mirror of
https://github.com/pezkuwichain/pezkuwi-subxt.git
synced 2026-04-26 08:47:57 +00:00
610585d17f
* Remove sc_network::NetworkService::register_notifications_protocol * Missing calls to .into() * Wrong crate name * [WIP] Fix Grandpa tests * One more passing * One more. Two to go. * This one was actually already passing 🎉 * Last one compiles * Progress * grandpa: fix voter_persists_its_votes test * Restore other tests * Try spawn future later Co-authored-by: André Silva <andrerfosilva@gmail.com>
227 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
227 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
Substrate-specific P2P networking.
|
|
|
|
**Important**: This crate is unstable and the API and usage may change.
|
|
|
|
# Node identities and addresses
|
|
|
|
In a decentralized network, each node possesses a network private key and a network public key.
|
|
In Substrate, the keys are based on the ed25519 curve.
|
|
|
|
From a node's public key, we can derive its *identity*. In Substrate and libp2p, a node's
|
|
identity is represented with the [`PeerId`] struct. All network communications between nodes on
|
|
the network use encryption derived from both sides's keys, which means that **identities cannot
|
|
be faked**.
|
|
|
|
A node's identity uniquely identifies a machine on the network. If you start two or more
|
|
clients using the same network key, large interferences will happen.
|
|
|
|
# Substrate's network protocol
|
|
|
|
Substrate's networking protocol is based upon libp2p. It is at the moment not possible and not
|
|
planned to permit using something else than the libp2p network stack and the rust-libp2p
|
|
library. However the libp2p framework is very flexible and the rust-libp2p library could be
|
|
extended to support a wider range of protocols than what is offered by libp2p.
|
|
|
|
## Discovery mechanisms
|
|
|
|
In order for our node to join a peer-to-peer network, it has to know a list of nodes that are
|
|
part of said network. This includes nodes identities and their address (how to reach them).
|
|
Building such a list is called the **discovery** mechanism. There are three mechanisms that
|
|
Substrate uses:
|
|
|
|
- Bootstrap nodes. These are hard-coded node identities and addresses passed alongside with
|
|
the network configuration.
|
|
- mDNS. We perform a UDP broadcast on the local network. Nodes that listen may respond with
|
|
their identity. More info [here](https://github.com/libp2p/specs/blob/master/discovery/mdns.md).
|
|
mDNS can be disabled in the network configuration.
|
|
- Kademlia random walk. Once connected, we perform random Kademlia `FIND_NODE` requests on the
|
|
configured Kademlia DHTs (one per configured chain protocol) in order for nodes to propagate to
|
|
us their view of the network. More information about Kademlia can be found [on
|
|
Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kademlia).
|
|
|
|
## Connection establishment
|
|
|
|
When node Alice knows node Bob's identity and address, it can establish a connection with Bob.
|
|
All connections must always use encryption and multiplexing. While some node addresses (eg.
|
|
addresses using `/quic`) already imply which encryption and/or multiplexing to use, for others
|
|
the **multistream-select** protocol is used in order to negotiate an encryption layer and/or a
|
|
multiplexing layer.
|
|
|
|
The connection establishment mechanism is called the **transport**.
|
|
|
|
As of the writing of this documentation, the following base-layer protocols are supported by
|
|
Substrate:
|
|
|
|
- TCP/IP for addresses of the form `/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/5`. Once the TCP connection is open, an
|
|
encryption and a multiplexing layer are negotiated on top.
|
|
- WebSockets for addresses of the form `/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/5/ws`. A TCP/IP connection is open and
|
|
the WebSockets protocol is negotiated on top. Communications then happen inside WebSockets data
|
|
frames. Encryption and multiplexing are additionally negotiated again inside this channel.
|
|
- DNS for addresses of the form `/dns/example.com/tcp/5` or `/dns/example.com/tcp/5/ws`. A
|
|
node's address can contain a domain name.
|
|
- (All of the above using IPv6 instead of IPv4.)
|
|
|
|
On top of the base-layer protocol, the [Noise](https://noiseprotocol.org/) protocol is
|
|
negotiated and applied. The exact handshake protocol is experimental and is subject to change.
|
|
|
|
The following multiplexing protocols are supported:
|
|
|
|
- [Mplex](https://github.com/libp2p/specs/tree/master/mplex). Support for mplex will likely
|
|
be deprecated in the future.
