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Storage

Managing complex or large data in decentralized systems can be a challenge. To securely store and share your files and data, SettleMint offers two storage solutions that can interact with the blockchain: IPFS (decentralized) and MinIO (centralized).

Adding storage​

Navigate to the application where you want to add storage. Click Storage in the left navigation. This opens a form.

Follow these steps to add storage:

  1. Choose 'IPFS' or 'MinIO'
  2. Choose a name for your storage. Choose one that will be easily recognizable in your dashboards.
  3. Choose a deployment plan. Select the type, cloud provider, region and resource pack. More about deployment plans
  4. You can see the resource cost for your storage displayed at the bottom of the form. Click Confirm to add the storage.

When the storage is deployed, click on it from the list, and go to the Interface tab to start adding files. You can connect to your storage using the details provided in the Connect tab.

About IPFS (decentralized)​

The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. When uploading a file to IPFS it generates a unique fingerprint (hash). Later when querying that data it will use that fingerprint to find nodes storing the data behind this fingerprint. This means that this hash is not only a key used to retrieve a file, but it also serves as a proof of integrity. Often such fingerprints will be stored on chain in order to act as a bridge between the blockchain and IPFS.

Learn more on IPFS here

About MinIO (centralized - S3 compatible)​

For private or confidential data, MinIO would be your preferred option.

Learn more on MinIO here

MinIO is S3-compatible. If you want to set up a MinIO client for AWS S3, you need these parameters:

endPoint The endpoint is the URL to object storage service. Example value: example-minio-123a.settlemint.com, unique-name.settlemint.com (you can get the unique name from the Details tab)

accessKey The access key is like a user ID that uniquely identifies your account. You can get your access key under the Connect tab

secretKey The secret key is like the password to your account. You can get your secret key under the Connect tab.

var Minio = require('minio');

var s3Client = new Minio.Client({
  endPoint: 'your-minio-instance.settlemint.com',
  accessKey: 'YOUR-ACCESSKEYID',
  secretKey: 'YOUR-SECRETACCESSKEY',
});

You can now use the s3Client object to call methods like makeBucket, getObject, and many more methods which you can find here.

Note

MinIO client can also be configured in Python, .NET, Java, Golang, Haskell. You can follow the quickstart guides provided by MinIO here for more information.