March Build Progress

Network

We completed two key sprints in March that brought the Anon network to its live environment and set the groundwork for the Anon SDK.

In Sprint 8, our network team at the Forte Group completed the groundwork needed to bring the network live. This included defining a new test procedure for deployments and syncing the directory and bandwidth authorities within our private cloud so that the complete consensus file can be created. From there, the CI/CD pipelines were constructed to bring the main endpoints to the live network, with automatic deployments enabled through GitHub actions similar to the dev and stage environments. These pipelines include automatic tests for all components.

Crucially, the live directory authorities have not only been instantiated but had their port assignment logic optimized ahead of expected traffic. The Consul and Nomad services have also been setup for the live environment.

In sprint 9, crucial peripheral features of the network were built out. One focus was public-facing endpoints to compliment the internal metrics service that drives the protocol. The public metric service has been built out with caching, HTTPS, and rate limiting for both snapshot and time series data around relays, and is the source of global metrics for our upcoming dashboard.

The persistent download links for the latest Anon client release culmination allowed us to open the network up for people running relays on the 31st of March.

In just a week since going live, we have already seen over 400 distinct relay fingerprints instantiated on our much-loved relay bot, now live and operating in the community. To run a relay of your own, check out educ.ator.io!

In the tail end of Sprint 9, we also started on developing the ATOR SDK — we have created the first NPM package for easy install of the Anon client, currently being used internally. As we move into Sprint 10, we look to build this out further into a full dependancy that can be invoked and configured from within code. We are also conducting research into enabling zero-configuration traffic routing for external applications!

Protocol

For our protocol team, this month has been focused on deployment automation. We build the scripts to secure and create accounts: admins, deployers and operator/tester roles. These scripts also deploy the registrAtor and facilitAtor contracts directly onto Sepolia.

Our protocol team also worked closely with Forte in bringing infrastructure robustness, with update of our TLS Certificate Authorities and introduction of further load-balancing within the private cloud, as well as assistance with Forte’s deployments.

In addition, development is well underway on making our new dashboard fit-for-purpose for the new protocol!

Hardware

March was a superb month for our hardware optimization and rollout! We significantly upgraded the Relay Control Panel — hosted directly from the relay and capable of allowing the relay to be upgraded. Following feedback from our initial #Atornauts, we have added new settings such as a recurring data limit and a throughput limit, directly configurable from the RCP. In addition, we have live logs directly accessible to the end user. We have also solved a number or minor issues identified by early users, into a robust relay control application.

At the end of the month, we arranged our supply chain and warehousing operations with our distribution partner, have opened the portal and started shipping relays out.

Looking Ahead

We look ahead towards the rollout of our protocol, following the plan outlined in our previous Medium. Stay tuned as these begin to take shape and as our relay numbers continue to grow.

It is also a pleasure to onboard some of the smartest minds into building this network out, notably Sean Carey — one of the cofounders of the Helium Network — we look forward to them lending their expertise as we make our vision a reality.