@requestnetwork/request-node
is a package part of the Request Network protocol.
This package allows you to run a full Request Node.
Request Nodes are the basic servers used to allow any user to communicate with the Request Network protocol, these servers abstract the complexity of the storage layer for the users. The users can easily create a request or execute an action on a request by sending messages to the Node.
The Request Node runs the two bottom layers of the Request Network protocol:
- Data-access layer: Indexes request transactions and batches them into blocks.
- Storage layers: Persists data from Data-access layer.
Therefore, the Node receives request transactions from users, batches them into blocks and persists them into the storage.
Once received by the Node, other request actors connecting to this Node can directly read the request transaction before it is persisted into the storage layer.
To use Infura to connect to an Ethereum node, get an infura token on infura.io and
use as provider "NETWORK_YOU_WANT.infura.io/v3/YOUR_INFURA_TOKEN"
.
The users can interact with a Request Node either by using the official Client-side Library or by sending manual HTTP requests to the API exposed by the server.
The API has the following endpoints:
Persists a request transaction and make it available for the other actors of the request.
POST /persistTransaction {BODY}
Field | Type | Description | Requirement |
---|---|---|---|
transactionData | {data: string} | Data of the request transaction from the transaction layer | Mandatory |
channelId | string | Channel used to group the transactions, a channel is used to represent a request | Mandatory |
topics | string[] | Topics to attach to the channel to allows the retrieval of the channel's transactions | Optional |
curl \
-d '{"channelId": "channelExample", "topics":["topicExample"], "transactionData":{"data": "someData"}}' \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-X POST http://localhost:3000/persistTransaction
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
meta | Object | Metadata of the response |
result | {} | Empty object |
Code | Description |
---|---|
422 | The input fields of the request are incorrect |
500 | The persistTransaction operation from DataAccess fails |
Get list of transactions corresponding to a specified channel id.
GET /getTransactionsByChannelId?{PARAMETER}
Field | Type | Description | Requirement |
---|---|---|---|
channelId | string | Channel used to search for transactions | Mandatory |
timestampBoundaries | {from: number, to: number} | Timestamps to search for transations in a specific temporal boundaries | Optional |
curl -i "http://localhost:3000/getTransactionsByChannelId?channelId=channelExample"
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
meta | Object | Metadata of the response |
result | {transactions: string[]} | List of transaction |
Code | Description |
---|---|
422 | The input fields of the request are incorrect |
500 | The getTransactionsByChannelId operation from DataAccess fails |
Since the Node doesn't implement a cache yet, all transactions have to be retrieved directly on IPFS. As a consequence, this request can take a long time if the topic requested indexes many transactions. This delay will be optimized with the implementation of a cache.
If you experience issues, look into the Graph mode.
Get transactions from channels indexed by a specified topic.
GET /getChannelsByTopic?{PARAMETER}
Field | Type | Description | Requirement |
---|---|---|---|
topic | string | Topic used to search for channels | Mandatory |
updatedBetween | {from: number, to: number} | Temporal boundaries when the channel has been lately updated | Optional |
curl -i "http://localhost:3000/getChannelsByTopic?topic=topicExample"
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
meta | Object | Metadata of the response |
result | {transactions: {[channelId]: string[]}} | List of transaction indexed by channel ids |
Code | Description |
---|---|
422 | The input fields of the request are incorrect |
500 | The getChannelsByTopic operation from DataAccess fails |
A Node can be deployed by anyone. Users interested by running their own node can do it with the following instructions:
npm install -g @requestnetwork/request-node
This will allow you to run the node with
request-node start
The Request Node source must be downloaded from Github and executed with Node.js.
git clone https://github.com/RequestNetwork/requestNetwork.git
cd packages/request-node
npm install
npm run build
The Request Node uses IPFS to store and share transactions in a private network. We use a private network to allow all nodes to connect to each other directly, instead of having to navigate through the public IPFS network.
To setup your IPFS node to the private network, you can run the following utility script:
yarn init-ipfs
An alternative data access relies on a Graph node, for better indexing & performance.
To enable it, set the GRAPH_NODE_URL
environment variable to a Graph node with the Request Storage Subgraph deployed and synced.
A Request Node can be started locally with the following command:
npm run start <options>
or
request-node start <options>
All command line options are optional.
