I am pleased to report that the witness server has been up and running for just over one month now and a lot has happened.
Hive Blockchain Redundancy
As you are aware the blockchain is maintained by individuals and teams that spend their time and resources to provide and maintain computer power that will process blocks onto the chain, this validation work is replicated by every witness server in a very fast way (every three seconds a new block is minted). Why is this important?
Every Witness holds a copy of the complete blockchain going back to the very first block stored on computer servers all over the planet, or that's the idea. However, some have said that if you rent a virtual server from a company like Google or Amazon, your witness could end up being right next to another witness in the same data centre. This is centralising the blockchain and not what we want.
We want decentisation, this is why I chose to own my complete machine and not rent a virtual server from a company and I also choose to host the server in the city that I live in. What does this mean?
- Nobody can shut down my server because I forgot to pay the monthly bill or they say that they do not allow crypto mining and cancel your service.
- The server is hosting a copy of the hive blockchain here in Adelaide (the First and Only one that I know of) This is furthering decentralisation and redundancy making our blockchain home more robust.
This does have a few downsides that I can talk about, because it is my server I am responsible if something breaks like a power supply or a disk drive, it is up to me to get a new one and get in there and fit it. Luckily I like doing that kind of stuff. It also means that I have to keep the software up to date, like applying patches now and then, and being able to jump on the server and perform any admin work that needs to be done.
Has Anything Gone Wrong
The Price Feed stopped updating, this just proves that this is not a set-and-forget type of operation, I have a monitor that will alert me if the price feed has not updated for 12 hours. I had to log in and get it running again, with an "electronic kick in the guts" but it just shows that even in this short time things break.
I think that most of the Hive witnesses have full-time jobs and do this work voluntarily as is the case with me, but we believe in this project and look forward to many new developments and Apps that will run on Hive in the coming months and Years.
How Is My Ranking Progressing?
Witness Rank is measured by your votes, yes you all have 30 votes to send over to hive witnesses and so far I have been very much humbled by the generosity and support I have gotten so far. So Thank You Very Much For Your Votes I have received not only your votes but many words of encouragement plus technical tips, all very welcome.
Here In Adelaide, we have a monthly in-person meetup at a local watering hole in the city where we get together to talk about crypto, gaming and life in general, we all know each other and have formed good friendships, Next one is on the 25 Jan 2024 all are welcome to join. I will be discussing my new adventure as a hive witness and also asking for a vote in a kind and respectful way. So don't be surprised if you get a personal note from me asking for a vote. Until next time, Hive On my Global Family.
I've considered setting one up, but I am not where I need to be financially to be able to do that yet.
Is there a financial (Hive) benefit to hosting a witness node?
There is a reward for signing blocks, the majority goes to the top 20, but it’s a fantastic learning experience running a witness node.
Plus we keep the chain decentralized, I run my own servers and don’t rent a vps like most do.
There have been cases of data centers not allowing crypto mining and shutting down a network, like what happened to solana blockchain.
Great work on running the node after 1 month. It is good to know that you are helping support decentralisation of Hive. I hope you have a great meetup.
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project which will be highlighted in the next post!
Please consider voting for our Liotes HIVE Witness. Thank you!
yeah I am very happy with the way it's going so far. thanks for the curation pick.
Happy to vote for you man and I like your approach towards decentralisation. Glad to read that nobody can stop your witness and it's pretty cool
Thanks mate, keep on building and stacking
You are really doing a great job man
Keep doing great things
Thank you, that's the plan
Great work and really appreciate what you doing I hope it all goes down well at the very end
Thanks buddy, keep powering up
Yeah sure bro
Top donk on the independent witness node!! :OD
Thanks mate, a donk is what they call a car motor over here, like a big V8 😀
Haha, totally never knew that!
You’re doing an amazing job! Thank you!
Thanks, so are you, can send me a witness vote please
Yo!
You're doing great bro.
Keep up the good work👏👏👏
Well done!
Okey, you got my vote.
Thanks mate, appreciate it.
Don't mention it ;)