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Comparing NFT Standards - ERC-721 vs ERC-721a vs ERC-1155

Wanna be in the same league as Damien Hirst, DC, and Niftys? Then build your NFT
on the Palm network! 

Infura and Palm NFT Studio [https://twitter.com/PalmNft] are excited to announce
that the Palm network is now available to all users of Infura. Nearly 430,000
developers now have access to create NFTs on the Palm network. 

The Palm NFT Studio

The Palm network is an Ethereum sidechain dedicated to selling, purchasing, and
trading NFTs that are associated with real-world and digital assets. Palm
provides low gas costs and fast transaction finality. The network is over 99%
more energy efficient than Proof of Work-based blockchain networks, providing
artists with a more sustainable solution today, while Ethereum upgrades to Proof
of Stake in the Merge, tentatively scheduled for release in July 2022.

The Palm NFT Studio has collaborated with Damien Hirst
[https://palm.io/studio/damien-hirst-currency-nft-updates/], DC
[https://palm.io/studio/creating-a-sustainable-future-for-digital-fandoms/], 
Niftys and Warner Brothers
[https://palm.io/studio/niftys-launches-the-matrix-resurrections-nft-project-on-the-palm-network/] 
and other artists in minting NFTs on the Palm network. 

How to mint an NFT on Palm

For users looking to mint NFT projects, the Palm network provides an effective
solution to create NFTs that are able to be bridged back to Ethereum.

To access the Palm mainnet or testnet endpoints, here’s how to get started:

1. Login [http://infura.io/login] to your Infura account and select an existing
Ethereum project (or create a new Ethereum project
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/create-a-project] if you have not yet). 

2. Click on the settings of the project to view the Palm API endpoints
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/palm/getting-started/accessing-palm-api-endpoints]
.

Using Palm mainet and testnet is free as part of all Infura plans, and requests
sent to the API count as part of your existing plan. No action is required to
activate Palm, and the availability of Palm testnet allows you to have an
environment to begin developing and testing your NFT project before going live. 

See our documentation on Palm [https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/palm] for
more information, as well as links to helpful tutorials
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/palm].

Get in touch and start building

Interested in creating your own NFTs, but do not know where to start? 

Learn more from Infura’s Director of Engineering, Kris Shinn, on minting NFTs
using Infura and Replit [/minting-nfts-with-infura-and-replit/], based on his 
EthDenver 2022 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kim7T4GDFOM] presentation. 

Let us know how you are using NFTs in our Discord and feel free to ask questions
in our community [https://community.infura.io/]. 

Just getting started with Infura? Our docs will get you building
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/].

Ethereum Network Updates, Upgrades, Hard Forks

Infura - Ethereum Network Updates

Network

The Palm network is now available for all NFT creators on Infura

Last July, we published Ethereum JavaScript Libraries: web3.js vs. ethers.js
(Part I) [/ethereum-javascript-libraries-web3-js-vs-ethers-js-part-i/] to
provide “a comparison of web3.js and ethers.js, focusing on their similarities
and differences, so that you can better understand the nuances of the
libraries.”

To recap, we dove into the documentation of both libraries. We then used a
modified version of a software evaluation framework Andres Canal established in
his article “Using Quill,js to Build a WYSIWYG Editor for your Website
[https://www.scalablepath.com/blog/using-quill-js-build-wysiwyg-editor-website/]
” to guide the reader toward making the best decision in choosing which library
to use.

The article was “written with the intent of educating developers to understand
the tradeoffs between the two libraries to be able to make a decision of which
library to use for their particular use case.”

How have the conclusions from that article changed over the course of the past
year?

Table 1: Comparison of Conclusions about Web3.js and Ethers.js

July 2020October 2021Web3.js has a community of users and maintainers associated
with the Ethereum Foundation. Web3.js has a good API reference and has been
around since 2015. Many projects are using it and the library has been the go-to
in many "Build Your First dApp" tutorials.Web3.js is best for those who prefer
the most-used Ethereum javascript library that is also maintained by a
blockchain-focused firm. Web3.js's strengths are its tests and community.
Documentation is currently modest in design and scope and can definitely be
improved.Ethers.js is excellent because it is a small, compact library with a
large number of test cases. It has good “Getting Started” documentation, making
it accessible to new users. Developers find ethers.js simple and intuitive and
the library has gained in popularity over the past two years, seeing increased
downloads and usage by projects.Ethers.js is best for those who prefer
lightweight, user-friendly libraries with robust testing and documentation.
Ethers.js’s strengths are its documentation, tests and community. It could have
more maintainers in order to create some redundancy in the development team -
currently a single individual.

Let’s dive into the updated data and explain why these conclusions have changed.

1) How important is the popularity of the library?
To use Andres Canal’s definition,

“A popular project on Github means exactly what you expect it to. Namely, that
there are lots of people questioning, contributing, and supporting it. This
activity tends to result in more reliable software. You can check the popularity
of any project by looking at how many stars it has, how many issues are opened,
how many pull requests are pending, and how many contributors worked on the
project.”

Web3.js has about 11,600 stars
[https://github.com/ChainSafe/web3.js/pulse/monthly] and ethers.js 3,100
[https://github.com/ethers-io/ethers.js/pulse/monthly] as of Oct. 14, 2021. 
Web3.js is used by 112,849 repositories
[https://github.com/ChainSafe/web3.js/network/dependents?package_id=UGFja2FnZS0xNTA1NzY4MA%3D%3D]
, compared with 65,519 for ethers.js
[https://github.com/ethers-io/ethers.js/network/dependents?package_id=UGFja2FnZS0xNjEzMjI4Ng%3D%3D]
.

Looking back to July 2020, Web3.js had nearly 8,800 stars while ethers.js had
nearly 1,500. Web3.js was used by 51,300 repositories on GitHub, compared with
18,500 for ethers.js. 

Web3.js remains the more popular library, but impressively for both libraries,
their dependencies have at least doubled over this time period. Web3.js remains
more popular, but the overall pie of dependent projects has grown from about
69,800 to 178,368. We will dive more into the dependencies in question 3.

2) How important is the maintenance of the library?
To quote ourselves from the last article,

“We want to use libraries that are updated frequently, so that bugs are squashed
and new features are added. Though it is not perfect, looking at a month (or
two) of commits, closed issues, active issues, and the number of maintainers
over that time period can give a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of an
open source project. This also reveals patterns of maintenance, giving some
insight to the user of a library when updates and bug fixes are generally
addressed, which can be used as a proxy metric for maintenance of the library.”

Using the same metrics from our last article, we see the following for both
libraries.

Table 2: GitHub Monthly Pulse for Sept. 14, 2021 to Oct. 14, 2021

LibraryCommits to Main BranchClosed IssuesActive IssuesMaintainersweb3.js2060107
10ethers.js217391
GitHub Pulse now reveals some additional useful information about the libraries,
which gives us even more context of why we are seeing what we are seeing.

For web3.js, we can see that a single individual is responsible for the majority
of the commits, though there are three individuals that have 10 or more commits.
This is something I see as a plus. This means there is redundancy built into the
development team, in case someone were to stop contributing to the project.
Web3.js has 121 commits to branches other than the main branch, as web3.js is
transitioning off of the 1.x version as outlined in this blogpost the roadmap
for web3.js
[https://medium.com/chainsafe-systems/the-future-of-web3-js-v3-0-0-release-ecc9feecb2de] 
(which we will reference again in the next section). This indicates a lot of
work is going into the future releases.

For ethers.js, Richard Moore continues to be the sole maintainer of the library,
but there are many more people contributing to the project by opening and
closing issues on the GitHub repository, indicating that there is a community of
individuals committed to the health of the library. By virtue of a single
maintainer, it is not surprising to see fewer overall commits.

3) Who is responsible for the development of the library and how many projects
use it?
ChainSafe [https://chainsafe.io/] is the lead maintainer of the web3.js library, 
having received a grant from the Ethereum Foundation to “continue the
maintenance and further development”
[https://medium.com/chainsafe-systems/chainsafe-receives-grant-from-ef-for-web3js-9e4376f5f36a] 
of web3.js in September 2020. ChainSafe’s outline of the future plans for
web3.js
[https://medium.com/chainsafe-systems/the-future-of-web3-js-v3-0-0-release-ecc9feecb2de]
reveals major changes coming, such as the deprecation of web3-bzz and web3-shh
packages in version 3.x and an eventual move to Typescript in version 4.x. These
are exciting additions, but the tradeoff is that ChainSafe will need time to
realize these while maintaining the existing library.

Ethers [https://ethers.org/] is the lead maintainer of the ethers.js library,
which is Richard Moore’s project, so we can think of Richard Moore = Ethers.
Ethers has been the lead maintainer of the project since the inception of it.
This can be a risk for some projects, but in this case, it has made ethers.js
very quick in adding features and capabilities. For example, ethers.js is fully
TypeScript-ready with “definition files and full TypeScript source” according
to
the documentation [https://docs.ethers.io/v5/#features]. 


Table 3: Dependent Repository and Package Counts, October 15, 2021

LibraryDependent RepositoriesDependent Packagesweb3.js113,0184,685ethers.js
66,9503,505

Web3.js, likely due to the longer existence of the project, has more
repositories and packages that are dependent upon it. When compared with metrics
from our last article, ethers.js is closing the gap with web3.js when it comes
to dependent packages.