The options used to run the server are defined as follows:
- The option is defined in the command line
- If the option is not defined in the command line, it is defined by the value of its corresponding environment variable
- If the environment variable is not defined, default value is used
Default values correspond to the basic configuration used to run a server in a test environment.
--port
Port for the server to listen for API requests- Default value:
3000
- Environment variable name:
$PORT
- Default value:
--networkId
Id of the Ethereum network used- Default value:
0
- Environment variable name:
$ETHEREUM_NETWORK_ID
- Default value:
--providerUrl
URL of the web3 provider for Ethereum- Default value:
http://localhost:8545
- Environment variable name:
$WEB3_PROVIDER_URL
- Default value:
--ipfsHost
Host of the IPFS gateway- Default value:
localhost
- Environment variable name:
$IPFS_HOST
- Default value:
--ipfsPort
Port of the IPFS gateway- Default value:
5001
- Environment variable name:
$IPFS_PORT
- Default value:
--ipfsProtocol
Protocol used to connect to the IPFS gateway- Default value:
http
- Environment variable name:
$IPFS_PROTOCOL
- Default value:
--ipfsTimeout
Timeout threshold to connect to the IPFS gateway- Default value:
10000
- Environment variable name:
$IPFS_TIMEOUT
- Default value:
--headers
Custom headers to send with the API responses (as a stringified JSON object)- Default value:
'{}'
- Environment variable name:
$HEADERS
- Default value:
--lastBlockNumberDelay
The minimum delay between getLastBlockNumber calls to ethereum network- Default value:
'10000'
- Environment variable name:
$LAST_BLOCK_NUMBER_DELAY
- Default value:
--storageConcurrency
Maximum number of concurrent calls to Ethereum or IPFS- Default value:
'200'
- Environment variable name:
$STORAGE_MAX_CONCURRENCY
- Default value:
--initializationStorageFilePath
Path to a file to persist the ethereum metadata and transaction index for faster initialization- Environment variable name:
$INITIALIZATION_STORAGE_FILE_PATH
- Environment variable name:
--logLevel
The maximum level of messages we will log- Environment variable name:
$LOG_LEVEL
- Available levels: ERROR, WARN, INFO and DEBUG
- Environment variable name:
--logMode
Defines the log format to use- Environment variable name:
$LOG_MODE
- Available modes:
human
is a more human readable log to display during developmentmachine
is better for parsing on CI or deployments
- Environment variable name:
--persistTransactionTimeout
Defines the delay in seconds to wait before sending a timeout when creating or updating a request- Default value: 600
- Environment variable name:
$PERSIST_TRANSACTION_TIMEOUT
--externalUrl
External url of the node (used to identified where the buffer data are stored before being broadcasted on ethereum)- Environment variable name:
$EXTERNAL_URL
- Environment variable name:
--graphNodeUrl
External url of the Graph node, if any. If specified, this will replace the traditional data access with the Graph implementation. Default is undefined. See TheGraph mode.- Environment variable name:
$GRAPH_NODE_URL
- Environment variable name:
The wallet used to append data into Ethereum blockchain is generated with a mnemonic.
The environment variable $MNEMONIC
need to be set to the corresponding mnemonic.
If the environment variable is not set, the default mnemonic is:
candy maple cake sugar pudding cream honey rich smooth crumble sweet treat
This mnemonic should only be used for testing.
The Request Node can be deployed with Docker. The Docker image is available on the DockerHub. Please refer to the RequestNetwork/docker-images repository for instructions on how to use this image.
See instructions in Dockerfile.dev.
To run a Request Node locally for tests, make sure you have the necessary IPFS and Ethereum nodes available.
You can run the following steps to launch a fully local test Request Node:
git clone https://github.com/RequestNetwork/requestNetwork.git
cd requestNetwork
yarn install
yarn build
ipfs daemon
cd packages/request-node
yarn init-ipfs
5. Launch ganache with the default Request Node mnemonic
ganache-cli -l 90000000 -p 8545 -m \"candy maple cake sugar pudding cream honey rich smooth crumble sweet treat\"
cd packages/smart-contracts
yarn deploy
cd ../packages/request-node
yarn start
Open a browser and navigate towards: http://localhost:3000/status You can see the details of your local Request & IPFS nodes.
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change. Read the contributing guide