- Project: VeBlocks NodeAccess 2023
- Team Name: MiRei - I am happy to provide a detailed resume via email but not happy to have it on github.
- Payment Address: 0xbB8bF4bbe1Eb688343d58fbA1975aCd442B9cA1c USDC (ERC 20)
Another year has passed and the 3rd milestone of the original grant (https://github.com/vechain/grant-program/blob/master/applications/VeBlocks_upgrade.md) for the VeBlocks public nodes came to an end: Delivering 12 months of free and unrestricted access to the VeChain blockchain (2022-2023). This included access to mainnet as well as testnet and a solo-sandbox.
VeBlocks is a community project created and managed by MiRei in October 2019 (https://twitter.com/MiRei83_/status/1186632017544388608). It is focused around the blockchain infrastructure of the VeChain blockchain (Mainnet, Testnet, etc.). Since then, Veblocks not only aggregates and visualizes blockchain statistics via https://veblocks.net, it also provides free, public and unrestricted access to full-archive-nodes of the Vechain blockchains via https://nodes.veblocks.net. The idea is to have a "ready-to-go" solution and lower the threshold and initial cost for new developers. This benefits every developer building on Vechain blockchain and removes all hardware-limitations to get started.
With this grant, I apply for 24 (2x12) months of support for keeping the Veblocks nodes free for public access.
As mentioned in the overview, the basic functionality to access the vechain blockchain is already adapted. Hosting a public VeChain node requires powerful hardware. Fast responding nodes are achieved via virtualisation on a dedicated bare-metal server with the newest generation of CPUs and NVMe SSDs. To provide high-availability, load-balancing and clustering of the backend infrastructure additional bare-metal server in different locations are needed.
The backend consist of:
- Two dedicated bare-metal server in two different data-centers
- Each endpoint to have HTTP and HTTPS capabilities and load-balance between at least two nodes
- Access through global CDN (Cloudflare)
- A maintenance- and continuance plan for 12/24 months
This kind of setup requires constant care and support, so a certain amount of time is needed per month to keep the nodes running. Since 2019 I figured that about 1.5 hours per month per server is sufficient.
The goal is to provide a robust, constant, long-term solution.
VeBlocks is already used by several applications, including
- the backend for https://visuals.veblocks.net
- the default gateway for Sync2
- the default gateway for https://insight.vecha.in
- the default gateway for https://explore.veblocks.net
- an optional gateway for Sync
- a sync-node for https://www.vechainstats.com
- the first choice for many developers bulding on VeChain
The team consists of:
- MiRei: I am a fulltime IT-professional for 20 years with focus on IT-infrastructures and IT-security. Because of an enormous amount of work, my focus has shifted away from the veblocks project in the recent weeks. With this grant I will be able to reevaluate these priorities.
| Milestone 1 | Milestone 2 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Duration | 365 d | 365 d | 730 d |
| Full-time equivalent (FTE) | 1,75 | 1,75 | 3,5 |
| Cost (up to $ 30,000) | $ 6,520 | $ 6,520 | $13,040 |
| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | monthly cost | This includes all human resources and data-center facilities for 12 months |
| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | monthly cost | This includes all human resources and data-center facilities for 12 months |