4) How important is it that the library has tests?
Answer: Very important to any dApp developer worth their salt. Luckily for us,
both libraries have gotten even better since our last article.

Ethers.js has a test suite API documented for the current v5 release on their
GitHub repository [https://docs.ethers.io/v5/testing/]. The documentation of
the
testing is very impressive [https://docs.ethers.io/v5/testing/]. Check it out.

Web3.js has added test documentation
[https://github.com/ChainSafe/web3.js/blob/1.x/TESTING.md] since our last
article. This documentation, based on my personal inspection, appears robust and
clearly written.

I believe ethers.js has the lead, but web3.js has done a great job catching up
in terms of its tests and their documentation, and I feel both have great
coverage when it comes to tests. Tests are a strength for both libraries now.

5) How important is the number of downloads of the library?
As of Oct. 15, 2021, web3.js has 30,767,910 downloads
[https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=web3&from=2015-01-01&to=2021-10-15] 
and ethers.js has 24,284,490 downloads
[https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=ethers&from=2015-01-01&to=2021-10-15].
Compare that with May 20, 2020, when we first looked at this statistic, when
web3.js had 14,703,432
[https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=web3&from=2015-01-01&to=2020-05-20] 
downloads and ethers.js had 8,500,336
[https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=ethers&from=2015-01-01&to=2020-05-20]
downloads. The overall pie has grown, but the difference in downloads is
surprisingly close: a difference in total downloads of 6,484,420 on Oct. 15,
2021 compared with a difference of 6,203,096 in late May of 2020. 

When we look at weekly downloads, the two libraries are practically even: 
web3.js at 330,102 [https://www.npmjs.com/package/web3] and ethers.js at 339,318
[https://www.npmjs.com/package/ethers]. Weekly downloads of both libraries have
nearly doubled since we last checked this statistic (May 20, 2020, for those
following along): web3.js at 175,661 [https://www.npmjs.com/package/web3] and
ethers.js at 184,798 [https://www.npmjs.com/package/ethers].

6) How important is web performance?
Web performance is indirectly measured by comparing the size of the libraries,
as we are assuming smaller libraries take less time to load in the browser. 

Both libraries are small. Web3.js has decreased the size of the library to 7.28
MB [https://www.npmjs.com/package/web3] unpacked (unpacked refers to the size of
the library when published) from 10.6 MB when we last checked. Ethers.js touts
its very small size, which has increased to 322 kb uncompressed
[https://www.npmjs.com/package/ethers] from 284 kb uncompressed over the same
time period. It’s unclear what occupies 322 kb within ethers.js. NPM shows
ethers.js 10.2 MB unpacked, and I confirmed this when I downloaded to my
personal machine and calculated the size of the ethers.js package using the
Finder application on Macs. So we have to take ethers.js's word that it is small
in size, which is a big plus, though I do need to do further research to confirm
this claim is valid.

7) How important is the quality of the documentation?
Ethers.js is the clear winner when it comes to the quality of the documentation
of the library and it stands out for three key reasons.

 1. Ethers.js has an extensive “Getting Started Guide,” which helps a user
    orient themselves to both the library and the vocabulary of Ethereum.
 2. Ethers.js has useful call outs and additional information provided as part
    of the documentation, giving the end user visual cues, convenient links, and
    other helpful user experience features that make reading and using the
    documentation an enjoyable experience.
 3. Ethers.js documentation has an extremely useful feature - a toggle to single
    page view, in which all documentation is provided on a single page. This
    makes using “Ctrl + f” in the documentation a breeze, and helps with finding
    the method you are looking for quickly.

Web3.js has not had many visible changes to the documentation since our last
article and could use an update to make the user experience more pleasant.

An indirect additional comment on the documentation - ethers.org provides a very
helpful “playground,” where you can try out the library in browser: 
https://playground.ethers.org/. This useful feature lets a user get started
playing around with the library quickly and easily. While it could be argued
that remix.ethereum.org provides a similar playground experience for web3.js,
this is not the goal of remix, and remix support ethers.js as well.

8) How important is the overall usage of the library?
The last time we looked at the numbers, web3.js was the clear winner in overall
usage, with ethers.js gaining users at a rate that appeared that it would only
be time before ethers.js caught up to web3.js. The results today show that both
have healthy ecosystems and a large number of users. My personal belief is that
the overall growth of the ecosystem shows that both libraries have been adopted
by a significant number of projects and users. So, while web3.js has more
downloads, stars, and overall metrics, ethers.js is competitive to web3.js in
its usage. It’s fair to say both have been widely adopted.

9) How important is the license?
This is one area that has not changed since we last reported. Web3.js still has
the LGPLv3 license and ethers.js the MIT license. I am not a lawyer, and so this
is the hardest area for me to pick a winner. It is worth reviewing Slava
Todavchich’s article “Understanding open-source and free software licensing
[https://medium.com/@moqod_development/understanding-open-source-and-free-software-licensing-c0fa600106c9]
,” which we suggested in our July 2020 blogpost.

But wait... there is a new category!

10) How important is the community and community experience?
Yes, I am adding a new way to evaluate the two libraries, based on my experience
in Developer Relations and Software Community. I am personally looking for
robust channels where developers using the software can interact with one
another, find information about updates and hotfixes, share their use cases and
help each other debug their code. The best software projects provide this for
their users and it is a differentiating factor.

Web3.js and ethers.js have both embraced Discord as a means to communicate
directly with their community of developers. Web3.js lives within the ChainSafe
Discord Server, in the channel #web3js-general. Web3.js has used this channel
not just to interact with developers, but  as of September 2021, to promote a
web3.js developer survey to help drive the direction of changes for version 4.x
of web3.js. Ethers.js utilizes the EF JavaScript Team Discord Server, in the
#ethers channel. Both are active channels with communication on a daily basis.

Both also use Twitter to communicate changes to their audiences, though both
have relatively light follower counts. @web3_js [https://twitter.com/web3_js] 
(1,250 followers) and @ethersproject [https://twitter.com/ethersproject] (1,279
followers) only tweet to announce updates and changes to the libraries, serving
as another way for notifications about updates to get through to developers.

ChainSafe also uses their Medium account to post some updates
[https://medium.com/chainsafe-systems] about web3.js, though not a regular
cadence.

GitHub continues to be a source of discussion for communities of both libraries,
though the shift to Discord by both reflects a growing trend in the Ethereum
community, as well as in software communities in general, to commit to this tool
for a mix of synchronous and asynchronous communication.

The verdict is that both take development and interaction with their communities
seriously.

What’s the next step? 

You should go ahead and test out the libraries themselves with Infura, and we
created a tutorial for just this purpose: Ethereum JavaScript Libraries:
web3.js
vs ethers.js (Part II)
[/ethereum-javascript-libraries-web3-js-vs-ethers-js-part-ii/]. The best way to
see if my evaluation is valid is to kick the tires on both libraries.

In conclusion, instead of declaring a winner, it seems that Ethereum itself is
benefitting from having two leading JavaScript front-end libraries. More
libraries being built that can utilize the features of web3.js and ethers.js
will push them to be even better (like web3-react
[https://github.com/NoahZinsmeister/web3-react], for example). In updating this
article, I have been struck by the growth of downloads and dependencies of both
libraries, making me of the opinion that you can choose either and feel
comfortable with the decision. I hope this illuminated some ways you can
evaluate both to choose what works best for you.

Get started [https://infura.io/register] building on Infura for free today.

Ethereum JavaScript Libraries: Web3.js vs Ethers.js: An Update

As the clock ticks down to the Merge, the Teku and Infura teams have continued
refining their collaboration. In case you missed it, these two teams have
created an eye-poppingly fast Ethereum 2.0 client sync experience
[https://consensys.net/blog/teku/teku-and-infura-team-up-to-make-the-fastest-ethereum-2-0-client-sync/]
. Since then, they have continued refining their integration and made some
important discoveries and improvements.

Attestations with Teku
One of those discoveries was that validators linked to a remote beacon node
could have significant performance issues: specifically, a lot of missed
attestations. Obviously, this is a pretty crucial issue. It turned out to be not
just a problem with a remote beacon node, but specifically a remote beacon node
behind load balancers, including Infura’s load balancers. 

If you’re interested in the blow-by-blow, check out the Github issue here
[https://github.com/ConsenSys/teku/issues/4090].

The solution the team came to was to implement an option to disable early
attestation publishing when the block is received: 

--validators-early-attestations-enabled[=<FALSE>]

Find the full Teku documentation on this issue here
[https://docs.teku.consensys.net/en/latest/Reference/CLI/CLI-Syntax/#validators-early-attestations-enabled]
.

This option allowed validators connecting to Infura beacon nodes to have
performance equivalent to validators connected to a local beacon node, which in
and of itself is impressive. It would appear that this is a fix not just for
nodes connecting through Infura, but for any context where Teku validators are
using load-balanced beacon nodes.

The second innovation the team has made surrounding attestations is batch 
attestations. This consists of sending all attestations produced for a given
slot to the beacon node in a single batch. In the context of Infura, this allows
running a lot more validators without hitting rate limits.

The future of history
Another feature that the team has been working on, which isn’t quite ready yet
for a full release, is an innovative way to store historical state without
having a hard drive the size of the Library of Alexandria. 

With increasing adoption of decentralized technology, there is more and more
demand, and even novel use cases, for historical chain data. The most
top-of-mind for many in the space is tax compliance. Institutions and even
individuals are increasingly in need of solutions for being able to query,
quickly and cheaply, historical chain data.

