1. Can you introduce yourself and share a bit about your journey in the blockchain space and your role at Allnodes?
Certainly! My name is Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, and I am the founder and CEO of Allnodes. My journey in the blockchain space began in 2017 when I was fascinated by the transformative potential of blockchain technology. I founded Allnodes with a clear mission: to simplify and improve the process of hosting nodes. Over the years, our platform has evolved to support a diverse range of blockchain networks, providing secure and easy-to-use services to our clients. It’s been a fascinating journey, and I’m proud of our role in helping people actively participate in the blockchain ecosystem.
2. For those unfamiliar with the term, can you explain what archival nodes are in the context of blockchain technology and why they are important?
Archival nodes are configured to store the complete history of all transactions and states. Despite the name, Full nodes may not always contain the complete history of blocks and transactions. They are used to ensure network security and validation. In contrast, archival nodes store all states for each block from the genesis block to the latest transaction, providing a complete and unalterable blockchain record.
This type of comprehensive storage is necessary for tasks that require in-depth historical data, such as data analytics, query account balance on any historical block, auditing, and complex smart contract interactions. Archival nodes are essential for blockchain explorers as they enable users to query any historical transaction or state. Essentially, archival nodes ensure that the entire blockchain history is preserved, which is important for maintaining transparency and reliability in blockchains.
3. What are some challenges associated with operating and maintaining archive nodes, and how can these challenges be overcome?
These specialized nodes store vast amounts of data, often needing many terabytes of storage to maintain detailed transaction histories.
In-house deployment, scaling, and maintenance of archival systems can be resource-heavy and time-consuming. Take an Ethereum archival node, for example. For an individual developer, independently setting up such a node could take weeks. That’s because an archival node’s initial synchronization takes time. Depending on the blockchain and hardware specifications, this can take much time.
Even a full node is substantial and challenging to manage. To put it in perspective, if an Ethereum full node requires 1+TB of space, its archival version requirements jump from 2.8TB on Erigon (a specialized software client used on the Ethereum network) to 12TB of storage on the Geth client. Maintaining such a large volume of synchronized data is daunting for many developers.
At Allnodes, we do everything we can to simplify these challenges. We utilize our bare metal infrastructure, available across multiple locations around the globe, ensuring low latency, robust redundancy, and scalability. Our approach to node management of all types provides our users peace of mind, freeing them from worries about infrastructure-related issues.
4. When selecting a provider for archive node services, what factors should projects consider to ensure reliability and efficiency?
Reliability is key. You want a provider that has a solid track record of high uptime. You don’t want your project to hit a roadblock because the service is down. Remember that as your project grows, the demands on your archival nodes will increase. The provider should be able to scale their services accordingly without any hiccups. Typically, a platform that checks these boxes will also be invested in its security, so one less thing to worry about.
5. Looking ahead, what trends do you foresee in the development and utilization of archive nodes within the blockchain industry?
Running an archival node is a huge undertaking—we’re talking about massive amounts of data that keep growing. Solutions like Erigon are moving in the right direction by focusing on. on speed and reducing the amount of disk space needed to run an archival node for Ethereum or Polygon blockchains. We might see some clever solutions of this type across other networks.
6. What advice would you offer to blockchain projects or developers considering the implementation of archival nodes in their infrastructure?
Prepare for the resource demands. We’re talking about serious storage requirements that grow constantly. You’ll need a robust infrastructure plan and a decent budget.
Start syncing your archival node as soon as possible since this process may take months in some cases. What’s even more alarming is that if anything goes wrong in the process, you’ll have to start syncing all over again. Having a backup node is essential not just for the setup phase but in general.
Keep in mind that some blockchains’ requirements for archival nodes are substantial. Some cosmos-based chains, for example, require a lot of storage, 30+TB in some cases, and take a long time to sync.
Consider reliable archive node providers who can do the hard work for you. We are here to ensure you can focus on building and innovating without the burden of maintaining complex infrastructure. You’re always welcome at Allnodes.
