Love what Storj and this community is doing! Looking to host a node. Having “a little trouble” wading through the process (and don’t have several hours to devote to getting up to speed). Is there any way we could “app-ify” the process of setting up a node? Could lead to explosive adoption among the unwashed…
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To be honest we want to filter out the node operators that would have issues to keep the storage node online and stable. So see this setup process as a test. If you pass the test we are happy to work with you. If you fail the test it doesn’t make sense to bypass the test. That will backfire sooner or later.
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I can appreciate that sentiment, but my concern is that that approach illustrates two current challenges in this space. The first is scalability (ETH perhaps being the most relevant example). To store and reconstitute millions of files simultaneously, you need as many nodes as possible – millions, ideally. Setting the bar too high to acquire resource that is largely free to the network, particularly for a fairly ordinary yet essential function (bandwidth and hard drive capacity) could work against that purpose. The first use case that came to mind when I came across Storj was called SETI. Essentially, you could contribute excess processing power to help analyze signals captured from outer space. There was no particular technical challenge to contributing to that network. Millions of people signed on. Maximizing the size of the network also supports Storj’s security goal. Quantum computing aside, you ideally want to be able to take a file and scatter it to the wind (cloud), as it’s much harder to reconstitute a file distributed over a million nodes than over a thousand nodes.
Second, for blockchain/distributed networks to be widely adopted, they have to be easy for everyone to use. It’s a reality of modern life that we use things every day that we don’t fully understand. How many people could construct a microwave oven or a catalytic converter? How many physics PhDs could give you a lucid description of the differences between TCP/IP and HTML5?. The beauty of features like an internet browser or an operating system is that you just have to turn it on. Nothing more. I believe that should be the goal here as well.
Again, I love what you guys are doing and want you to succeed. I hope that we all do!
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We are paying storage nodes and with that the storage nodes also get some additional reponsibilites. We expect the storage node to be online all the time, do not delete data, do not screw up in any other way. Sure we can make the oboarding as a one click installer but that is almost a garantee that a few more storage nodes will get disqualified and then complain that we haven’t warned them. We care more about storage node quality over quantity. So I would argue we can’t set the barrier to low or we will see another set of issues.
I am fine with helping you onboarding and answer any question you might have. I am not able to help you after you might have screwed up your storage node. In both szenarios you are forced to spend the same amount of time. Why do you want to pick the expensive route and risk your payout?
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You’re mixing use cases. StorJ Labs has specifically targeted the distributed storage space, not distributed processing power like SETI. These have hugely different requirements for a ‘node’ as well as expectations for node hardware, internet and speed of response.
StorJ - low CPU, low RAM, large drive, large bandwidth, respond on request
SETI - big CPU, big RAM, small drive, small bandwidth, respond whenever or never
The very nature of a ‘hot’ storage system like StorJ means that the nodes need to be robust, otherwise the data would be lost and customers would leave. Taking a week to respond to a SETI request just means someone else might have been given the job, there’s no penalty and no-one complains.
With 12000 active nodes on StorJ, and an average internet bandwidth of 50Mbps the total network bandwidth is circa 600Gb/s which should be more than enough for existing customers.
Again StorJ labs have designed a system to be compatible with the largest online storage API, so it can be a direct drop-in replacement for Amazon S3 buckets. As has been discussed before they are building the underlying infrastructure but it for others to build the platforms on top of the storage:
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For now, there are more nodes than needed for the current network usage, I’d say.
Also, joining is not supposed to be a 1-click-thing for the reasons mentioned before.
The community will help you get your node up and running, but you are going to have to initially invest some 3-4 hours to onboard.
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@Charles I would add that even though some report it’s a “set it and forget it” thing, I think that more realistically you should then monitor your node regularly to make sure it runs well and is online. Otherwise you may wake up one morning and discover it got banned from the network because it wasn’t reliable (which is a good thing for the network, and can be easily avoided by following a few rules of thumbs and using some monitoring tools).
The community here will gladly assist you on these matters and usually quickly responds to any issues SNOs (Storage Node Operators) might have 
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Many thanks. I am excited to get going with this. Just need to carve out some time to focus on setup.
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Do it on a quiet evening with a glass of wine
Basically don’t overthink it, just follow the guide from the FAQs for now.
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Roger that. Jigsaw puzzle stuff. Just takes time and patience. Thx.
I recommend the windows client its the easiest but register a domain to update your dynamic ip with no-ip first. If this sounds like greek to you yes you’ll have to devote some homework time.
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