What is an IPFS node?
If you’re diving into Web3 then you have likely heard of IPFS, and in that mix, you have probably seen the term “IPFS node.” These distributed IPFS nodes are at the core of what makes the network run, and understanding how they work and what they do will greatly help your journey into off-chain storage solutions and if you should run your own or use a service.
How Does IPFS Work?
IPFS is a distributed file-sharing system compared to the normal file-sharing protocol HTTP. With regular websites that you normally visit, there’s a two-way connection made between your computer and the service that is hosting that website. The computer makes a request to see a website page, the hosting services send the web page. With IPFS there are multiple directions the request is being made, so when you request to see a file by referencing its content identifier (CID), it will fetch blocks of the file from multiple IPFS nodes that have the content as they share the data collectively.
What Does an IPFS Node Do?
IPFS nodes are what the IPFS network is made of; a collection of computers or servers sharing data between each other, and they serve multiple important functions. The first thing they do is “pin” content to the network. This process involves taking a file, breaking it down into chunks, and making a cryptographic hash called the CID. The CID will serve as the address of the file, and when other IPFS nodes ask for that CID, pieces of that content will be cached on the other nodes it passes through. As a piece of content is requested more and more, the bigger that cache layer will be.
What makes nodes powerful is their ability to work and talk with one another. An IPFS node can pin a CID that another node has already pinned, making it more resilient and harder to take down. A good comparison is putting a picture on a fridge and using a magnet to hold it in place. If I place another magnet on the same picture, then remove the first one, the picture stays up. IPFS Nodes can also broadcast their content to the Distributed Hash Table (aka the DHT), or network indexers which is like having someone on speed dial rather than searching for their number through a phonebook, making the content much more available and faster to fetch.
Self-Hosted Nodes vs. IPFS Pinning Service
If you want to run your own simple IPFS node and pin something to it you can do that! (Check out this post for more info). While running IPFS Desktop is pretty simple, there are some downsides to making this a viable solution for hosting content. A big one is that your IPFS node would need to be running 24/7 in order to be reliable because if your computer is turned off and your node is the only one pinning a CID, the other nodes are not going to know where to fetch the blocks from. If you switch from a computer to using a server to run a self-hosted IPFS node, there are often problems with scaling and making it reliable.
Another option for hosting on IPFS nodes is using an IPFS Pinning Service like Pinata. In this instance, the content is pinned on a large global network of IPFS nodes rather than just a single node. This makes it easier to fetch that content and creates the cache layer spoken of earlier. Pinata has been running globally scalable IPFS nodes since 2018, so we’ve built up a wealth of knowledge and experience in optimizing them and making them reliable, including upgrades like broadcasting pins to the DHT.
All in all, understanding IPFS and what makes it run can help you make the right decision when it comes to choosing off-chain storage solutions. If you choose to use a pinning service, you can check out Pinata here.
Happy pinning!
H1 - THE RICH TEXT
EXAMPLE STARTS HERE
H2 - Enabling Widespread Adoption for Music NFTs
paragraph — The first thing the music industry needs is more exposure. For artists, listeners and yeah, the labels. Even with the use cases mentioned above, the majority of the music industry still sees NFTs as a novelty rather than a legitimate way to run a business. We see a future where the experience is built and monetized on the blockchain, with labels taking part of the experience, as well.
Second, there needs to be a big jump in user experience. Listeners know what to expect with Spotify and Apple Music: a smooth, intuitive experience that lets them listen to Lil Nas X with just a few clicks. Web3 platforms aren’t quite there. Music NFTs and related premium content require extra steps that most people don’t yet have an appetite for.
H3 - How Could Music NFTs Save Artists?
paragraph — Musician Daniel Allan spent months building a relationship with the NFT community and raised 50 ETH to fund his new album, Overstimulated. Companies like Audius and artists like Vérité's, who raised $90,000 in an NFT launch, are at the forefront of exploring new ways to get paid. Avenged Sevenfold launched an NFT collection called "Deathbats Club" with 10,000 items that grants holders access to benefits such as meet and greets at shows, lifetime free tickets, limited edition merchandise, and more.
H4 - Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
H5 — How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
LINK — This is how a link looks like. Please provide normal & hover state (if different than this)
- This will be bullet points
- Numbered list is the same but with numbers
- It has a margin-left applied
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
- Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
QUOTE — Everyone is obsessed with making money and seeking alpha, which does a disservice to what [NFTs] can actually do. We have been instructing many bands that NFTs are a ticket for access to an exclusive club.” - M. Shadows, Avenged Sevenfold’s lead singer.
