| a BlockChain Learning Blog # S1E4 | Knowing Ethereum network Landscape
Previous Blogs S1E3
Until now we have got a fair idea on ethereum smart contracts, Smart Contracts are like real world contract in digital form which has legal as well financial implications.
We have also seen that there is always a cost associated when we deploy or transact on smart contract on live network and that fee should be paid by the user. While you will proceed to plan your development on ethereum, we should explore the other test net available for development purpose.
Ethereum Networks:
Live Network: This is the network used for production activities, all the value exchanged over this network are the real and does have a legal as well financial implications. Every network has a unique ID
Network ID for Live net is equal to 1.
Test Networks:
Ideal for development and testing purpose, ether spend here does not hold the actual value. Majorly used two test net are
ID = 3 (Ropsten): By default testnet refers to Ropsten testnet, supports consensus POW, we can carry out mining on Ropsten network
ID = 4 (Rinkeby): Public test network, supports private block chain consensus POA and due to that we can’t carry out mining on Rinkeby network
Private Ethereum network:
You can build a private network (permissioned network) using Ethereum block chain. Many organizations prefer to use private semi private network (consortium chain) due to data privacy concerns. Such networks sometimes also referred as consortium chain where pre-approved authority nodes on the network for transaction validation, it follows POA~ Proof of Authority consensus for transaction validation, Protocol used for implementing POA is known as CLIQUE. There is no concept of mining on private network instead the pre authorized nodes validate the blocks and add to block chain.
For private network ID of the network is assigned by the developer of the network.
Block Chain Explorers
All Transactions occurring on these networks can be validated on a Tool call Block Chain Explorers example
https://etherscan.io/ for Live Network
https://ropsten.etherscan.io/ for Ropsten Network
https://rinkeby.etherscan.io/ for Rinkeby Network
Additional network link can be found at https://testnet.etherscan.io/
Testnet information will be useful in upcoming blogs, when we ll focus more on development and testing of any smart contract.
Hope this was a usefull read ! Stay tuned @devrajsinghrawat .to get more similar content.
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