node service, and the smart space management tasks begin immediately.

Before storing idle data, the storage node will check the hard disk status, and only when the available space is greater than 32GB and has not reached the configured capacity will it proceed with storage. Storing idle data can earn some income.

After the storage node stores user data, it will randomly select an idle data file to delete, while reporting this event to the network. The storage node will regularly clear invalid data.

Network-wide Space Management

After understanding storage space management, we need to ensure that the data of each storage node is verifiable to prevent malicious behavior. Storage nodes are part of a global distributed network, and each node provides varying storage power. To ensure that the data stored by nodes is verifiable, CESS has proposed a space management mechanism that reports all storage node spaces on-chain, managed uniformly by the chain to prevent malicious behavior by storage nodes.

The space management mechanism is divided into three stages:

1. Filling Stage: Storage nodes calculate idle files according to the rules for generating idle space files and seek TEE workers for authentication. The TEE worker generates a unique verifiable data for the storage node within the TEE, and the storage node reports the hash of this data to the CESS chain, which records and increases the idle space of the storage node.

(Click the article to learn about TEE workers: Understanding the Four Types of Nodes in the CESS Decentralized Storage Network)

2. Usage Stage: After the storage node has idle space, it will receive user data for storage, which will be processed to match the size of the idle data. Once the storage node confirms that the user data has been successfully stored, it will randomly delete an idle data file of corresponding size, while reporting this action to the CESS chain, which will increase the active space of the storage node and decrease the idle space.

3. Challenge Stage: After the storage node has idle space or active space, the CESS chain will periodically challenge the storage node. The storage node needs to complete the corresponding data challenge (calculating data proof) within the specified time and report the proof to the CESS chain. The CESS chain will verify the proof, rewarding successful verifications and penalizing failures.

Conclusion

CESS effectively classifies storage space through smart space management, setting scheduling tasks in the network space, intelligently allocating users' data to nodes distributed globally, maximizing and effectively utilizing storage space. The network-wide space management mechanism ensures that the data of storage nodes is verifiable.

CESS's smart space management achieves high availability and efficiency by coordinating and scheduling resources and loads across the entire network, presenting us with a storage space management paradigm --- a decentralized cloud storage network composed of numerous global nodes, effectively addressing issues of idle space and waste under a sound management mechanism, maximizing the utilization of storage space.