The Flux ecosystem is meeting the ever increasing demand for Web3 access and functionality. Global wide Fluxnode operators are coming online with new hardware everyday and keeping pace with scaling demands. The article covers how they are staying truly decentralized with their infrastructure and meeting enterprise level cloud-hosting demands.
One of the most common questions when deploying decentralized web applications on Web3 infrastructure is; ‘How does it scale?’ Scaling refers to allocating the required computing power, storage, and network services to meet the resource demands of an application. The goal is to increase the application performance to match the needs for its availability, especially as demand for the application grows.
When choosing the infrastructure for applications and other internet-based web products, Web 2.0 offers two choices; a self-managed on-premise solution and a cloud-hosted option. Either of these could very well be a viable solution, depending on the needs of the individual or business launching the application.
On-premise solutions offer advantages like complete control (over data, software, and hardware) and an overall lower cost of ownership from a long-term perspective. However, this solution also brings the responsibility of constant maintenance, upgrading, and other routine technicalities that require committed resources, contingency plans or redundancy to mitigate risks of downtime and data loss as well as ownership of and access to physical assets such as hardware, a building, network infrastructure and so on.
Cloud providers like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure stepped in to solve this problem, providing cloud-based solutions that effectively catered to many businesses and Tech-based enterprises. The early 2000s saw the dawn of several cloud companies running on different PaaS, SaSS, and IAAS solution models, but the major problem with these solutions? Centralization.
As of the last quarter of 2021, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud controlled 61% of the global cloud infrastructure services market, implying these three giants determined the fate of more than half of all businesses and enterprises running on the cloud. Putting so much of our web infrastructure on so few hands has serious potential for future problems.
Thankfully, one of the ideals of Web3 is allowing businesses and services to run permissionless on a decentralized web and thereby counterbalance the centralization brought on by ‘big-tech’.
This focus brings us back to the critical question of how to scale Web3 applications without sacrificing the core values of decentralization. “If there’s going to be the reign of a truly free web unmonopolized by a few data-curators, Web3 resources have to be available on the cloud, accommodate changing demands for computing power and resources, remain fast, efficient, and accessible — all outside the control of centralized entities” states Daniel Keller, CSO for Flux.
FluxNodes were explicitly developed to be just this; Permissionless, accessible on-cloud, efficient and scalable.
Addressing Web3 scaling needs with Flux
An integral part of the Flux ecosystem, FluxNodes is a scalable, cloud-based computational network compatible with the Web3 decentralized ideals.
FluxNodes uses the BaaS (Blockchain-as-a-service) business model. This way, it adopts the strengths of blockchain technology to address business scaling problems. Initially, BaaS models were mainly used for cryptocurrency projects to reinforce immutability. This is hardly surprising considering how Web3 has grown almost synchronously with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency advancements.
In the past, there have been a few noteworthy attempts to solve the problem of scaling Web3 applications. Companies like List and Neo have made significant strides towards achieving this in the past but could not break through the decentralization hurdle, so what makes FluxNodes different (and successful)?
Related: https://fluxhighway.com/flux-as-oracle-network-is-8th–in-total-value-secured-price-jump-march-2022/
First, the FluxNodes network consists of multiple nodes, thousands of them, operating worldwide. The redundant nature of the FluxOS operating system that FluxNodes run-on ensures that if a node goes down, another node immediately picks up, ensuring there are no gaps in the availability of running applications. But here’s an even more exciting fact, projects such as Lisk could only make their nodes available to a select few. In contrast, FluxNodes are open to anyone regardless of location as long as they meet the requirements. Fluxnodes can be run from any location and with any hardware capable of meeting the system requirements.
The required standards?
Holding an amount of Flux (the ecosystem POW native coin) and possessing enterprise-grade hardware to run the nodes. This way, Flux addresses the scaling needs of businesses and applications through sheer computing power provided by thousands of nodes worldwide.
In addition, these nodes are decentralized both geographically and in terms of operations. FluxNodes operators also choose their equipment to run their nodes, ranging from a raspberry pi to dedicated VPS servers.
The Flux ecosystem uses an incentivized distributed enterprise hardware system that allows operators to get rewarded for providing computing power to the system (aha, we’re talking Web3 ideals).
Related: https://fluxhighway.com/flux-node-profitability-increase-halving-and-titan-rewards-march-2022/
There are three tiers of FluxNodes with different levels of required Flux collateral, hardware specifications, and rewards. They include the Cumulus tier, Nimbus tier, and Stratus tier, all named after cloud families. For more on these tiers, economics, and how you can get started running FluxNodes, check the Flux official page here.
As another means of scaling, more tiers and types of nodes can be introduced to meet any new requirements that arise as Web3 matures and develops. Soon shared nodes will also be introduced enabling more people to take part in building the Flux network and enabling even further decentralization
With Flux, business owners can run decentralized applications, games, and other applications on Web3. The flexibility of the Flux ecosystem makes it easy to build next-generation blockchain applications and infrastructure.
But how will this impact the scalability of the applications run on the Flux computational network?
From Scaling to Scalability
Scalability concerns are a problem that has plagued and, in a way, continues to plague many blockchain projects. Blockchain scalability has to do with the number of transactions a network can process per second, usually measured in TPS (transactions per second). Typically, as the number of nodes increases, scalability generally decreases. For example, Ethereum has a TPS between 25–and 30 TPS, while Bitcoin has only 5–to 7 TPS. So, as the number of nodes on the Flux network increases, will users not be confronted with slower transaction speeds? Not really, as Flux is not dependent on a high TPS for the computational network to be highly efficient. Flux doesn’t need to scale for TPS, but rather for computational resources, memory, and storage. The strength of the Flux computational network is based on raw power, more nodes mean more power and the ability to launch more and more complex application instances.
Flux addresses this problem from a unique perspective. To operate many globally distributed nodes and not risk the combined network power stagnating, the network halves the staking requirements for node operators. This halving, in turn, enables more node operators to participate, effectively doubles the network’s computing power with each collateral halving, and, by doing so, resolves simple scalability issues. The network is also able to scale by changing the minimum system requirements for each tier. Recently Flux did both at the same time, lowering node collaterals while simultaneously increasing node system requirements. The result is the exponential growth of the Flux computational network, it is now the most powerful decentralized network in Web3.
In 2021, Flux deployed significant upgrades to its ecosystem, allowing users to host more complicated applications while enabling operators to run and maintain nodes more efficiently. Web3, Blockchain technology, and everything running on it has come to stay. The Flux ecosystem makes it easier for businesses and enterprises to scale effortlessly without losing out on any benefits.
Although the material contained in this website was prepared based on information from public and private sources that Fluxhighway.com believes to be reliable, no representation, warranty or undertaking, stated or implied, is given as to the accuracy of the information contained herein, and Fluxhighway.com expressly disclaims any liability for the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this website.
Via this site: https://fluxofficial.medium.com/fluxnodes-infrastructure-scaling-on-a-decentralized-web3-aca9aa503326
