RFP - Run Your Own Zcash Full Node

Hi!,
Is this grant still accepting proposals? If so kindly go through my proposals given below.
Proposal 1 - ZCASH Linux for Raspberyy PI & Nvidia Jetson. A completely customised linux distro for installing on dev boards , which can start serving Zcash node without any setup. The distro is capabling of running ZCASHD and ZEBRAD without any installation or logging to terminal. By leveraging a cron job to check for updates regularly , we can make sure that the node stays updated. We plan to build ZCASH UIs for Android , IOS and a webapp for accessing the linux distro , with full root access privilege , and it can be used to control the distro , host lightwalletd instances. Apart from having a user friendly layout , the UI will contain an inbuilt terminal to access the linux distro. With ZCASH UI , user can use our app features to communicate with the network using ZCASH RPC. By leveraging notification and telegram alerts , we can keep the user alert about status of the node and can easily complete the troubleshooting from the UI. This project will have a complete gitbook documentation and a video tutorial series on youtube. This project will be completely open source. We are requesting $35000/- in grant amount.

Proposal 2- ZCASH full node device using NXP IMX8 MPU or Rockchip RK3399. We propose to create an independent device or dev board for users to host their full node for ZCASH at an affordable price. The device will be shipped to users with an pre installed Linux distro , and users can customise it and communicate to lightwalletd and zcashd using our Native UI on android and IOS and our webapp. The benefits of this setup over first proposal is that this setup is plug and play and does not require any OS installation. Users can plug in their device and immediately start running the node.The device will have sufficient ram for running node and hosting the API for the apps. This project will be completely open source. We are requesting $50000/- in grant amount.

For a detailed description of the proposal and actual figures and milestones , please open the attached PDF.

Grant document details.pdf

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@ahas I can confirm that the Zcash Community Grants Committee has received your proposal via email and is scheduled to review and discuss it tomorrow in our weekly meeting. We will reach out to you early next week to discuss next steps. Thanks!

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Thanks! I wasnā€™t sure of which platform I should use. And somebody from discord asked me to post here. Appreciate the help , thanks again.

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Hello!

Proposal 1 looks great! Assuming Zcash moving to the Proof of Stake this linux distro can be absolutely a ā€œneed oneā€ thing if we want to decentralise and make as much people as possible to run their own node.

Since the very beginning bitcoiners say ā€œrun your own nodeā€.
But with UDAs and growing blockchain history itā€™s better to have a separate device, dedicated entirely to full node zcashd. Which is also more secure than to run it on your personal PC.

Also, Infura and Alchemy proved that even decentralised network can have a centralised infrastructure. Zcashd linux distro fixes this because everyone will be able to have his own RPC easily.

Finally, with current trend where we observe blockchains creating their phones, maybe it can evolve in some kind of ā€œpodā€ that will store all userā€™s data (just like todays HomePods and Google Homes which are quite popular for common usage) .

We. Need. This.

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Hi ,

I read about web3 phone priced at $2000. I donā€™t know if it was meant for running nodes as that network requires a ridiculous amount of memory and storage.
My question is if we target the $100-200 price range for this device will users buy this product in this bear market?

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$100-200 for a device just to secure the network without getting nothing in return? I dont think soā€¦

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I mean if thereā€™s a $200 device that automates running and upgrading zcashd and zebrad, Iā€™m buying. Also, open source software that automates this process is highly welcomed by the community.

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@gottabeJay @tokidoki $100-$200 is a lot for most people. But considering how 8GB Raspberry pis cost more than $100 , I donā€™t think that I could get SoC+Ddr3+PMIC and Ethernet components for less than $100.

Embassy9 is selling these devices at $399 without SSD :neutral_face:

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Good point. I take that back.

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I take in account that zcash network can potentially switch the consensus mechanism to Proof of Stake.

So, 200$ to run a node at home and earn rewards for staking at your own node is quite awesome. Iā€™ll give even 300 and maybe in the future there will be some apps deployed on the top of zcashd.

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I agree with Tim. Having a customized node for PoS node deployment sounds promising. For now ,I will wait to hear back from the community grants committee and will build based on their instructions and feedback.

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Running a node in the cloud - 2 cores, 8 gigs, 100gb of storage is in the neighborhood of $50/month. So, IDK, $100 piece of hardware that just needs some internet? Sounds too cheap IMO ā€¦ inflation is moving fast though - $100 isnā€™t what it used to be in June 2022 ā€¦

Links?

Iā€™m interested in deploying zcashd and friends with docker/k8s or even ansible; but, right now Iā€™m still in the typing-stuff-into-a-shell-after-launching-a-vm phase. Here are some notes I made for how I am messing around with running a full node in the cloud:

This method leaves a lot to be desired and Iā€™m certainly interested in more one-click solutions for the cloud and I think a dedicated home device fullnode would also be cool. I have a kid who is really into linux and security and cryptography and such and a hobbyist fullnode device would be a cool project for us.

