This has surely been asked before, but I wasn’t able to find a duplicate. Are user accounts local to each node? As in, the concept of an account is centralized to each node, correct? Or are accounts (and access/API keys) shared on some distributed ledger?
Hi @sanderpick,
Welcome, it sounds as though you may not know the terminology yet, as your question doesn’t fully make sense. Here is a quick detail on the difference between node and satellite:
A storagenode (node) is one of thousands of end points which store the shards of encrypted data. The nodes are only aware of their own owner’s email address, wallet address and a list of approved satellites.
A satellite is a distributed server cluster which manages the user accounts, billing, storage locations, node vetting, node auditing, etc.
From your question I think you are asking about user accounts on satellites. User accounts are registered to a satellite entity, and satellites are distributed across multiple regions.
Edited after @nerdatwork pointed out my error.
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I don’t see this. Have you tried creating account on any satellite then accessing other satellites without signing up on them ?
Oh yeah…
I’m sure I previously logged into US1 and EU1 with the same login.
I just tested it. My login isn’t shared on other satellites. Can you try to login to AP1 using US1 or EU1 credentials ?
I confirm my EU1 login, only works on EU1, not US1 or AP1.
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It’s possible you signed up on US1 and EU1 using same credentials and saved them hence giving you the illusion of shared account access 
Thanks for confirming.
Future version of Storj has user operated satellites so they can handle account creation in their own way. You might implement sign up using Oauth (Google/Apple/Facebook). Might pay users in BTC or other crypto.
Hello @sanderpick ,
Welcome to the forum!
The metainformation (address book of nodes with pieces of your files, your billing details, etc.) is not shared between satellites.
But the shared links can be accessed via different linksharing service: Host a Static Website with the Uplink CLI and Linksharing Service - Storj DCS
If you uses Gateway MT, you can use different gateways with the same access key and secret key too: Storj-hosted S3 Compatible Gateway - Storj DCS .
If you’re interested in more details on the constructs within satellites, developer accounts and projects, there are a couple of sections in the documentation that describe how developer accounts work, different ways to apply them in your app, and generally how it all works together.
This is probably most on point for your question:
This is also just a good general description of satellites:
The content under the Concepts section of the documentation is good foundational content for anyone just getting started.
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