Not everything needs to be permanent, but everything must be stored, whether for a brief moment or an extended period.
ArFleet is a decentralized temporary storage system built on top of AO and Arweave. It facilitates storage deals between clients and providers for finite periods, managing the entire process from data encryption and bundling to provider selection and periodic verification of data.
Why Temporary Storage Matters
Temporary storage is crucial in many scenarios where data needs to be retained for a specific period but not indefinitely. Unlike Arweave's permanent storage, which is designed to store data forever, temporary storage serves different needs that are not limited to:
Cost-effectiveness: Permanent storage can be expensive and unnecessary for data that has a limited lifespan. Temporary storage allows users to pay only for the time they need.
For instance, a 1GB file stored permanently on Arweave costs around 0.75 AR (≈ $16.5 USD). But with ArFleet, it would be relatively cheaper with providers putting up price offers for storage.
Resource management: Temporary storage allows for better management of network resources, as data that's no longer needed doesn't continue to occupy space.
Popular content can be temporarily stored on nodes “closer” to users without committing to permanent storage of duplicate data. This enables faster access to the content.
Transient data: Some data, like session information or temporary user content, is only valuable for a short time. With Arfleet, it is now possible to have message drafts, short-term price oracle data, etc. to be stored transiently.
A duration can be set for each piece of data, defining how long it should persist. During this period, the data can be accessed and used as needed by the application. It will automatically be removed from the network after expiration.
ArFleet's temporary storage does not replace, but complements Arweave's permanent storage by offering a flexible, cost-effective solution for data that doesn't require perpetual storage.
How Does it Work?
ArFleet's backend finds suitable providers based on client requirements and provider constraints. Users are allowed to adjust certain parameters such as desired redundancy and storage duration. A deal, in the form of an AO process, is then created for each placement. Clients fund the deal with a reward paid in AR by default (and any AO token long-term).
On ArFleet, users (also known as clients) are given control and ability over customization of parameters and requirements for storage requests. They:
- Create and manage storage assignments
- Specify and set size of data they want to store, for how long, and how many copies of data should be stored across different providers
- Fund the deal with a reward
Providers provide the storage necessary upon a client’s request. ArFleet allows individuals to become providers by running a provider node. They are expected to lock up collateral as part of accepting and completing an assignment. They:
- Get challenges periodically (i.e. minimum challenge duration)
- Offer a certain amount of storage to the network
- Have connection strings (connection details) that clients use to interact with them
Security
ArFleet employs a comprehensive and layered approach to ensure data security and integrity, leveraging both standard and customized cryptographic techniques like RSA and AES. Hashing is used for integrity checks after encryption/decryption operations.
RSA encryption is used in a unique manner to secure stored data replicas, ensuring high availability and redundancy. This method addresses potential vulnerabilities such as Sybil attacks, where a single provider could pose as multiple entities to falsely claim redundancy rewards. Optionally users may also encrypt the data using AES-256 for additional layer of data privacy.
Private sharing is achieved by sharing a file’s associated transaction ID (TXID) and AES encryption key. The web worker (background script in browser) uses this information to decrypt the file which results in the decrypted file to be streamed directly into the browser for download. This allows for derivation of keys for all its contents.
Want to learn more?
ArFleet is expanding the utility of AO and the Arweave ecosystem!
To learn more, check out ArFleet documentation.
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