Understanding the Four Types of Nodes in the CESS Decentralized Storage Network
Four main types of nodes: storage nodes, consensus nodes, cache nodes, retrieval nodes.CESS, as a third-generation decentralized cloud storage protocol, is not only the first blockchain network to support large-scale commercial storage but also a secure, efficient, open-source, and scalable decentralized storage network. In the CESS protocol, storage is highly valued and regarded as a type of resource. In the CESS ecosystem, users who need storage are seen as "consumers" of this resource, while the four types of nodes in the network act as efficient and reliable "suppliers."
The CESS blockchain network plays a crucial role as a "dispatcher" and "notary," responsible for managing and optimizing the storage resources of producers, ensuring that consumers receive unified, efficient, and convenient storage services. This article will focus on the four types of nodes acting as "suppliers," detailing their functions, roles, and participation methods within the CESS network.
The CESS network operates under the principle of decentralization, requiring multiple roles to participate, operate, and maintain it together. In the initial stage of network creation, four main types of nodes are needed:
- Storage Nodes: Primarily responsible for providing space, storing data, and computing proofs.
- Consensus Nodes: Mainly responsible for consensus elections, transaction execution, block validation, and generation within the CESS network.
- Cache Nodes: Responsible for caching frequently accessed storage data for users to retrieve data more quickly.
- Retrieval Nodes: Responsible for retrieving target data from the network for users, including obtaining data from cache nodes or storage nodes.
The four types of nodes, based on their different functions, each play their roles and cooperate within the CESS network hierarchy. Among them, consensus nodes and storage nodes form the storage resource layer to maintain the integrity of data objects. Cache nodes and retrieval nodes form the content distribution layer to ensure the availability of data objects. Regarding the bottom-up multi-layer network architecture design adopted by CESS, we have introduced it in the CESS mechanism detailed series articles. If you are interested in learning more, please scroll to the end and click on the relevant links. Next, we will continue to introduce the four main nodes in the CESS network.
Storage Nodes
Any machine willing to relinquish idle storage resources can join the CESS network and earn incentives by providing verifiable storage space. This space can be divided into "idle" and "serviced." Idle space is filled by the node itself, while serviced space can only store data from users. Idle space is by default managed by the CESS network and is always ready to be replaced by serviced data. Storage incentives are distributed based on the proportion of storage power across the network. Therefore, storage nodes are primarily responsible for providing space, storing data, and computing proofs.
How to participate as a storage node (Storage Node Manual):
https://docs.cess.cloud/cess-build-book/storage-miner
Consensus Nodes
As mentioned earlier, consensus nodes are primarily responsible for consensus elections, transaction execution, block validation, and generation within the CESS network. Consensus nodes are generally divided into two modules: chain nodes and TEE Workers.
On one hand, the chain node module is responsible for maintaining the world state of the blockchain network, including:
1) Recording various system source information such as storage nodes and storage data;
2) Recording the verification status of storage proofs;
3) Data settlement and recovery.
On the other hand, the TEE Worker module serves as the "data certification station" in the CESS network. All user data can only be considered "serviced data" by the network after being certified by the TEE Worker, and it counts towards storage power. At the same time, TEE Workers have the ability to certify data filled by storage nodes. TEE Workers need to support TEE (initially compatible with SGX).
As important participants in consensus elections and block packaging within the CESS network, consensus nodes possess the following characteristics:
- Record and store all transaction results and status changes
- Form a peer-to-peer network through decentralized communication among nodes
- Ensure the security of chain data and the continuous growth of the consensus algorithm
- Compute hashes for blocks and utilize cryptographic algorithms for signing and verifying transactions
- Consensus nodes are developed using the open-source Substrate framework from Polkadot, which provides inherent advantages.
How to participate as a consensus node (Consensus Node Manual):
https://docs.cess.cloud/cess-build-book/consensus-miner
Retrieval Nodes
This node provides data retrieval services to users. Whether from cache nodes or storage nodes, retrieval nodes can quickly find the data users need and provide it to them. Retrieval nodes offer data retrieval services to the network by responding to Get requests for the data retrieved for users. Upon receiving a read data request, retrieval nodes will look for the storage node with the best overall performance to improve data reading efficiency.
Unlike storage nodes: retrieval nodes do not need to provide collateral, do not need to submit storage data, and do not need to provide storage proofs.
Unlike consensus nodes: retrieval nodes do not need to package transactions or verify transactions.
Participation method: Coming soon.
Cache Nodes
Cache nodes are specifically responsible for caching data that is accessed frequently, allowing users to retrieve the information they need more quickly. Once the CESS network matures, with a large number of storage users joining the CESS network, there will be a vast amount of data stored in the network, and the performance of uploading, retrieving, and downloading data will be challenged. To address this, the CESS network has designed cache nodes. Cache nodes assist market transactions by quickly pushing data to users, consensus nodes, and storage nodes through data indexing and distribution. To create effective incentives, miners operating cache nodes will receive mining rewards.
Participation method: Coming soon.
Conclusion
In summary, the CESS distributed storage system, through its carefully designed four main nodes: storage nodes, consensus nodes, cache nodes, and retrieval nodes, forms the storage resource layer and content distribution layer within the CESS network, ensuring data availability and integrity, and providing users with a stable and efficient decentralized storage solution.
Understanding the CESS Network Architecture
Detailed Explanation of CESS Mechanism (1): Multi-layer Network Architecture Design
Detailed Explanation of CESS Mechanism (4): Application Layer
