Proposal: Public Hivemind SQL service

emrebeyler (75)in #proposal • 5 years ago (edited)

Hivemind, a tool by Steemit inc., is a backend API service currently replace some of the endpoints of steemd. It's in use for a good amount time.

I've been running a public Hivemind node, distributing daily database snapshots almost 9 months. There is also tower, a REST interface for Hivemind data, is developed and maintained by me, so far.

RPC and REST interfaces are just the tip of the iceberg since the underlying database -PostgreSQL- offers much more flexible queries. (Check some examples)

I want to offer read-only public accounts to query the Hivemind database. This requires new infrastructure planning. Can't offer public accounts on the master PostgreSQL instance due to obvious reasons, I need new at least one or two replica instances where people can query and benefit the power of the Hivemind.

These come with additional development/maintenance/server costs. While I am happy to do that with my witness earnings, I already run a lot of dedicated servers.

Didn't really do the math, but probably get into a loss if we compare the costs with witness earnings. Here is my server list for STEEM related things:

Two dedicated servers for witness
One dedicated server for Hivemind
One medium-sized virtual private server dPoll
One small-sized virtual private server for scripts (witness backup failover, etc.)

TL;DR What will be delivered?

A reliable, fast, public SQL service (direct connection) of the Hivemind. I expect to deliver it before 2020. The plan is exposing Hivemind's database directly to the public with a good, old PostgreSQL user. (read-only)

Timeframe of the funding

1 year

Daily request amount of SBD

12 SBD

Q.A

What will happen when the funding window is closed? Will you shut down the service?

1 year is a lot, I cannot promise anything at this time. But, worth to mention, I already served free public Hivemind node for 9 months, and I expect to keep this service is up as long as I can, financially.

Will you cash out the funding instantly?

My plan is to power up the SBD, instantly after converting to STEEM. I will cover the server costs with fiat and don't create sell pressure on STEEM with the steem dao funds. However, this might change in upcoming months depending on the costs, my financial status, etc.

Are you eligible for that kind of thing?

I am a software engineer with 10+ years of experience. Also, experienced with Python (the language powers Hivemind), and PostgreSQL. (My github account @emre might be a good indicator about what can I do.)

What will be the outcome for community?

This is useful mostly for software developers, data people. Applications, dapps, reports can benefit this direct SQL access.

Difference between SteemSQL?

SteemSQL is a general blockchain data service, while Hivemind only stores a partition of the blockchain data. Mostly social part like posts, accounts, votes, relationships (follow, ignore, resteem), etc. It's also planned to store communitiesdata at Hivemind.