Like most great things in this space, the solution being developed uses Merkle
tries. Without getting too deep into the woods (pun intended), as it’s not
finished yet, the technique essentially takes the difference between slots and
stores the branch updates. The applicability for this is tremendous, so watch
this space for more updates.

Safety through Diversity
As we approach the reality of Ethereum 2.0, more and more voices are calling out
a topic of vital importance: client diversity. The Ethereum Proof of Work
consensus mechanism is, at this point, venerable and battle-tested, at least in
blockchain terms, and is resistant to 51% of attacks. As the network transitions
to Proof of Stake, the threat remains that a single Ethereum client will be
running on a majority of validator nodes. This opens the door not only for a
malicious attack, but also for single points of failure bringing down the entire
network. 

For more explanation, check out this very readable primer
[https://blog.ethereum.org/2020/08/21/validated-why-client-diversity-matters/] 
that should bring a lot of issues into focus. There are so many reasons to make
the move to a Proof-of-Stake consensus model, and the network is on track to do
so. It would be a stunning failure of vision and quite simply, wildly unsafe to
move Ethereum to a PoS network that has a majority of any Ethereum client. 

Even if we were to assume that all clients were going to act in the best
interests of the network as a whole, which in and of itself is a leap most
aren’t willing to take, the Ethereum network is a sprawling global entity with
external dependencies. No client should be able to be a single point of failure
for the entire network. 

As we build the Beacon Chain and validators up and out, client diversity must be
included as an essential consideration.

Learn more about Infura’s Eth2 API here and sign up [https://infura.io/register] 
for a free account.

Teku + Infura to 2.0: How to Handle Attestations

SoK: Validating Bridges as a Scaling Solution for Blockchains

So, why would you need a hybrid infrastructure model alongside Infura? 

Let’s think about how your database is set up. You probably have your own
database, which is great. What happens if that database goes down? Would your
app continue to run seamlessly, delivering the experience you want your
customers to get? Or, would your database shutdown cause outages and crashes in
your app? 

If the dataset you’re hosting is a public dataset, you have a new paradigm for
making your infrastructure much more resilient and reliable by integrating
Infura into your overall strategy. Infura implements a reverse proxy pattern
internally and can be a highly reliable and performant node in your
infrastructure stack, allowing you the ability to have a portion (or all) of
your traffic routed to Infura. 

You can choose to keep your database as your primary database with Infura as a
backup, or vice versa. In this way, Infura will act as an always-on backup for
your database, providing a level of flexibility previously not available with a
single database running. 

You also have the opportunity to use Infura as a stats comparison tool to make
sure your performance is up to par. Alternatively, you may need to handle more
load (request traffic) than your infrastructure can currently handle. You can
route the overflow to an Infura project ID to handle spikes in traffic so your
service stays up and running. 

There are many opportunities for you to use Infura alongside your own in-house
node infrastructure to improve your user experience. Let’s dive a little deeper
on how we accomplish this.

What does it mean when Infura implements a reverse proxy pattern?
Let’s review what a normal proxy is first, and then we’ll flip it and reverse
it, a la Missy Elliott, to talk about the reverse proxy. A proxy server (or web
proxy or forward proxy) is a server located in front of a group of client
machines (computers). When those computers make requests, the proxy server
intercepts those requests and communicates with the target web servers on behalf
of those clients. Basically, a proxy is a fancy word for a request/response
middleman. 

If you’re a visual learner, here’s a diagram from Cloudflare that shows just
where that forward proxy sits:

What is a reverse proxy? 
A reverse proxy is a server that typically sits on the edge of your
infrastructure. It is responsible for receiving requests from web clients and
subsequently routing them to one or more backend web servers. 

Here’s another great diagram from Cloudflare to show how the reverse proxy fits
in to the whole flow:




One of the main reasons to use a reverse proxy server is load balancing,
ensuring the flow of traffic between clients and servers remains smooth. This is
one of the main advantages of using both your own node and Infura. In addition,
it allows you to cache content and provides web acceleration for improved
performance. Lastly, reverse proxies allow for more efficient, secure SSL
encryption and protection from DDoS attacks and related security issues. 

As we previously mentioned, Infura can be used as a reverse proxy to assist with
ensuring the flow of traffic for your clients and servers stays as smooth as
possible, making for a more enjoyable user experience.

Some examples of a reverse proxy in action
Let’s first look at how we can set up a very simple reverse proxy using Caddy. 

We will use our localhost and a backend HTTP service running on 127.0.0.1:9000
to make sure we’re getting our reverse proxy working correctly. 

First, download Caddy [https://caddyserver.com/]. Once that’s downloaded, check
out their Getting Started guide here
[https://caddyserver.com/docs/getting-started]. Or, follow along to learn how to
set up a simple reverse proxy! 


At this point, you may be running your own node, but since it takes too long to
sync one for this article, we can substitute with a simple NodeJS stub to check
that our reverse proxy is working correctly. I simply named mine main.js.


const http = require('http');

const hostname = '127.0.0.1';
const port = 9000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
   res.statusCode = 200;
   res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
   res.end('Reverse proxy success!\n');
});

server.listen(port, hostname, () => {
   console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});


This sets up a backend HTTP service running on 127.0.0.1:9000 mentioned earlier
and will display a “Reverse proxy success!” message if our proxy is working
correctly. To start this, run `node main.js` in a different terminal window and
leave that connection open! 

Next, we will want to create a Caddyfile
[https://caddyserver.com/docs/quick-starts/caddyfile] (literally create a new
text file in whatever directory you’re working in and name it Caddyfile). Once
you have that set up, we will set up our simple reverse proxy itself inside the
Caddyfile with just two lines: 

localhost 

reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:9000


In this instance, reverse_proxy is where we want to get our information from
(the original site), and localhost is where we are redirecting to using our
reverse proxy. 

Now, from the same directory as your Caddyfile in a new terminal window from
your `node main.js`, run:

caddy run


This will start the caddy server and will allow your reverse proxy to work! Now,
you’ll notice when you run this that you don’t see the “Reverse proxy success!”
message popping up. 

That’s because this just started the server. You now need to make a request to “
https://localhost” and you’ll see the message. To do this, open another terminal
window (that makes three now, for those of us keeping track), and simply run:

curl https://localhost


Running this command will give you the “Reverse proxy success!” message we were
looking for, and now you know you’ve successfully set up a simple reverse proxy. 

Enter Infura!
Now that we’ve gotten a basic reverse proxy up and running, let’s try one using
an Infura endpoint. We will keep our overall setup of using a Caddyfile the
same, but we won’t need the backend HTTP service running in the background, as
that will be switched to an Infura endpoint. 

We’re going to change up how our Caddyfile looks:

localhost 

reverse_proxy https://rinkeby.infura.io {
   header_up Host {/v3/<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>}
}


You will notice that we’ve added in a “header_up Host” inside the reverse_proxy 
section. This allows us to include our Project ID to both the Rinkeby endpoint
and the localhost endpoint we are proxying to. 

To test this out, we will need to send a request, so I used web3_clientVersion 
as an example: 

curl https://localhost/v3/<YOUR_PROJECT_ID> \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"web3_clientVersion","params": [],"id":1}'


When we run this, we get the following output: 

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"Geth/v1.10.8-omnibus-aef5bfb3/linux-amd64/go1.16.7"}


Cool! But how do I know my reverse proxy is working? Well, if you switch out
`localhost` in our curl command to `rinkeby.infura.io`, you get the same output,
which shows that our reverse proxy is running properly.

How do you use Infura as a backup for your own node?
We’re going to set things up initially the same as we did in the previous
example but with two upstreams, one to our localhost and the other to the Infura
node. 

Next, we’re going to set up load balancing. Now, what’s load balancing? Load
balancing acts like a traffic cop sitting in front of your application servers,
routing client requests across all the servers that can fulfill those requests
quickly and efficiently. 

So how do we set that up?

Since we’re using Caddy, we can refer to their docs
[https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/directives/reverse_proxy#load-balancing] 
for the basics of how to use more than one upstream. When we look at lb_policy,
there are many ways to determine which upstream Caddy will use first. Caddy will
default to using the first listed upstream and will move down the list if the
servers stop responding. In our example, we want to have localhost:9000 from our
main.js file be the first upstream, meaning we want our reverse proxy to send
the data through our localhost first, so we will identify that by putting it
first in our list of upstreams (we will leave our Infura Rinkeby endpoint in as
the second upstream): 

localhost

reverse_proxy localhost:9000 https://rinkeby.infura.io {
   header_up Host {/v3/66172ed429624788ac264604755ba42c}
}


Since we are using the localhost:9000 port, we want to get that server back up
and running. In another terminal window, start the Node server with node main.js
.

To make sure everything is set up correctly, let’s run our request through by
running the same request from earlier but with the :9000 port included,
expecting to get the “Reverse proxy success!” message:

curl http://localhost:3000/v3/<YOUR_PROJECT_ID> \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"web3_clientVersion","params": [],"id":1}'


and we get the following output: 

Reverse proxy success!


Excellent! Now, how do we incorporate the Infura endpoint to be a fallback? 

You’ll notice we left the Infura endpoint in our Caddyfile where it originally
stood and we asked our proxy to load balance using the first upstream (our
localhost), which was how we got that “Reverse proxy success!” message. 

