eosDAC Makes Every Effort Possible to Decentralise - How The DAC Host Its Website

eosdac (58)in #eosio • 5 years ago

Thanks to EOS Cafe Block’s recent EOS DNS release, eosDAC website is now hosted using the new EOS DNS service! If you haven’t already, install the Chrome extension to use the service. You can easily set it up following the instructions on https://eosdns.io/. Then type in eos://dac.io on your address bar now to access the eosDAC website - no https:// needed!

Note that EOS DNS here stands for Decentralized Name System on EOS, so don’t confuse it with the old DNS(Domain Name System). It is for the EOS holder to point their account name to an IP. For example, eosDAC setup dac.io account to be directed to the website.

So why does it all matter? Isn’t just some redirecting service?

Having a website involves some inevitable centralised elements: DNS name, website hosting… The normal DNS does not serve the needs of a DAC - having a multisig access to change it. On the other hand, using the EOS DNS enables the DAC to have the “dac.io” account directed to an IP. The “dac.io” account would be controlled via multisig by the Custodians, meaning whenever they decide to change the actual IP eos://dac.io is directed to, they can do so by signing the proposal, instead of relying on one person who might not be available at the time the website needs a redirection (or may not comply with the DAC). Plus, these EOS DNS records are stored on chain, not in a single centralised master server. Instead the user queries the blockchain directly. One step forward to decentralisation.

https://bloks.io/transaction/3d4507960774954d66ddaa89671e378b72cf8d57235f642545401d61c44132da

So, visit eos://dac.io today! The website is actually also a product of eosDAC Community Members working together on Github, everybody is invited to help with keeping this website up to date and translated in many languages. It is structured in a way, that anybody can easily modify the markdown files for the different pages of this website and create a pull request to this repository for review and approval. How fun!

eosDAC is also experimenting with IPFS

On top of using the EOS DNS, eos://dac.io is currently hosted using IPFS. As mentioned, sometimes we cannot avoid but using a centralised method for hosting a website - HTTP. HTTP downloads a file from a single computer at a time, instead of getting pieces from multiple computers simultaneously. There’s also a risk of increasing consolidation of control, etc. IPFS is the distributed web trying to solve these issues.
About IPFS

InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and network designed to create a peer-to-peer method of storing and sharing hypermedia in a distributed file system. As opposed to a centrally located server, IPFS is built around a decentralized system of user-operators who hold a portion of the overall data, creating a resilient system of file storage and sharing.

Take a deeper look at the benefits and how it works: https://ipfs.io/

At the moment eosDAC is assessing whether we can keep using it for our website - we are always seeking to improve and decentralise where we can and try out new stuff!

-Soyoung