|
|
- [Yamux](https://github.com/hashicorp/yamux/blob/master/spec.md).
|
|
|
|
## Substreams
|
|
|
|
Once a connection has been established and uses multiplexing, substreams can be opened. When
|
|
a substream is open, the **multistream-select** protocol is used to negotiate which protocol
|
|
to use on that given substream.
|
|
|
|
Protocols that are specific to a certain chain have a `<protocol-id>` in their name. This
|
|
"protocol ID" is defined in the chain specifications. For example, the protocol ID of Polkadot
|
|
is "dot". In the protocol names below, `<protocol-id>` must be replaced with the corresponding
|
|
protocol ID.
|
|
|
|
> **Note**: It is possible for the same connection to be used for multiple chains. For example,
|
|
> one can use both the `/dot/sync/2` and `/sub/sync/2` protocols on the same
|
|
> connection, provided that the remote supports them.
|
|
|
|
Substrate uses the following standard libp2p protocols:
|
|
|
|
- **`/ipfs/ping/1.0.0`**. We periodically open an ephemeral substream in order to ping the
|
|
remote and check whether the connection is still alive. Failure for the remote to reply leads
|
|
to a disconnection.
|
|
- **[`/ipfs/id/1.0.0`](https://github.com/libp2p/specs/tree/master/identify)**. We
|
|
periodically open an ephemeral substream in order to ask information from the remote.
|
|
- **[`/<protocol_id>/kad`](https://github.com/libp2p/specs/pull/108)**. We periodically open
|
|
ephemeral substreams for Kademlia random walk queries. Each Kademlia query is done in a
|
|
separate substream.
|
|
|
|
Additionally, Substrate uses the following non-libp2p-standard protocols:
|
|
|
|
- **`/substrate/<protocol-id>/<version>`** (where `<protocol-id>` must be replaced with the
|
|
protocol ID of the targeted chain, and `<version>` is a number between 2 and 6). For each
|
|
connection we optionally keep an additional substream for all Substrate-based communications alive.
|
|
This protocol is considered legacy, and is progressively being replaced with alternatives.
|
|
This is designated as "The legacy Substrate substream" in this documentation. See below for
|
|
more details.
|
|
- **`/<protocol-id>/sync/2`** is a request-response protocol (see below) that lets one perform
|
|
requests for information about blocks. Each request is the encoding of a `BlockRequest` and
|
|
each response is the encoding of a `BlockResponse`, as defined in the `api.v1.proto` file in
|
|
this source tree.
|
|
- **`/<protocol-id>/light/2`** is a request-response protocol (see below) that lets one perform
|
|
light-client-related requests for information about the state. Each request is the encoding of
|
|
a `light::Request` and each response is the encoding of a `light::Response`, as defined in the
|
|
`light.v1.proto` file in this source tree.
|
|
- **`/<protocol-id>/transactions/1`** is a notifications protocol (see below) where
|
|
transactions are pushed to other nodes. The handshake is empty on both sides. The message
|
|
format is a SCALE-encoded list of transactions, where each transaction is an opaque list of
|
|
bytes.
|
|
- **`/<protocol-id>/block-announces/1`** is a notifications protocol (see below) where
|
|
block announces are pushed to other nodes. The handshake is empty on both sides. The message
|
|
format is a SCALE-encoded tuple containing a block header followed with an opaque list of
|
|
bytes containing some data associated with this block announcement, e.g. a candidate message.
|
|
- Notifications protocols that are registered using `NetworkConfiguration::notifications_protocols`.
|
|
For example: `/paritytech/grandpa/1`. See below for more information.
|
|
|
|
## The legacy Substrate substream
|
|
|
|
Substrate uses a component named the **peerset manager (PSM)**. Through the discovery
|
|
mechanism, the PSM is aware of the nodes that are part of the network and decides which nodes
|
|
we should perform Substrate-based communications with. For these nodes, we open a connection
|
|
if necessary and open a unique substream for Substrate-based communications. If the PSM decides
|
|
that we should disconnect a node, then that substream is closed.
|
|
|
|
For more information about the PSM, see the *sc-peerset* crate.
|
|
|
|
Note that at the moment there is no mechanism in place to solve the issues that arise where the
|
|
two sides of a connection open the unique substream simultaneously. In order to not run into
|
|
issues, only the dialer of a connection is allowed to open the unique substream. When the
|
|
substream is closed, the entire connection is closed as well. This is a bug that will be
|
|
resolved by deprecating the protocol entirely.