Now that we confirmed that we set everything up correctly on our end, we’re
going to kill the localhost server, mimicking what would happen if your private
node went down. Once we do that, our requests should automatically start routing
to the Infura node and we should get something similar to the below output:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"Geth/v1.10.8-omnibus-aef5bfb3/linux-amd64/go1.16.7"}* Closing connection 0


But wait! We don’t get that! Instead, we get an error message. 

This is because Caddy only allows us to use either two HTTP or two HTTPS
endpoints - in our case, localhost is HTTP and our Infura endpoint is HTTPS. 

Luckily, there is a tool we can use to make this work with localhost that will
create a TLS certificate and sign it with a CA trusted locally by your device
and browser. That tool is called mkcert [https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert],
and it’s incredibly easy to install by following these steps
[https://web.dev/how-to-use-local-https/]. 

Keep in mind if you’re doing this with your own private HTTPS node, you likely 
will not need this additional step. 

If you are following our tutorial step-by-step (using localhost), be sure to
follow all the steps, including updating your main.js file to the below to
include the HTTPS requirement and the options constant. 

const https = require('https');
const fs = require('fs')
const options = {
   key: fs.readFileSync('<PATH_TO_CERTIFICATE-KEY_FILE>.pem'),
   cert: fs.readFileSync('<PATH_TO_CERTIFICATE_FILE>.pem')
};

const hostname = '127.0.0.1';
const port = 9000;

const server = https.createServer(options, function(req, res) {
   res.statusCode = 200;
   res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
   setTimeout(() => {res.end('Reverse proxy success!\n');}, 1000)
});

server.listen(port, hostname, () => {
   console.log(`Server running at https://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});


When you run the mkcert localhost command from the tutorial, the certificate key
file and certificate file used in the code above will be created.

Now that we have our localhost running with HTTPS, we can continue! Since we are
running everything with HTTPS, we need to update our Caddyfile to reflect those
changes.

localhost:3000 

reverse_proxy https://localhost:9000 https://rinkeby.infura.io {
   header_up Host {/v3/66172ed429624788ac264604755ba42c}
}


Now that we have all our files in order, let’s make sure our Node.js server is
running and send that request again. 

curl http://localhost:3000/v3/<YOUR_PROJECT_ID> \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"web3_clientVersion","params": [],"id":1}'


What do we get?

Reverse proxy success!


Perfect! That’s exactly what we want to get, as we have asked our reverse proxy
to go to https://localhost:9000 first. 

Now, what happens if we kill the Node server and send our request again?
Remember last time we did this, we got an error message. This time we should be
getting the result from our Infura Rinkeby node:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"Geth/v1.10.8-omnibus-aef5bfb3/linux-amd64/go1.16.7"}


Success! 

Our reverse proxy is, in essence, ignoring the localhost node, as it’s not
functioning, and is defaulting to the Infura Rinkeby node! 

Super easy, right? Now you know how to use Infura as a backup node to keep your
services up and running smoothly!

Where can I learn more about reverse proxies?
Take a look at our client story from MakerDAO
[https://infura.io/customers/maker]. They currently use Infura for a multitude
of reasons, including using us as a backup node solution to ensure all
developers can use the MakerDAO toolkit! 

Another great example is the Polygon PoS network
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/polygon-pos]. We initially began working
with Polygon to share some traffic load for their network, allowing users to
access the Polygon networks via Infura endpoints and effectively ensuring their
network remains fast and functional, regardless of traffic spikes they may see.
We have since increased our partnership so we are now handling 100% of their
network traffic. 

Check out this blog post
[https://consensys.net/blog/developers/how-to-save-time-on-devops-and-scale-with-infura-lessons-from-leading-ethereum-dapps/] 
highlighting multiple companies across all verticals using a hybrid
infrastructure model of their own nodes plus Infura. Get some ideas on how we
can help you accomplish your needs, from verifying transactions to providing
backup database services! 

If you would like to run an Infura node in addition to your own, sign up
[https://infura.io/register] for a free trial today.

How to Run Your Own Node AND an Infura Node

When enterprise developers build dapps on Ethereum, they often have to consider
the entire tech stack and development process. The list of considerations range
from application features such as Web2 interfaces to deployment, which is
usually on a permissioned network hosted by a preferred cloud provider. Since
most full-stack software engineers build off of SDKs and API calls, it’s
important to establish the value of the application with consideration of the
deployment network.


Get the best of both Web2 and Web3 worlds
Many enterprise blockchain business cases build on the principles of traditional
Web2 development. Web2 focuses on operating with a fluid user experience with
attention to detail on scalable and responsive code on multiple devices. A
valuable decentralized application (dapp) in Web3 redesigns the economics and
industry roles while building on complementary existing systems -- instead of
fully replacing those systems with analogous Web3 features. 

Say you would like to reinvent a syndicated loans issuance platform such as
IPREO. This effort would require significant IT resources to spin up a minimum
viable product from the ground up if you’re recreating features like tranche
issuance calculations or calendar date exceptions. Instead, consider a path to
lesser resistance: blockchain modules that connect these digital assets to new
liquidity networks. The functionality is a re-issuance of an existing financial
instrument to ABC network with a listing on XYZ automatic market maker rather
than the full end-to-end dashboard.

To connect to pockets of liquidity, an enterprise developer must deploy with the
same smart contract language that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual
Machine (EVM) and look to bridge the assets to networks with the desired
investor and issuer markets.

Why build on public Ethereum?
Until now, publishing enterprise dapps on Ethereum requires significant system
integration, executive buy-in and high set-up costs. Recently, we have seen more
public blockchains working with enterprises to cover non-functional technical
needs in order to meet minimum requirements of security audits and performance.
However, the relatively tribal nature of the blockchain developer subculture
means that mainstream enterprises are still conservative when it comes to
building on Ethereum.

If you are an enterprise developer, consider the following advantages of
building on public Ethereum vs. permissioned networks:

1. Faster setup and lower total cost of ownership

2. Immutability and longevity of the data stored with thousands of independent
nodes

3. Composability and low barrier of entry to decentralized finance (DeFi)



1. Faster set-up and lower total cost of ownership
This is a standard private blockchain journey for a consortium:

After you develop your dapp, a lot of time is focused on node deployment
adhering to enterprise software standards. On the business side, you are also
trying to build a consortium to agree on the benefits and adoption before the
tech is tested. 

The consortium model usually chooses a separate tech vendor that does not have
single ownership from one consortium member to prevent conflicts of interest.
The tech vendor determining deployment and long-term support likely runs the
Ethereum nodes on behalf of participants. This will get the product to market
faster and focus on the business benefits. 

The last step involves time and licenses for adding more nodes and mutualizing
infrastructure costs across participants. Compared with private networks that
remove tokens from their operation, public networks require ownership of native
tokens to fund transactions. This gas cost pays for the infrastructure -- third
parties running full nodes and running operations for mining/validating. In my
time building enterprise projects, we have never seen this happen.

The public journey is much more straightforward. After you develop your dapp,
the deployment is a choice between public networks with updated configurations
on your Truffle setup. The added complexity is the gas costs for funding and
running your transactions on this network. 

To simplify connectivity to EVM-compatible networks, you can use Infura’s 
Ethereum API [https://infura.io/product/ethereum] to connect your app instantly
with a single line of code. Simplify your transaction management with Infura
Transactions (ITX)
[/why-you-should-use-infura-transactions-instead-of-building-your-own-in-house-relayer/] 
using prepaid accounts without holding ETH on your balance sheets. ITX is a
transaction relayer that manages your transactions to prevent dropped or stuck
transactions.

You will also likely want to work with a team such as Diligence that can audit
your contracts and monitor them when they’re live.

Public Ethereum has an overall lower total cost of ownership when you compare
the operational cost of running a system on mainnet rather than focusing on the
ownership and maintenance of the network itself. 

A consortium may have more control in the private chain and face less security
and treasury reviews at first. However, your infrastructure overhead and
negotiations on consortium network matters tend to outweigh the convenience and
added features of connecting to mainnet.

2. Immutability and Longevity
The Ethereum mainnet is secured by the interaction of thousands of independent
nodes run by individuals and miners throughout the world. Private chains
typically have a small number of nodes controlled by one or a few organizations.
Those nodes can be tightly controlled, but only a few need to be compromised in
order to rewrite the chain or commit fraudulent transactions.

At ConsenSys, we’ve recommended public networks to enterprise developers for
their resilience of replicated data as you are able to recover more quickly with
a larger network of more than 15,000 independent nodes. The more peers you have,
the easier it is to find a seed and fully recover your recorded transactions. In
consensus decisions, the more blockchain validators there are to verify
transactions, the more difficult it is to coordinate a majority decision that
may lead to an attack. 

In a permissioned network, the security is governed by the node with the least
security. Your network is only as secure as the weakest link. Any added nodes to
the network may also increase the surface area of attack. Most institutions will
recommend a base software security test in order to join as a full node owner.
The node owner will have to pass standard penetration testing to prevent any
hacking on the node in case it is a bad actor to the entire network.

3. Composability and Low Barrier to Entry on DeFi

The Ethereum network powers a vibrant ecosystem of third party applications and
technology including DeFi and NFTs. A highly composable and interoperable system
allows you to connect to DeFi to build financial products that enable and
combine multiple apps to match specific user needs. The Ethereum mainnet offers
enterprise developers the ability to gain access to market liquidity and provide
innovative ways for users to participate in the exchange, trading or growth of
that liquidity. 