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These specs seem to be on the low side. Have you tested a full synchronization from genesis?

@skyl If your cloud provider offers archlinux, there is a package for zcashd. You just need to install it with the usual package manager.

https://man.archlinux.org/man/community/zcash/zcashd.1.en

Itā€™s kept up to date by the community.

I pretty much always use debian - installing zcashd on debian is a breeze. But, I still want to further automate it either through ansible or k8s. k8s might be cool because it should be that multiple full nodes can share the blockchain data so that ~50GB is not needed redundantly for each node?

zcashd stores the blockchain data in LevelDb databases. They are not designed to be shared.

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Ah, thanks for the info! Hrmm ā€¦

Here is requested link https://hub.docker.com/u/electriccoinco

Contains zcashd, lightwalletd, ci builders and workers for testing/building/bench.

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Suggestion [0]: This section should contain a bullet point requiring the installation of a Tor daemon, and zcashd configuration to work with it unless the user opts out of Tor. That provides basic (but suboptimal) network-layer privacy by default.

Whenever Zcash starts to support onions (which it currently doesnā€™t), that should be configured by default. The node MUST support outbound connections to onions, and SHOULD configure an onion listener unless the user disables listening. (Thereby using RFC 2119 language.) I would even suggest adding an interface that helps the user opt-in to running a Tor middle node or bridge node, with secure defaults.

Suggestion [1]: This section should include a bullet point for something that the Zcash community badly needs anywayā€”perhaps even a subject for a separate grant: Investigating and documenting low-end hardware requirements for running an inexpensive node.

The Bitcoin community is full of such thingsā€”for only one example:

Someone (cough) should test a variety of configurations using inexpensive, widely-available hardware, report on what works/what doesnā€™t, and eventually develop a practical guide for easily running a low-cost node. But that costs money.

Support for a beta-development alternative node should not be a requirement. zcashd fulfills the stated purposes for which this project is proposed. Anyway, support for an alternative node is the type of thing which could be added in the future, if/when zebrad is fully mature.

Please stipulate that this should be fully and easily under the userā€™s control, even if it is enabled by default.

(As a separate issue, this is a general problem with zcashd: It can force you to update, unless you know how to edit code and recompile. To protect decentralization and avoid centralized authority, Bitcoin intentionally deprives Bitcoin Core developers of any ability whatsoever to twist peopleā€™s arms into changing to new versions. Except in the extremely rare event of a CVE, the only reason to install a new Bitcoin Core version is if you want toā€”which most people do.)

Reorgs should never require a reindex. A reorg is normal behaviour on a blockchain. A consensus node (and anything built on a consensus node) should handle reorgs gracefully and automatically.

Where have you seen a reorg require reindexing? That would be a serious bug.

I have never reindexed my zcashd due to a reorg. I have never (yet) used lightwalletd, so I cannot comment on that.


The foregoing are only some passing comments. If I have any further comments or wish to engage here, I will return to this thread.

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ZCG has received interest in response to the RFP post ā€œRun Your Own Zcash Full Nodeā€ RFP - Run Your Own Zcash Full Node - #22 by ahas

The committee discussed the proposal Proposal 1 & 2 on a call with Ahas and is impressed by the background and projects undertaken by the applicant. At this time, Proposal 1 seems very applicable to the immediate need to decentralize and increase the number of Zcash nodes run by hobbyists the Zcashers. The proposal aims to build a completely customized Linux distro for installing on dev boards such as Raspberry Pi 4, which can start serving Zcash nodes without any setup. The distro will be maintained by the grant applicant and must be capable of running zcashd, zebrad, and lightwalletd without any installation or logging to the terminal. By leveraging a cron job to check for updates regularly, the node is kept running the latest version. Users can effortlessly set up the node just by installing the Linux image onto their Raspberry Pi 4 or NVIDIA Jetson and forget the pain of installing a hundred packages and libraries. (includes an excerpt from the proposal slides)

Apart from providing the downloadable distro, Ahas and the team will make available direct purchase of Raspberry Pi 4 & Nvidia Jetson devices (pre-installed with the Zcash distros) for Plug-and-Play setup, all at a nominal cost. Hardware and software support will be included, and the team plans to leverage the community to crowdsource troubleshooting of common issues.

The ZCG committee invites Ahas and the team to apply for a grant detailing the plans for Proposal 1 with set milestones. After evaluating the deliverables and community adoption of Proposal 1, ZCG may evaluate the need for Proposal 2 which includes the building of a custom SoC for an even more Zcash-centric design of portable nodes.

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Hello @ahas & the Zcash Community, I am happy to announce that at the most recent meeting the @ZcashGrants Committee has voted to approve @ahasā€™s RFP submission.

You can view the approved proposal HERE

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