CESS Introduction
Cumulus Encrypted Storage System (CESS) is a decentralized cloud storage network for data storing and sharing, which is high-speed, secure, and scalable. CESS is an open-source public blockchain developed with Substrate, intended to be the underlying network infrastructure for decentralized storage needs. CESS network consists of four layers: blockchain, data storage, content distribution, and application layer. CESS’s R²S consensus mechanism coordinates the network resources and network load, guarantees data security and integrity through proprietary technologies with data ownership protection, technologies such as Proof of Data Reduplication and Recovery (PoDR²), Multi-format Data Rights Confirmation (MDRC), and decentralized proxy re-encryption. CESS aims to be the first decentralized storage network that supports large-scale commercial applications.
CESS is also compatible with EVM and WASM, and the underlying development framework Substrate is also friendly to cross-chain applications. Its technology stack can support most Web3 applications and the development needs of enterprise-level applications.
Important Technological Deliveries
Blockchain Network:
Added a storage space autonomy mode, which supports storage miners to store custom data in this space, and the data within is managed by the storage miners.
Adjusted the registration process of storage miners to realize the on-chain verification of Intel SGX remote verification reports.
Added the batch authentication function of storage space to support a single transaction to authenticate several idle data segments, and reduce the gas fee consumption of storage miners.
Improved the upload process of data objects, protecting the system operation from potential foul play initiated by either users, scheduling nodes, or storage miners.
Adjusted the proof-of-storage challenge process, the network would no longer directly generate specific challenge information, instead, replacing it with random labels to reduce the computing consumption of the consensus network.
Distributed Storage System:
Development focused on the storage miner Bucket v0.6.0, Scheduler 0.6.0, and the storage proof library (Kaleido).
Storage Miner Bucket [v0.6.0]
Upgraded the idle data segment filling function to support the creation of idle data segments through the trusted environment SGX Enclave.
Added the autonomous data management function to support storage miners to conveniently manage the data content in the autonomous storage space.
Completed the improvement of the operation process of receiving and storing data objects for storage miners.
Upgraded the operation processes for storage miners in handling challenges and reporting storage proof.
Upgraded functions such as storage miner registration, order information query and file information query.
Upgraded storage miner data transmission algorithm to support more extended functions and improved transmission efficiency.
Scheduler [v0.6.0]
Added scheduler IP verification and location analysis functions to support allocation of scheduling nodes based on user locations.
Upgraded scheduler registration, viewing data object upload progress, data transmission and other functions.
Adjusted the data object upload process of the scheduler to track the upload status of the data object with the scheduling nodes.
Added the function of triggering random challenges and receiving challenge reports.
Kaleido [v0.1.0]
Solved the problem of the mismatch between the storage proof library and the Substrate signature library, and realized the SGX off-chain signature and on-chain verification mechanism.
Completed the migration of the storage proof library. The development method was changed from Teaclave SDK to the more user-friendly Gramine framework.
Reconstructed the storage proof library and migrated to SGX environment with PoDR2
Application: CESS Object Storage Service (DeOSS)
Continued to improve the basic functions of object storage [v0.1.1]
Added the real-time data object status tracking function, supporting the whole process tracking of data object upload.
Improved the data object owner permission transfer function.
Technical Solution
The SGX officials passed the application for CESS’s signature private key, and the Enclave is now available.
Expanded the Golang version of MHT (Merkle Hash Tree), see GitHub for details.
Substrate browser optimization: online monitoring function for mining reward transactions.
Researched on the implementation method of compiling Solidity smart contracts into Substrate WASM files
Technical Documentation and References