When we say composable, it’s much more than just an open banking API. It’s a set
of open source live protocol contracts that can be called and extended. We’ve
seen pure forks of open source code like with Uniswap to get sushiswap. The
market has seen countless copies of DeFi models such as Compound and Aave, and
it doesn’t look like things are slowing down anytime soon. 

There’s more and more real value happening in DeFi leading us to believe that
cryptocurrencies are not a fad. It is here to stay.

Watch Clemens’ presentation “Pitching Public Ethereum to Enterprises”
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbzVFfdZyg] at EdCon 2021.

Interested in building on Ethereum? Contact us [https://infura.io/contact]to get
support on starting your enterprise project.

3 things enterprise developers should consider when deploying on Ethereum

Are you excited by blockchain but don’t have a great deal of experience coding?
It can be easy to fall down a rabbit hole of technical tutorials that make
assumptions regarding your initial development knowledge. A particularly
important topic to grasp is basic security within your code. 

As you begin to build out your very own dApp, you will have to include
information such as an Infura API key, along with a mnemonic. 

If you are new to coding, this is the equivalent of giving a stranger your
social security number and keys to your home. Once this information is public,
there is no definitive way to ensure it hasn’t been captured by a person or web
crawler, which could result in malicious behavior. 

So, how can we address this? 

Thankfully, we can use dotenv along with git to protect our sensitive
information within our project when / if we push to github.

Dotenv is a zero-dependency module that loads environment variables from a .env
file into process.env, storing configuration in the environment separate from
the code. It is often a convention for environment variables to be stored in a
.env file or other mechanisms based on the server you are using. 

Note: This article will focus on building out a project using Truffle
[https://www.trufflesuite.com/] and Infura.

In our project, we will need to run the following command:

npm i dotenv

Once the process in our terminal has been completed, we will want to make sure
we have the dependency successfully installed. Head over to your package.json
file and check to ensure that dotenv has been added under dependencies.

Next, at the root of our project, let’s create a .env file: 

Here is where you will add all of the sensitive information that should not be
shared. 

We will make sure we can access our .env information in our truffle.config file.
At the top of the truffle.config file, add the following: 

require("dotenv").config

This will tell your project to load anything that is in the .env into an
environment variable, granting you access to it. 

Now, instead of having to put our Infura api key or mnemonic in an exposed file,
we can import that information from our .env file. 

When it comes to gaining access to our project key we are going to use, sign up
to Infura [https://infura.io/register] and create a project. In your dashboard,
you should see something similar to this: 

The following code is an example between the usage of .env and exposed
information within truffle.config: 

const HDWalletProvider = require('@truffle/hdwallet-provider');
const infuraURL = 'https://rinkeby.infura.io/v3/<project id here>'
const mnemonic = "Your mnemonic here"

rinkeby: {
provider: () => new HDWalletProvider (mnemonic, infuraURL),
network_id: 4,
gas: 5500000,
confirmations: 2,
timeoutBlocks: 200,
skipDryRun: true
},

Imagine if you pushed this up to github. Anyone would have the ability to open
your truffle.config file could take advantage of your exposed mnemonic and
project id from Infura. 

Let’s take a look at that same code and implement better security practices. 

Notice how we are calling upon the information without having to directly add to
our file.

One important detail, as of now even with an .env file: if you push this project
to github, it will show the .env file, which would defeat the purpose! 

Take a look for yourself.

This is where .gitignore comes into play. We will need to create a .gitignore
file, so we can push this project up to github.

Without getting into git, a quick summary could be git is version control
software that keeps track of all of your files and the versions of them. What
.gitignore does is it tells git not to keep track of this file along with
everything it contains. 

If you want to dive deeper into git along with other foundational material, have
a look at our Basic Training
[https://courses.consensys.net/courses/bootcamp-basic-training], a free course
that helps ensure you have the fundamental tools when developing. 

At our root (similar to the level our .env file lives), we will create a
.gitignore. Inside of that file, we will add .env along with any other files you
would rather not be pushed to github. 

We can now push our project up to github and notice that our .env file is no
longer exposed. Our sensitive information is now much more secure. 

If you are experimenting with this, make sure you add your .env file to your
.gitignore before pushing. 

If you are running into issues, remember gitignore ignores only untracked files.
If your files were committed in the past, they are now tracked by git. To ignore
them, you first need to delete said files, git rm them, commit and then ignore.

Otherwise, you can delete the .env file and run 

Git rm .env --cached

Here
[https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/removing-sensitive-data-from-a-repository] 
is a helpful link discussing the removal of sensitive data from a repo if it was
previously committed and discusses how to clean the git history. Savvy attackers
don't just look at the most recent repository info, they'll look at the history
of it as well.

Note: If you come across it in documentation, a question you might have is
“What is env. example”

An env. example file, on the contrary to this tutorial, is actually included in
the repository, it is used as an example file for you to know what KEY=VALUE
pairs you need for your project. Most often, it is used to copy the .env file
and then change the values. 

Example of execution: 
Enter to the project root directory using your terminal.

Check if .env the file exists or not.

If the file does not exist then create a file named .env.

Now execute the command

cp .env.local .env.

So the .env.sample file has all the ENV declarations defined but without their
values. It helps other developers establish/set up the project without having to
reverse-engineer the codebase.

So after git clone, you usually execute the command `cp .env.sample .env` and
fill in the values with the Infura credentials as we saw in the example above. 

Note: When you create a new repo using github, if you scroll down you should see
the option to include a .gitignore file so you don’t have to create one yourself
in the future. 

Hopefully, you found this article on basic security practices helpful as you
begin to develop your very own projects. Feel free to join our Discord
[https://discord.gg/ADWNDYVb8b] if you want to continue the conversation, share
projects, ideas, and join the community!

Start here with a free Infura account > [https://infura.io/register]

How to Use .env to Enhance Basic Security Within Your DApp

Optimistic Ethereum is a rollup scaling solution that allows users to submit
transactions on the Ethereum network and get them executed faster for a much
lower gas cost. From the perspectives of users and developers, this is a
"parallel universe" called Layer 2, or L2, where users typically have the same
addresses as they do on the Ethereum blockchain (also called Layer 1 or L1).
There are gateways that allow messages and assets to be transferred between the
universes.

The Optimism network API largely uses the same JSON-RPC specification as
Ethereum and Infura supports all the necessary API methods for building a fully
functional application on the Optimistic Ethereum network.

Why are transactions cheaper on Optimism?
On L1 Ethereum, thousands of nodes run your transaction to verify that the
proposed block that includes it is valid. This process is expensive and has to
be paid for. Unlike on L1 Ethereum, Optimistic roll ups provide faster and
cheaper transactions because it allows users to perform most of their tasks
off-chain in a "layer 2" protocol. On Optimistic Ethereum, the smart contract
has only two tasks: deposits/withdrawals and verifying proofs of transactions on
chain. This makes the process more efficient and a lot cheaper.

Why is this safe?
The great thing about decentralization is you can trust that transactions are
executed correctly because there are thousands of computers executing them.
Honest miners would reject such a transaction. With rollups, you don't have that
level of redundancy.

The answer, in the case of optimistic rollups, is incentives. Every node in the
network has to put up a stake before it can propose a new block with the
execution results of a transaction. Every other node can check up on those
results, and if it thinks they are incorrect, dispute them. The dispute is
resolved on L1, so it is as trustworthy as anything else in Ethereum. Whichever
node lies, either proposer or disputer, loses its stake and most of it goes to
the other node involved.

Of course, the whole point is to avoid running transactions in L1. This system
achieves that by making it pointless to cheat. Any proposer who attempts to
cheat is going to be caught by the other nodes, lose its stake, and not get the
invalid transaction result accepted as valid. A disputer can force a single
transaction to go into L1 arbitration as a denial of service attack, but the
stake is high enough that it wouldn't be worth doing.

How does Infura work with Optimism?
Infura exposes endpoints for Optimistic Ethereum (the production network) and
Optimistic Kovan (the test network). You use them the same way you use any other
network, by selecting them from the menu and using the specified endpoint.

There are a few small differences between building on Layer 1 Ethereum and
Optimism:

1. You must use the JSON-RPC API as we do not support Websockets yet.
2. Search filters are not yet supported

How to Get Started on Optimism...


The main difference between Optimism and regular L1 Ethereum (other than the
cost) is the access point URL. 

| Network          | RPC URL |

… If you are using the Truffle development environment
Infura users can add the free Truffle Optimism add-on directly on their Infura
dashboard. The Truffle Optimism box also contains the configuration definitions
[https://trufflesuite.com/boxes/optimism] required to use Infura. Currently, you
will need to manually add the gas costs of transactions when you use Truffle to
run deployments or tests on Optimistic Kovan or the main Optimistic Ethereum
network.

… If you are using Hardhat
To use Optimistic Ethereum or Kovan, edit hardhat.config.js's 
modules.export.networks
[https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism-tutorial/pull/60/files] to add
these definitions:

> "optimistic-kovan": {
url: 'https://optimism-kovan.infura.io/v3/<Infura Project ID>',
accounts: { mnemonic: <your account mnemonic goes here> },
gasPrice: 15000000,
ovm: true // This sets the network as using the ovm and ensure
// contract will be compiled against that.
},
"optimistic-ethereum": {
url: 'https://optimism-mainnet.infura.io/v3/<Infura Project ID>',
accounts: { mnemonic: <your account mnemonic goes here> },
gasPrice: 15000000,
ovm: true // This sets the network as using the ovm and ensure
// contract will be compiled against that.
}


Then you simply run:

> npx hardhat --network optimistic-<kovan or ethereum> <command>

… If you are using Remix
When you use the Remix Optimism plugin
[https://remix-optimism-compiler-plugin.readthedocs.io/en/latest?xgtab&] to
develop for Optimism, network connections are created through the wallet. If you
use MetaMask, you can select the network Custom RPC and fill in the details:

What is Optimistic Ethereum?

