README
¶
Sia 1.0.3
Binaries can be found at our website. Code for the graphical front-end can be found at the Sia-UI repo.
Sia is a new decentralized cloud storage platform aimed at giving users control of their data. Data is split into hundreds of erasure coded pieces and encrypted locally, and then each piece is uploaded to a separate host. A blockchain is used to create cryptographic contracts ensuring that hosts will only get paid if they actually store the data. Out of hundreds of hosts, only a fraction are required to recover the original file.
Anybody can join the network as a host and get income from the storage they contribute. This openness allows Sia to build and take advantage of a global network of small datacenters. Combined with advanced algorithms for storing and retrieving data, Sia is poised to be a highly competitive cloud storage platform. More information about the technology can be found on our website and in the 'doc' folder of the repo.
Sia is ready for use with small sums of money and non-critical files, but until the network has a more proven track record, we advise against using it as a sole means of storing important data.
This release comes with 2 binaries, siad and siac. siad is a background service, or "daemon," that runs the Sia protocol, and siac is a client that is used to interact with siad. Siad exposes an HTTP API on 'localhost:9980' which can be used to interact with the daemon. There is a front-end program called Sia-UI which can be used to interact with the daemon in a more user-friendly way. Documentation on the API can be found in doc/API.md.
Usage
siad and siac are run via command prompt. On Windows, you can just double-
click siad.exe if you don't need to specify any command-line arguments.
Otherwise, navigate to the sia folder and click File->Open command prompt.
Then, start the siad service by entering siad and pressing Enter. The
command prompt may appear to freeze; this means siad is waiting for requests.
Windows users may see a warning from the Windows Firewall; be sure to check
both boxes ("Private networks" and "Public networks") and click "Allow
access." You can now run siac in a separate command prompt to interact with
siad. From here, you can send money, mine blocks, upload and download
files, and advertise yourself as a host.
Building From Source
To build from source, Go 1.6 must be installed
on the system. Then simply use go get:
go get -u github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia/...
This will download the Sia repo to your $GOPATH/src folder, and install the
siad and siac binaries in your $GOPATH/bin folder.
To stay up-to-date, run the previous go get command again. Alternatively, you
can use the Makefile provided in this repo. Run git pull origin master to
pull the latest changes, and make release-std to build the new binaries. You
can also run make test and make test-long to run the short and full test
suites, respectively. Finally, make cover will generate code coverage reports
for each package; they are stored in the cover folder and can be viewed in
your browser.
Troubleshooting
-
I can't add storage folders on Windows.
Currently, admin privileges are required to add storage folders on Windows. Close siad and run it from an admin command prompt. Future versions will not require admin privileges.
-
I can't connect to more than 8 peers.
Once Sia has connected to 8 peers, it will stop trying to form new connections, but it will still accept incoming connection requests (up to 128 total peers). However, if you are behind a firewall, you will not be able to accept incoming connections. You must configure your firewall to allow Sia connections by forwarding your ports. By default, Sia communicates on ports 9981 and 9982. The specific instructions for forwarding a port vary by router. For more information, consult this guide.
Sia currently has support for UPnP. While not all routers support UPnP, a majority of users should have their ports automatically forwarded by UPnP.
-
I mined a block, but I didn't receive any money.
There is a 144-block confirmation delay before you will receive siacoins from mined blocks. If you still have not received the block reward after 144 blocks, it means your block did not make it into the blockchain.
If your issue is not addressed above, you can get in touch with us personally:
slack: http://slackin.siacoin.com (ping @taek, @nemo, or @jordan)
email:
Version Information
-
v1.0.0 represents a landmark in the development of Sia. In accordance with semver, API compatibility will not be broken until v2.0.0, which is not on the current development roadmap. In other words, developers should feel confident leveraging the siad API in their own applications. When new functionality is added, it will be added in a backwards-compatible manner. New routes may be added, and new parameters may be added to existing routes or responses, but none of the routes present in v1.0.0 will be removed, nor will any of their parameters or response fields be removed.
-
siad now supports API authentication, enabled by the
--authenticate-apiflag.
Please tell us about any problems you run into, and any features you want! The advantage of being a beta user is that your feedback will have a large impact on what we do in the next few months. Thank you!
Version History
October 2016:
v1.0.3 (patch release)
- Greatly improved renter stability
- Smarter HostDB
- Numerous minor bug fixes
July 2016:
v1.0.1 (patch release)
- Restricted API address to localhost
- Fixed renter/host desynchronization
- Fixed host silently refusing new contracts
June 2016:
v1.0.0 (major release)
- Finalized API routes
- Add optional API authentication
- Improve automatic contract management
May 2016:
v0.6.0 (minor release)
- Switched to long-form renter contracts
- Added support for multiple hosting folders
- Hosts are now identified by their public key
January 2016:
v0.5.2 (patch)
- Faster initial blockchain download
- Introduced headers-only broadcasting
v0.5.1 (patch)
- Fixed bug severely impacting performance
- Restored (but deprecated) some siac commands
- Added modules flag, allowing modules to be disabled
v0.5.0 (minor release)
- Major API changes to most modules
- Automatic contract renewal
- Data on inactive hosts is reuploaded
- Support for folder structure
- Smarter host
For older release notes, consult the git history of this file.
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
|
package compatibility contains a bunch of tests to make sure that compatibility has been preserved with previous versions.
|
package compatibility contains a bunch of tests to make sure that compatibility has been preserved with previous versions. |
|
Package encoding converts arbitrary objects into byte slices, and vis versa.
|
Package encoding converts arbitrary objects into byte slices, and vis versa. |
|
Package modules contains definitions for all of the major modules of Sia, as well as some helper functions for performing actions that are common to multiple modules.
|
Package modules contains definitions for all of the major modules of Sia, as well as some helper functions for performing actions that are common to multiple modules. |
|
explorer
The explorer module provides a glimpse into what the Sia network currently looks like.
|
The explorer module provides a glimpse into what the Sia network currently looks like. |
|
gateway
Package gateway connects a Sia node to the Sia flood network.
|
Package gateway connects a Sia node to the Sia flood network. |
|
host
Package host is an implementation of the host module, and is responsible for participating in the storage ecosystem, turning available disk space an internet bandwidth into profit for the user.
|
Package host is an implementation of the host module, and is responsible for participating in the storage ecosystem, turning available disk space an internet bandwidth into profit for the user. |
|
host/storagemanager
package storagemanager implements a storage manager for the host on Sia.
|
package storagemanager implements a storage manager for the host on Sia. |
|
renter/contractor
Package contractor is responsible for forming and renewing file contracts with hosts.
|
Package contractor is responsible for forming and renewing file contracts with hosts. |
|
renter/hostdb
Package hostdb provides a HostDB object that implements the renter.hostDB interface.
|
Package hostdb provides a HostDB object that implements the renter.hostDB interface. |