|
|
|
|
Within the unique Substrate substream, messages encoded using
|
|
[*parity-scale-codec*](https://github.com/paritytech/parity-scale-codec) are exchanged.
|
|
The detail of theses messages is not totally in place, but they can be found in the
|
|
`message.rs` file.
|
|
|
|
Once the substream is open, the first step is an exchange of a *status* message from both
|
|
sides, containing information such as the chain root hash, head of chain, and so on.
|
|
|
|
Communications within this substream include:
|
|
|
|
- Syncing. Blocks are announced and requested from other nodes.
|
|
- Light-client requests. When a light client requires information, a random node we have a
|
|
substream open with is chosen, and the information is requested from it.
|
|
- Gossiping. Used for example by grandpa.
|
|
|
|
## Request-response protocols
|
|
|
|
A so-called request-response protocol is defined as follow:
|
|
|
|
- When a substream is opened, the opening side sends a message whose content is
|
|
protocol-specific. The message must be prefixed with an
|
|
[LEB128-encoded number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEB128) indicating its length. After the
|
|
message has been sent, the writing side is closed.
|
|
- The remote sends back the response prefixed with a LEB128-encoded length, and closes its
|
|
side as well.
|
|
|
|
Each request is performed in a new separate substream.
|
|
|
|
## Notifications protocols
|
|
|
|
A so-called notifications protocol is defined as follow:
|
|
|
|
- When a substream is opened, the opening side sends a handshake message whose content is
|
|
protocol-specific. The handshake message must be prefixed with an
|
|
[LEB128-encoded number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEB128) indicating its length. The
|
|
handshake message can be of length 0, in which case the sender has to send a single `0`.
|
|
- The receiver then either immediately closes the substream, or answers with its own
|
|
LEB128-prefixed protocol-specific handshake response. The message can be of length 0, in which
|
|
case a single `0` has to be sent back.
|
|
- Once the handshake has completed, the notifications protocol is unidirectional. Only the
|
|
node which initiated the substream can push notifications. If the remote wants to send
|
|
notifications as well, it has to open its own undirectional substream.
|
|
- Each notification must be prefixed with an LEB128-encoded length. The encoding of the
|
|
messages is specific to each protocol.
|
|
- Either party can signal that it doesn't want a notifications substream anymore by closing
|
|
its writing side. The other party should respond by closing its own writing side soon after.
|
|
|
|
The API of `sc-network` allows one to register user-defined notification protocols.
|
|
`sc-network` automatically tries to open a substream towards each node for which the legacy
|
|
Substream substream is open. The handshake is then performed automatically.
|
|
|
|
For example, the `sc-finality-grandpa` crate registers the `/paritytech/grandpa/1`
|
|
notifications protocol.
|
|
|
|
At the moment, for backwards-compatibility, notification protocols are tied to the legacy
|
|
Substrate substream. Additionally, the handshake message is hardcoded to be a single 8-bits
|
|
integer representing the role of the node:
|
|
|
|
- 1 for a full node.
|
|
- 2 for a light node.
|
|
- 4 for an authority.
|
|
|
|
In the future, though, these restrictions will be removed.
|
|
|
|
# Usage
|
|
|
|
Using the `sc-network` crate is done through the [`NetworkWorker`] struct. Create this
|
|
struct by passing a [`config::Params`], then poll it as if it was a `Future`. You can extract an
|
|
`Arc<NetworkService>` from the `NetworkWorker`, which can be shared amongst multiple places
|
|
in order to give orders to the networking.
|
|
|
|
See the [`config`] module for more information about how to configure the networking.
|
|
|
|
After the `NetworkWorker` has been created, the important things to do are:
|
|
|
|
- Calling `NetworkWorker::poll` in order to advance the network. This can be done by
|
|
dispatching a background task with the [`NetworkWorker`].
|
|
- Calling `on_block_import` whenever a block is added to the client.
|
|
- Calling `on_block_finalized` whenever a block is finalized.
|
|
- Calling `trigger_repropagate` when a transaction is added to the pool.
|
|
|
|
More precise usage details are still being worked on and will likely change in the future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
License: GPL-3.0-or-later WITH Classpath-exception-2.0
|