Our friends at Truffle and Microsoft announced
[https://twitter.com/trufflesuite/status/1516485840695926792?s=21&t=0ydaPAIp32CgWF8WHKimOQ] 
the public release of the Truffle for VS Code extension
[https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=trufflesuite-csi.truffle-vscode] 
yesterday. The extension enables VS Code users to build, debug and deploy smart
contracts using the Truffle suite of Web3 development tools. 


One of the major features supported by the extension is the ability for new and
existing Infura users to deploy their smart contracts via Infura nodes without
the need to switch between VS Code and the Infura portal.


To use this feature, all you need to do is to create an account on Infura
[https://infura.io/register] if you don’t already have one and then connect your
Infura account as a network under the “Truffle - Networks” tab added by the
extension in VS Code.


The Truffle for VS Code extension provides a uniform interface for developers to
perform regular tasks without needing to leave VS Code, which in turn enhances
developer productivity.


This article assumes that you already have the Truffle for VS Code extension and
the necessary dependencies installed. For information on installation, see the 
official announcement post
[https://trufflesuite.com/blog/build-on-web3-with-truffle-vs-code-extension/#installing-the-vs-code-extension-for-truffle]
.


Creating and connecting to a new Infura project using the Truffle for VS Code
extension


Let’s say you’ve finished writing your smart contracts and you want to deploy
them to a testnet via the Infura Ethereum API. Normally you have to visit the
Infura portal to create a new project. You will then need to copy over the RPC
endpoints assigned to this newly created project and add them to the
`truffle-config` file as your desired networks for deployment.


With the extension, you no longer need to hop between the VS Code interface and
the Infura portal. In a few steps, you can create a new Infura project, connect
to the newly created project and deploy your smart contract, all within VS Code.




Follow the steps below to create and connect to a new Infura project:

1. Open the VS Code command palette and select Truffle: Create a new network.
This will prompt you to select the network type. Choose the “Infura service”
option. 

2. Notice a tiny modal at the bottom right corner prompting you to sign into
your Infura account. Click the “Sign in” button and grant VS Code permission to
access your Infura account.

3. Next, on the text field that appears at the top of VS Code, enter your
desired project name and click “Enter”. Then select project visibility (private
or public) and click “Enter” to save.

You’ve successfully created and connected a new Infura project to VS Code. We
will touch on how to deploy your smart contracts to this network in a later
section.


Connect to an existing Infura project using the Truffle for VS Code extension


If you’ve already created a project you wish to use on Infura, you can simply
connect to this project by following the steps below:


Open the VS Code command palette and select Truffle: Connect to network . This
will prompt you to select the network type, choose the “Infura service” option.


1. If you’re not already logged in, you will see a tiny modal at the bottom
right corner prompting you to sign into your Infura account. Click the “Sign in”
button and grant VS Code permission to access your Infura account.

2. If you’re already signed in, a list of your existing Infura projects will
appear with an additional option to create a new project. Select your desired
project and you’re all set to begin deploying your smart contract.


Deploy your smart contracts to a connected project on Infura using the Truffle
for VS Code extension


Now that you have connected your Infura account and have created or imported
your desired project for this contract deployment, deploying the contract is
easy. 


1. Hover over the contract file you wish to deploy and right click to see the
options panel. At the bottom of the options panel that appears, select the
“Deploy contracts” option.

2. You will be presented with a number of options to choose from, select the
project/network pair you want to deploy to e.g `inf_test_project_rinkeby` and
hit the “Enter” button.

3. An input field will appear prompting you to enter your desired gas price,
which defaults to 100000000000.

4. The next input field that appears will prompt you to paste your account’s
mnemonic phrase or generate a new one. Choose an option and hit “Enter.”


The deployment process should kickstart and you should be able to see progress
reports on the modal that appears at the bottom right corner.




That’s it, you can now build, debug and deploy smart contracts via Infura
without having to leave VS Code. 


We hope you’re as excited about this new integration as we are and cannot wait
to see how Infura’s user development workflow is improved by this integration.


For more information about this integration, visit the official documentation
[https://trufflesuite.com/docs/vscode-ext/] or the announcement post
[https://trufflesuite.com/blog/build-on-web3-with-truffle-vs-code-extension/#installing-the-vs-code-extension-for-truffle]
.


Create a free Infura account [https://infura.io/register] today.

Infura product updates and feature announcements.

Infura Product & Features

Product & Features

Deploy Your Smart Contract via Infura Through Truffle for VS Code Extension

Disaster recovery, transaction processing, and accelerated development tooling
can help your DeFi project achieve scalability

Digital assets have reached their mainstream moment. In 2021, the estimated
increase in cryptocurrency adoption globally was 880%. The total value of the
NFT market was $40 billion in 2021. The total ETH deposited in the Eth2 Beacon
Chain [https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/beacon-chain/], part of Ethereum’s
forthcoming upgrade from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake
[https://consensys.net/knowledge-base/ethereum-2/] known as “the Merge,” was $10
million as of March 22. 


This growth is astounding to anyone, but it’s especially meaningful if you’ve
launched a DeFi protocol or work for one. This growth means affirmation of your
venture or the continued success of your business. It also means it’s time to
scale and that requires leveling up your infrastructure to withstand the new
challenges growth brings. 


Scalability is the problem we are all trying to solve in order for innovations
to reach their full potential. At Infura, we’re constantly evolving our platform
to ensure our platform gives customers infrastructure architected to scale
limitlessly. Web3 connectivity is essential for scalable ease of development and
enterprise standards. The Infura API suite provides instant HTTPS and WebSocket
access to Ethereum, the world’s largest public blockchain, decentralized storage
layer, IPFS [/introducing-ipfs-dedicated-gateways/], and Layer 2
[https://consensys.net/blog/blockchain-explained/what-l222-means-for-the-ethereum-ecosystem/] 
chains such as Polygon [/polygon-now-available/], Abritrum
[/arbitrum-supported-by-infura/], and Optimism [/what-is-optimistic-ethereum/]: 


Infura’s API suite connects to Web3’s top networksOver 400,000 developers use
Infura today for diverse use cases. When it comes to DeFi, Infura offers
seamless integration with wallets like MetaMask [https://metamask.io/] that use 
Infura Transactions [https://infura.io/product/ethereum/transactions-itx] (ITX),
NFT marketplaces like the Palm Studio [https://palm.io/] to deploy full nodes
and scalable endpoints, and staking-as-a-service businesses like Codefi access
Eth2’s Beacon Chain [https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/beacon-chain/]. 


Here are three core Infura features you can leverage to help your DeFi protocol
scale.

Transaction processing and gas management with Infura Transactions

Building DeFi protocols often comes with the challenges of stuck transactions,
high gas fees, and hidden costs. At Infura we want to ensure you’re focused on
building the next DeFi innovation and not the complexities of handling ETH. 
Infura Transactions [https://infura.io/product/ethereum/transactions-itx] (ITX)
was designed to do just this. 


The Infura Transactions feature provides developers the ability to send
transactions with the best gas prices and no need for complex transaction
management. DeFi companies can pay with FIAT currencies like the US dollar and
execute ETH-based transactions without owning ETH on their balance sheets. 


Sample process map from an enterprise use caseFor crypto wallet providers, you
can plug and play with this feature to meet the needs of your infrastructure and
create a seamless experience for your end user transaction. DeFi dapps can have
the same seamless experience with fast managed transactions that help users
lower their fees by sending ETH to the ITX feature and using Infura’s relay
service. This feature also allows for optimal gas prices for L2s and is now
available on Polygon [/how-to-use-itx-step-by-step-guide/]. A critical step for
L2 rollups is writing their transactions back to mainnet. The ITX feature has a
fee adjustment strategy to ensure the rollup block is mined at the best price.
All these benefits combined mean you can scale your products and services.

Disaster recovery and backup support for exchanges and funds

For large crypto enterprises like exchanges and funds, whose businesses rely on
priority Service Level Agreements with their institutional clients, it is
crucial that data is never lost or that their services go offline by having
backup infrastructure in place. This is the benefit of Infura’s backup support
and disaster recovery feature.

Disaster recovery shows operational maturity and DeFi companies who have this in
place have the peace of mind their services can run despite interruptions and
that data is being archived. In addition to being a backup service, customers
can also use this feature to run full nodes they diversify with Infura access
points. 


Sample use case of exchange using Infura as backup solution
Accelerated development with the ConsenSys tech stack

Accelerated development is a feature Infura offers by giving customers the
opportunity to leverage our partner’s tools and services. Infura is part of
ConsenSys, a blockchain development company founded by Ethereum’s co-founder,
Joseph Lubin. Being part of ConsenSys means Infura’s customers have access to
additional tooling, support, and even collaborations to accelerate their
business development from other ConsenSys companies like MetaMask, Codefi,
ConsenSys NFT, Quorum, and more.

