Network Architecture
The Aleph Cloud network is designed as a decentralized, peer-to-peer system that provides both storage and computing capabilities. This page explains the architecture of the network and how its components interact.
Network Overview
The Aleph Cloud network consists of two primary types of nodes that work together to provide decentralized services:
Core Channel Nodes (CCNs)
Core Channel Nodes form the backbone of the Aleph Cloud P2P network. They:
- Serve as entry points to the network through an API interface (similar to blockchain RPC nodes)
- Broadcast and propagate messages throughout the network
- Maintain the message history and state
- Coordinate workload distribution to Compute Resource Nodes
- Provide consensus on the network state
Compute Resource Nodes (CRNs)
Compute Resource Nodes provide the actual computing and storage resources of the network. They:
- Execute programs and functions
- Store files and data
- Run persistent virtual machines
- Process indexing tasks
- Are tied to a specific CCN (each CCN can have up to 3 CRNs)
Communication Flow
- Users interact with the network by sending messages through SDKs, clients, or the web console
- Messages are received by CCNs and propagated throughout the network
- CCNs assign workloads to their connected CRNs
- CRNs execute the requested operations and return results
- Results are made available through the CCN API endpoints
Network Resilience
The distributed nature of Aleph Cloud provides several advantages:
- No single point of failure
- Geographic distribution of resources
- Redundancy of data storage
- Load balancing across multiple nodes
- Resistance to censorship and attacks
Network Scalability
The Aleph Cloud network can scale horizontally by adding more nodes:
- Additional CCNs improve message propagation and API availability
- Additional CRNs increase the network's computing and storage capacity
- The network can adapt to varying workloads by distributing tasks efficiently
For more detailed information about the specific node types, see the Nodes section of the documentation.