Cloud Computing + Blockchain = ?

At present, cloud computing is already a very mature technology and application. The definition given by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to cloud computing is: Cloud computing is a convenient and on-demand use of shared pools. A model of resources such as network resources, storage resources, server resources, application software, and services. Cloud computing can quickly complete the application and release of various resources with little administrative effort or little interaction with the service provider.

The essence of blockchain is distributed ledgers and smart contracts. It is a data storage system that can be operated collaboratively around the world. The blockchain believes that anyone with the ability to set up server nodes can participate. Once added, the node has the same decentralization as other nodes. Distributed features. A smart contract is a piece of code that the two sides of the transaction contact and agree with each other. Once this code is deployed on the blockchain, no one can change it, and it is even less likely to pay.

By definition, there is no connection between cloud computing and blockchain. Cloud computing emphasizes on-demand distribution, and blockchain builds a trust system. This trust system is itself a resource, a resource that can be allocated on demand, and it can be used as an integral part of cloud computing. BaaS (Blockchain as a Service) came into being.

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) is a concept proposed by Microsoft and IBM. It is a cloud computing service that combines blockchain technology. The service is provided by Microsoft's Azure platform and IBM's Bluemix cloud platform. .

According to the openness of the blockchain and the user scope and licensing methods of the blockchain application, the blockchains are divided into three categories: private chain, public chain and alliance chain.

What are the main differences between the three types of blockchains?

Public chain: Open to everyone, anyone can participate. For example, Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.

Private chain: open to individual individuals or entities

Alliance chain: open to specific organizational groups

So which type of blockchain service is provided by BaaS? The answer is the alliance chain. The alliance chain is still a private chain in essence, but it is larger than the private chain, but smaller than the public chain. It can be considered as a blockchain between the public chain and the private chain. For example, for example, a financial group consisting of 21 banks, each bank runs a node, and in order to make the generated block valid, it needs to obtain confirmation from 7 banks (2 / 3 confirmation) .

For the public chain, Token (token) is a must, without the Token, how to promote the public chain? Why should others use your public chain to actively maintain your nodes? With the incentive model of Token, in order to benefit, people will naturally take the initiative to maintain nodes and build communities. For the alliance chain, Token is actually dispensable, and the currency-free blockchain is exactly what the country hopes. The alliance chain is usually composed of a community of interests, and there is no need to issue coins internally, depending on its own strength.

What are the characteristics of the alliance chain?

Partial decentralization: Unlike the public chain, the alliance chain is only owned by members of the alliance in a certain Chengdu, and it is easy to reach a consensus.

Strong controllability: Once the block of the public chain is formed, it cannot be tampered with. This is mainly because the public chain has a large number of nodes, but in the alliance chain, as long as most of the organizations reach consensus, the block can be The data on the chain is modified.

The data is not public by default: unlike the public chain, the data of the alliance chain will only be published to the organizations and users in the alliance.

Fast transaction speed: Like the private chain, because there are not many nodes, it is easy to reach a consensus, and the transaction speed will naturally be much faster.

How is blockchain technology applied to cloud computing?

Data privacy protection. Users upload their own data to the cloud. The first thing they face is the security of personal information. At the same time, there is a risk that user data will be leaked. The cryptography technology applied in the blockchain technology encrypts the privacy data transmitted by users. When the personal privacy data needs to be read, the user's identity authentication is required to obtain the decrypted data correctly, and various operation records of the data are recorded on the blockchain, which can be viewed at any time. In this way, the user's personal data is protected to some extent. For enterprise users, private data can be encrypted and stored through blockchain technology to ensure data privacy and data security.

At present, cloud computing services in the blockchain provide some basic services such as computing, storage, and distributed CDN. Most of them are concentrated in the IaaS layer, and some of them are PaaS and SaaS layers. For example, Thunder's private cloud disk product, the guest cloud, users can get the most direct return by contributing bandwidth and storage - "chain guest" and so on.

But what has to be said is that the blockchain technology has also been questioned because of the “coin circle” brought by the blockchain technology, so the blockchain technology is also questioned, but the author believes that the technical book Innocent, can bring more convenience to life, and provide users with safe and stable service technology is worth promoting within the framework of national supervision.