In the case of DeFi, Codefi leverages Infura’s Teku Client endpoints to provide
institutions with reliable 99.5% uptime to minimize slashing for staking ETH in
four key areas:

An example of accelerated development for an NFT project is the Palm Network
powered by Infura and Quorum. ConsenSys NFT worked with Palm NFT studio to
launch a low-cost and sustainable Quorum network dedicated to NFT launches run
on Infura infrastructure. You can learn more about the partnership here
[/the-palm-network-is-now-available-for-all-nft-creators-on-infura/].


Key Takeaways 


Web3 and digital assets are here to stay. As the growth of the DeFi industry
continues to surpass even the most bullish predictions, businesses must be able
to scale at light-speed, and these core features of Infura will help get them
there. 


In addition to Ethereum and IPFS, Infura supports Ethereum Layer 2s platforms
 like Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism with a roadmap set to continue on a
multi-blockchain and protocol expansion. Keep an eye out for more news about
this expansion. 


Start building with Infura today for free here [https://infura.io/register]!

Scaling Your DeFi Project - 3 Core Infura Features You Can Leverage

What’s the great thing about building an app with a public blockchain as a
backend? The availability of the data. It’s always there, it’s always running,
and all you have to do is query it. What’s the bad thing about it? ...There’s a 
lot of data to be queried.

So much, in fact, that you might find your dapp’s performance bottlenecked, or
at least impacted, by what you’re getting back from the JSON-RPC interface.
Luckily for you, there are solutions, and they live on Infura.

What are filters?
Filters are JSON RPC methods that allow you specify the information you’re
interested in coming from the network. The filter requests this information, and
all information resulting from that filter since the time of the filter’s last
request is returned. Filters are available over HTTPS.

You can create filters with the following API methods:

 * eth_newFilter
   [https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/ethereum/json-rpc-methods/filter-methods/eth_newfilter]
 * eth_newBlockFilter
   [https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/ethereum/json-rpc-methods/filter-methods/eth_newblockfilter]

Poll for changes to the filters using the eth_getFilterChanges
[https://eth.wiki/json-rpc/API#eth_getfilterchanges] API method which returns an
array of changes that occurred since the last poll.

Using filters offer several advantages: first of all, you control when they
fire. This gives you the ability to customize when that call goes out within the
flow of your dapp. And even if it’s been a while since your last filter request,
you’ll get updated with everything that’s happened since your previous call. The
downside to that feature is that the filter is maintaining state in the node,
based on a filter ID. However, that ID is subject to garbage collection, and
thus requires its own maintenance.

At the end of the day, a filter can be a very stable option for network data
querying: after all, it’s a series of discrete requests, as opposed to a
long-lived connection that may break or be interrupted.

What are subscriptions?
The other option, of course, is using the JSON-RPC pub/sub service.
[https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/rpc/pubsub] As opposed to filters, in which your
dapp is actively requesting the information from the network, in a pub/sub
scenario, your dapp is passively receiving the information as it is published.
The data is essentially pushed from the node into your connection, once
established. The pub/sub service is only available via WebSockets.

One thing to keep in mind about setting up your data querying through
subscriptions is stability. If a websocket connection closes, the subscription
is automatically closed and removed. Additionally, data received through
subscriptions are stored in an internal buffer. If this buffer runs out of
space, this will also cause the connection to be closed.

Another aspect to subscriptions is that they report current events. With
filters, you got updated with “everything since the last time you called,” so to
speak. That’s not the case with subscriptions, but this is a perfect example of
choosing the method that best fits your use case.

Are you building a ticker reporting most recent events? Maybe a subscription is
what you’re looking for.

Are you building an app that displays transaction histories? This might be the
case for a filter.


Integrations with Infura

Whichever option fits your use case best, Infura is ready to help you query the
network. If you’re looking for next steps or some examples, jump in with the
documentation [https://infura.io/docs/ethereum/wss/eth-newFilter]. 


Examples

In the following examples we'll show how to watch for transfer events using both
methods. We'll keep it at the HTTP JSON-RPC or WebSocket level without using any
Web3 libraries.


This first example is a suboptimal way to process the latest block and get the
transfer events from that block. For example, imagine this code in a loop, call 
eth_blockNumber to detect when we see a new block and do a subsequent 
eth_getLogs call based on this new block. This is prone to missing blocks
depending on network latency, how accurately timed the loop is, and processing /
P2P block catch ups the node may be doing internally.


const axios = require('axios');
const infuraUrl = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<ProjectID>";
const payloadProto = {
jsonrpc: "2.0",
method: "",
params: [],
id: 1
};
(async () => {
// Let's get the latest block number
const blockPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: 'eth_blockNumber' })
const client = axios.create({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
var resp = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: blockPayload,
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
});
const blockNumber = resp.data
console.log(blockNumber)
// Get the Transfers events in this block
const logPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: 'eth_getLogs', params: [
{
fromBlock: Number(blockNumber),
toBlock: Number(blockNumber),
topics: ["0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"]
}
]})
resp = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: logPayload,
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
})
for (var it of resp.data.result) {
console.log(it)
}
})();



Let's improve the code by using the eth_newBlockFilter and eth_getFilterChanges 
APIs. The benefit is that we can poll the API for changes, and network
conditions don't matter, we could even stop this script and start it minutes
later.


As long as we use a consistent filter ID, it will return changes from the last
time we polled

the server. Since the filter ID can get garbage collected during high node
usage, extra care is required to ensure the filter still exists.  You'll need to
recreate the filter if it no longer exists.



const axios = require('axios');
const infuraUrl = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<ProjectID>";
const payloadProto = {
jsonrpc: "2.0",
method: "",
params: [],
id: 1
};
(async () => {
// Start by getting a filter ID
// We are interested in getting new blocks, so we create a newBlockFilter
const newFilterPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: 'eth_newBlockFilter' })
const filterIdResponse = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: newFilterPayload,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
const filterId = filterIdResponse.data.result
console.log(`Using filterId: ${filterId}`)
const newBlockPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: "eth_getFilterChanges", params: [filterId]})
const hash = "";
while (true) {
var newBlockResponse = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: newBlockPayload,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
var hashes = newBlockResponse.data.result
if (hashes.length === 0) { continue }
// Since we get blockHashes back with this, the getLogs call changes slightly
hashes.map(async (hash) => {
const logByHashPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, {method: 'eth_getLogs', params: [{
blockHash: hash,
topics: ["0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"]
}]})
const logResponse = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: logByHashPayload,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
if (logResponse.data.result) {
console.log(`Found: ${logResponse.data.result.length} logs for Block: ${hash}`)
} else {
console.log(logResponse.data)
}
})
}
})();



We could further improve this by skipping the new blocks retrieval and simply
create a new filter specifically on logs. This simplifies the polling:



const axios = require('axios');
const infuraUrl = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<ProjectID>";
const payloadProto = {
jsonrpc: "2.0",
method: "",
params: [],
id: 1
};
(async () => {
// Like all filters start with getting a new Filter ID
// In this case we can just pass a the log params into the filter to specify the match.
// The node in this case will return the events associated with the `latest` block
const filterIdPayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: 'eth_newFilter', params: [{
topics: ["0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"]
}]})
const filterResponse = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: filterIdPayload,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
const filterId = filterResponse.data.result;
const filterChangePayload = Object.assign({}, payloadProto, { method: 'eth_getFilterChanges', params:[ filterId ]})
while(true) {
const filterLogResponse = await axios({
url: infuraUrl,
method: 'POST',
data: filterChangePayload,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
})
console.log(filterLogResponse.data)
}
})();



Now let’s try to get the same data by subscribing for logs using a WebSocket
connection. This method returns logs that are included in newly imported blocks.


Please note that the WebSocket connection will get closed by the server after
one hour of being idle (for example, no data coming over). Ensure you add a
reconnect routine and also unsubscribe
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/ethereum/json-rpc-methods/subscription-methods/eth_unsubscribe] 
when the subscription is no longer needed. When subscribing to relatively silent
contracts, you could also subscribe to newHeads
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/ethereum/json-rpc-methods/subscription-methods/eth_subscribe#:~:text=TYPE%20NAME%20%5Brequired%5D-,newHeads,-%2D%20Subscribing%20to%20this] 
which prevents your WebSocket connection going into idle.



const WebSocket = require('ws')
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://mainnet.infura.io/ws/v3/projectID);
ws.on('open', function open() {
//ws.send('{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id": 1, "method": "eth_subscribe", "params": ["newHeads"]}');
ws.send('{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id": 1, "method": "eth_subscribe", "params": ["logs", {"topics": ["0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"]}]}');
});
ws.on('message', function message(data) {
console.log('received: %s', data);
});

HTTPS Filters and WSS Subscriptions through Infura: Weighing the Advantages



You can now access a dedicated gateway to decentralized storage for your
projects through the Infura IPFS API. A gateway allows applications, such as
browsers, that do not natively support IPFS to access IPFS content. This is a
new feature our team has released today in anticipation of our gradual
deprecation of our public gateways in October. 

Now you are able to create your own unique gateways, dedicated to only your
projects. With this initial release, you can also create your own subdomain and
restrict your view to show only content you have pinned. These features were
previously not available when you accessed IPFS through the public gateway.

Our continued commitment to this technology is proof that we believe in it. A
dedicated team is constantly working hard behind the scenes, continually
improving the robustness, resilience and latency of our IPFS API, and shipping
new features like this one to improve the usability of IPFS for all your
decentralized storage needs.

