As the proud owner of a storj auth token and having some experience now of running a storagenode, whats the story on running multiple storagenodes? Is this possible? Is it simply a matter of launching storagenode on a second box using the same identity key?
If there are multiple storagenodes using the same identity key, how does the reputation/score work? It seems like each node would generate an ID and the score would be based per node ID, but it’d be good to have some confirmation. thanks!
You can only use one storagenode per Identity. So you would need another invite to do another node.
Get another email address and then apply for another identity. That’s what I’ve done.
You can run multiple nodes on different machines or even different HDDs on the same machine.
However, you should keep in mind that data is spread out across nodes on the same IP range. So that 2 nodes will get as much traffic as one node would. Therefor it is really only useful if you want to run nodes on multiple separate physical disks. Otherwise you’re just creating more competing resources and node reputation could even suffer.
As for reputation, that is still handled on a per node basis. And the same goes for vetting the node. So the second node will have to be vetted again first. This vetting process will take longer because traffic is split across 2 nodes now.
Because of this my advise is always to start with one node and only spin up the second node if the first one starts to fill up. That way you get the most out of your first node without hampering it by splitting up the data. The second node would come in handy when you’re running out of storage space on the first to allow for further expansion of the storage capacity.
Okay I assume by using a new storagenode --config-dir and the same identity key, that node picks a new unique id for itself.
Can you say more about what “nodes in the same IP range” means? If I run two storagenodes behind the same NAT, will they be seen as seperate to the satellites? If I run two storage nodes on different IPs, do the satellites consider them related (perhaps groups by the common identity key?), and would they be treated differently because of it?
You can’t use the same token or identity for multiple nodes. You need to go back on the wait list with a different email address.
Nodes are seen as separate entities by the satellites, but if they are on the same /24 IP range the traffic will be spread among them. So if one node would have gotten 100GB, two nodes would each get 50GB.
Edit: a /24 range is any IP with the same first 3 numbers. So 123.123.123.x.
It is very possible…
I have four and working on bringing up a fifth. However, mine are each at different physical locations. All have different IP addresses and different identities.
Instead of running multiple nodes using multiple disks at a single location, consider running one node using multiple disks (by using e.g. RAID1/6/10). RAID10 in particular with 4+ disks will give you an I/O performance advantage as the data is striped over each mirror.
Running multiple nodes on the same network should only be done if you don’t understand how to set up RAID.
But with raid 10 you’ll lose half your storage space
HDD storage is insanely cheap. Consider what happens without redundancy… let’s say you have a 2TB disk. When that disk inevitably fails, your node is kicked out of the network. You buy a new 2TB disk and start over. Now you have to wait about a month for a satellite to vet your node, and you’re not getting paid as much storage and (more importantly) egress revenue until your disk starts to fill back up, which could easily take 6+ months.
If you’re willing to start over at zero each time, then sure. In the long run, I think that net revenue will be higher using RAID10 than using multiple nodes with raw disks; your revenue is not going to drop down every time a disk fails.
If you have no intent to replace failed disks (they are truly just spare disks you aren’t using) then the multi-node setup could be useful.
redundancy makes little sense. Instead of wasting half your disks, you could run nodes on all of them and use all available space. You have the potential to make twice as much money and if one disk fails the worst that happens is fall back to your single disk potential. With anual disk failure rates at 2% for modern HDDs, there really is no reason to over obsess on redundancy when there is redundancy built into the network already.
Ok, I’ll grant you that explanation makes sense.
Now, how do we allocate monthly traffic capacity to each node? If we’re running 12 nodes, just divide by 12? What happens when one of the 12 nodes has used all of its monthly traffic allocation, but the others haven’t? How can we pool traffic among nodes? This is important considering that egress traffic is by far the most lucrative metric.
With one node, it should be simple to approach capacity each month with enough storage. With multiple nodes, a “hot” node for egress may go underutilized because the traffic capacity partitioning is strict. The only way to deal with this currently is either (1) overcommit traffic (lie to the network) or (2) have a daemon that monitors the remaining capacity and periodically reallocates it among all of the nodes (stopping, removing, and recreating each docker container).
We need a way to specify a monthly traffic limit for a whole pool of nodes.
I want to use all my disks as you describe. I have an older data center class (X8DTT) server. I have an extra token I have been sitting on until my current node (HDD1) fills up. HDD1 is currently at 1.4/2 TB capacity. I’m not an Ubuntu 18.x guy, but that’s what it’s running.
Thanks in advance to you or anyone else replying. 
Let me give it a shot.
-p 28968:28967 The second port stays the same, that’s the port used inside the container by the storagenode.Hi,
I’ve missed a bit since migration from rocket-chat here. Just arrived here. I’ve tried to look for a clear answer but couldn’t find one with regards to running multiple nodes on different location but same e-mail/invitation. Last I know was something to arrive on future releases.
Can I run multiple nodes on the same account/e-mail address, is this option available yet or do I need to register for a new invite with a new email address.
thanks.
You can have lot of nodes and 1 email address.
Just get invetation, generate indentity, sing indentity with invetation code.
Start node.
After 24h you can ask new invitation on same email. and make new node.
I have 11 nodes with same email address.
But each node have to have own indentity with signd own invetation code.
All this is confusing:
I already have invite since 3 months or so ago.
Identity is not the same with token, need different token for each node, but can do it on same e-mail? Why do I need another invite on the same e-mail if I already have an invite or token, sorry identity. I have no idea what to do.
Someone please take a minute and make this easy for people to understand?
I’m positive there are tons of people thick like me that would like to join but cannot because this is difficult to understand.
Every indentity should be unic, and signed with own invetation code. Storj need to control somehow how many storage are maded, thats why it made this way
Every node needs an uniqe id just like every car needs a uniqe vin.
Its to know who is who.
When your first node has its identity and is started the sattelite know that this node exists.
Next day you can request a new token with the same email and repeat the procedure .
This new node will have a new id.
Hope this made some sence to you.