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What are Nodes? An Overview
Nodes are trusted, decentralized connections to the blockchain that keep track of the ledger of all the network’s transactions. The more nodes there are, the more people there are validating and keeping track of the transactions, ultimately enhancing the network's overall integrity. Core developers, miners, validators, and other infrastructure providers and supporters of the blockchain ecosystem primarily run these nodes. There are several different types of nodes including full nodes and archive nodes as well as different node configurations such as RPC, public, and private or dedicated nodes. In this blog, we’ll explore why global RPC endpoints are more effective than dedicated or private nodes.
Dedicated Nodes vs Global Endpoints
Dedicated nodes provide a user with their own private node that connects them to a blockchain network. Dedicated nodes are only accessible to specified users or members of an organization. Typically, dedicated nodes are used for better security and performance; however, global delivery networks allow for more effective global endpoints to power enterprise applications.
Validation Cloud, for example, architected a global delivery network to allow for 99.99% uptime and failover resilience for all of its endpoints. This means that if one node goes down, another node will start operating in another region, ensuring uninterrupted high speed connectivity to Web3. With dedicated nodes, unless you set up dedicated nodes in several regions, you are relying on one node to power your project rather than several powerful nodes spread across the globe.
Benefits of Global Endpoints for Enterprise Applications
There are several key benefits to using a node infrastructure provider that offers global endpoints:
- Reliability: Uptime with providers like Validation Cloud is 99.99%. Global architecture ensures almost no outages.
- Speed: A fast and responsive connection to the node is critical. Most providers maintain response times between 100–150ms. Some of the top-performing node infrastructure providers can achieve impressive speeds in the tens of milliseconds. Check out Validation Cloud’s #1 spot on CompareNodes for the world’s lowest latency nodes.
- Scalability: Node deployment is automated which reduces setup time to just a few minutes.
- Geographic Coverage: Geographic coverage allows providers to distribute their nodes across different locations, reducing the risk of a single point of failure. In the event of an outage or disruption in one location, services can continue to operate from other geographically dispersed nodes, ensuring uninterrupted availability.
- SOC 2 Compliance: Some providers, including Validation Cloud, are SOC 2 compliant which means your global endpoints are secure and protected.
About Validation Cloud
Validation Cloud is a Web3 data streaming and infrastructure company that connects organizations into Web3 through a fast, scalable, and intelligent platform. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Validation Cloud offers highly performant and customizable products in staking, node, and data-as-a-service. Learn more at Validationcloud.io | LinkedIn | X