Please see the bottom of this post for details of the Deprecation of the public
gateway October 5th 2022

How to enable dedicated gateway:

Step 1: Go to your IPFS project’s general settings, where you will see a new
section for Dedicated Gateway:

Step 2: Click the enable/disable toggle and you will see a box appear, where you
can choose a unique name for your dedicated gateway:


Step 3: Type your chosen gateway name into the box and click “SAVE SUBDOMAIN”.
Once you do, our system runs an automatic check, to ensure that this chosen name
is unique.


If this name is unique, you will see a green box in the top right-hand corner,
telling you that your project settings have been updated:


Step 4: Optional: Check the “Only pinned content” box, to restrict your
gateway’s usage, such that the gateway only responds with content you have
pinned to your project:


You are now ready to use this endpoint in your project!


 * If you wish to change the name of your project, you may do so by typing
   directly into the unique subdomain box.
 * Make sure that you remember to click the Save Project button. You will see
   the green success box, only with the updated name of your unique subdomain,
   in the Project Summary section, with all the project details.
 * You can rename your unique subdomain by typing directly into the box.
 * The dedicated gateway URL form is: 
 * https://$ [https://ipfs.infura.io/$project_id/$project_secret/ipfs/%3CCID]
   custom-subdomain.ipfs.infura-ipfs.io/ipfs/$CID/path/to/something
   [http://projectid.ipfs.infura-ipfs.io/ipfs/$CID/path/to/something]
   
 * You have a maximum of 20 unique subdomains across all IPFS projects
 * You can return to a previously used subdomain
 * You can only have 1 active subdomain per project

Billing and future iterations

The dedicated gateway traffic will be billed at the same price as accessing IPFS
via the Infura API:

 * 5GB of storage free
 * 5GB data transfer up free
 * 5GB data transfer down free

Anything above that limit will be charged at:

 * Unlimited storage at $0.08/GB
 * Unlimited data transfer at $0.12/GB

Currently, for this release the billing will not be split out into API and
gateway traffic, on your Stats Dashboard nor your invoices. We will work on
getting that split out very soon. 

For more information, please refer to the Documentation
[https://docs.infura.io/infura/networks/ipfs/how-to/access-ipfs-content/dedicated-gateways]
, or contact support [https://infura.io/support/ticket].

Deprecation of the public API and gateway

At Infura, we are constantly upgrading our systems to facilitate your building
of Web3. As such, we have made vast improvements to the robustness and stability
of our internal systems, and the next stage of this includes deprecating the
public API and gateway. This will take place six months from now, on October 5th
2022. 

Please ensure that, by the above date, you will have migrated your endpoints
over to the authenticated API endpoints within your project settings, enabled
the dedicated gateway, and changed your gateway endpoints at any place where you
access the gateway within your IPFS dApps/code.


Remember, you can migrate your pins to the new IPFS service in three easy steps
[/migrate-your-files-to-infuras-new-ipfs-service-in-3-easy-steps/]. Happy
pinning!

Introducing your dedicated gateway to IPFS Web3 storage

With the new year kicking off, we wanted to bring you on a journey of how we
started Infura and some of the problems we’ve solved since our inception. 

Infura has always been focused on improving the developer experience and making
it easier for developers to connect to Web3. In this dynamic space, we
continuously improve and innovate, adapting to the evolving problems blockchain
developers face. What sparked the thought process that created what we know as
Infura today?


A Simple Solution for Web3 Builders

When we launched Infura in 2016 at DevCon 2, our goal was to simplify the
developer experience and make an impact on the growth of the ecosystem. We
wanted to enable developers to bootstrap their Web3 applications and to
experiment, without having to take on the burden of running their own
infrastructure. Our hope was that more people would build innovative projects on
Web3 and drive the rapid growth of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Getting your smart contracts onto Ethereum may seem daunting, especially if you
are new to Web3. To build an application on Ethereum, you will need a connection
to the Ethereum network. This necessitates operating a blockchain client (node
software), which can be costly. It also requires a long initialization period to
download the latest data from other peers and may require full-time personnel
just to manage the software deployment.

This is why Infura created a zero-maintenance, easy-to-use API for Web3. And the
best part? Developers get to choose whether they wish to use just Infura’s API
to connect to the network or a hybrid infrastructure model with Infura as their
primary provider, alongside an in-house node. 

To make things even sweeter, we offered Infura completely free to use, up until
around a year ago, when we finally implemented paid pricing for users that
require 100,000 API requests per day. Even now, we have a forever-free Core plan
[https://infura.io/pricing?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=%7Bkeyword%7D&utm_content=sitelink&gclid=CjwKCAiAh_GNBhAHEiwAjOh3ZJebZo-oKwEzYrZdoQHNUhrtoU5WGpLLAmSXzYmYdi5RNZRKdRzbuRoCbr8QAvD_BwE]
. Why do we do all this, you may well ask. Because we genuinely want developers
to have the freedom to choose, as well as the freedom to experiment with Web3,
without having to first drop a large investment in time and money.


Solving the Problem of Monolithic Ethereum

The Ethereum client has historically been monolithic in its architecture. It has
several subsystems that do specific things and are limited in how they can scale
in the interest of minimizing operating requirements for users. These subsystems
include:


 * Query Interface (JSON-RPC, WebSocket, IPC)
 * P2P Connection
 * Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
 * Chaindata Storage
 * Transaction System
   

In the beginning, the above limitation in an Ethereum client’s architecture was
not a problem. Then, along came the huge explosion of popular dApps such as
CryptoKitties and massive token launches, both of which made running a single
node insufficient and unsustainable in the long term.

So, what happens when you reach the limit of what a single node can do for you? 

Due to the monolithic nature of the client, your only options are to run it on a
larger machine or add more nodes to your deployment. Vertical scaling only works
to a certain extent. The approach is not only expensive but due to the large
chain database, it doesn’t always solve the problem.

If there is a bug discovered in the underlying node software, your whole system
may become unstable and the fact that your application is bug-free won’t matter.
It only takes one part of your sub-system failing, to potentially affect the
health of your entire node. Case in point: in 2018, we encountered an issue
where, if we received a deluge of websocket subscriptions to one particular
node, the node would go into a partially deadlocked state, where it would
receive blocks but not publish it to the subscribers. 

The only way to deal with that problem at the time was to restart the node. This
was not ideal, as we would disconnect not just from subscribers but also from
everyone else who was connected to the node. So, Infura and other providers had
to come up with custom solutions to stabilize the node software.

To address this inefficiency, Infura created a “cloud client” with a
cloud-native architecture. The modularity of this allows us to be adaptable and
horizontally scale to fit the needs of the growing Web3 ecosystem. We also
developed a variety of microservices that offloaded dependency on the underlying
client, and this allowed us to be more resilient to errors, as well as scale
better.



Syncing Nodes: Faster, Better, More Efficient

Fast forward to today, the Ethereum client has become more modular, there are
light nodes, stateless clients and a huge focus on trying to limit the growth of
chain data. Even with the advancements, it still takes quite a while to sync an
archive node or a full node. When you are growing rapidly and need more access
to these nodes, you will find scaling increasingly difficult.

Back in 2016, it only took a couple of hours to sync our nodes and no additional
tooling was required to maintain our infrastructure. As time went on and chain
data grew, we switched to using snapshots of Amazon’s Elastic Block Store (EBS)
chain data because these periodic snapshots were valuable for failure recovery.
Later, we adapted again and started using fast Solid State Drives (SSD) we
synced directly from object storage for efficiency and speed gains.

If you are interested, our implementation is actually based on MyCrypto’s
implementation [https://github.com/MyCryptoHQ/parity-ecs]. There is more
technical detail in the link, if you wish to give creating your own set-up a go.

On top of the fast SSDs, we are always looking for new solutions to help you
scale faster.

We have a Source of Truth node that creates a snapshot of the latest chain data
and pushes that snapshot to our Amazon S3 object storage. After which, a
validator service verifies the chain data, ensuring there is no corruption and
that all the required data is there. Then, the validator service marks the chain
data as “verified”. This is all very useful if we have to scale up and add more
nodes because the new nodes can easily grab this verified snapshot of the chain
data, to speed up the syncing process.



What next?

The continued explosion of Ethereum users and demand for connectivity to other
chains and services have pushed growth of our product suite further. 

Today, Infura is powered by a cutting-edge, microservice-driven architecture
that is optimized for scalability, reliability and efficiency. More than 350,000
developers connect to the Ethereum and IPFS networks through HTTPS and
WebSocket. This year, we also expanded our support for Layer 2 networks, such as
Polygon, Optimism and Arbitrum. And it all started with a simple premise: to
make it easier to build on Web3.

In closing, we wish to say a big thank you to Tom Hay, Senior Product Manager
and Jee Choi, Senior Systems Engineer, for their presentation on the history and
evolution of Infura, at ETHPortland (see video below).



As we look forward to 2022 unfolding, what problems would you like us to help
you solve? Holler at us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/infura_io]. Or, sign up
[https://infura.io/register] for a forever-free account on Infura and start
building your dream project today.

Product & Features

Infura product updates and feature announcements.

Deploy Your Smart Contract via Infura Through Truffle for VS Code Extension

Scaling Your DeFi Project - 3 Core Infura Features You Can Leverage

HTTPS Filters and WSS Subscriptions through Infura: Weighing the Advantages

Introducing your dedicated gateway to IPFS Web3 storage

A Brief History of Infura