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Crypto Mining

Selecting the Ideal Crypto Miner Hardware

Crypto mining is the process of creating new cryptocurrencies, entering them into circulation, and validating the transaction. Cryptocurrencies are mined using blockchain technology, a distributed, decentralized digital ledger shared among the nodes of a network.

The crypto mining market has become incredibly competitive. Today, crypto miners require an infrastructure capable of quickly accomplishing the required complex computations before their competition can. The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) can be advantageous for blockchain and crypto mining due to its peer-to-peer nature.

Silicon Mechanics is dedicated to saving you time and focus. We have customized designs to meet crypto mining workload needs.

How IPFS Works

The InterPlanetary File System is a peer-to-peer distributed file system that enables content-addressed storage. Content-addressed storage is a method for storing content where each data source is assigned a unique content identifier (CID).

In IPFS, data is accessed based on its unique CID, rather than from its location on a specific device (as it is in HTTP). With IPFS content is not housed in a single location but in several locations in a shared network using a distributed hash table (DHT).

Users request content based on the CID, and it is delivered to them through the most efficient means possible. IPFS also decreases the amount of storage space needed because it eliminates duplication. This makes authentication a much simpler process.

Benefits of an IPFS Implementation

An IPFS implementation can provide a number of benefits for blockchain development projects and crypto mining, as well as media and content delivery workloads.

  • Improves data resilience, security, integrity, and performance
  • Enables clustered persistence for data security and safety
  • Saves bandwidth by retrieving data from multiple peers at once, saving up to 60% bandwidth for video, for instance

  • Ideal for large, distributed datasets with low-latency and decentralized data locality between nodes
  • Content addressing structure lets you store large files separately and use permanent links where needed
  • Peer-to-peer nature of IPFS means users can access data independent of their connectivity or latency issues

Filecoin and IPFS

Filecoin is a decentralized storage network featuring its own native cryptocurrency and digital payment system. It creates a peer-to-peer network to store files and provide economic incentives to ensure those files are stored reliably in multiple places over time.

IPFS and Filecoin are complementary protocols, but Filecoin provides an incentive for peers to store files within IPFS. In Filecoin, users pay storage providers to store their files. And storage providers consist of any users who will make their computers accessible to store files and prove they have stored the files correctly over time. Filecoin allows any users to store their files or get paid for storing other users’ files.

Storage providers earn units of Filecoin’s native cryptocurrency for storing files. Filecoin’s blockchain records transactions and proof from storage providers that they are storing users’ files correctly.

Crypto Mining Hardware Requirements

An IPFS deployment to enable crypto mining requires several special hardware infrastructure considerations. IPFS deployments generally require more focus on storage speed and density, but balancing your investment in CPU and GPU compute, memory, networking bandwidth, and storage devices is essential.

An IPFS cluster requires high core count processors and a minimum of 32GB of memory. The tiered storage system should use a combination of NVMe, SSD, and HDD storage devices. HDD storage can provide adequate read/write speeds to make up an efficient high-volume storage layer for archival or ‘cold’ storage. This is because IPFS requests data across a peer-to-peer network to provide the data at high speeds, instead of relying on a single device.

Data Storage for Crypto Infrastructure

Two JBODs that provide efficient, scalable storage solutions for IPFS and crypto mining are:

Seagate Exos E 4U106
  • Stores up to 1.9PB of data
  • Holds up to 106 high-capacity hard drives in a single enclosure
  • Overall maximum bandwidth of 36GB/s
  • Management Interface: 2 x 1GbE
  • Up to 4 total EBOD chassis
  • Host I/O Interface (defined by controller): Four x4 12Gb/s mini-SAS HD connectors (SFF-8644) per I/O module

Seagate Exos E 5U84
  • Stores up to 1.1PB of data
  • Provides up to 12Gb/s speed
  • Maximum throughput of 14.4GB/s in a single I/O module or 28.8GB/s in a dual controller configuration
  • Expansion capability up to 336 hard drives or solid state drives
  • Management Interface: 2 × 1GbE ports
  • Up to 4 total EBOD chassis
  • Host I/O Interface (defined by controller): Three ×4 12Gb/s mini-SAS HD connectors (SFF-8644) per I/O module

An Ideal IPFS Cluster for Crypto Mining

The Silicon Mechanics Oberon Decentralized Data Storage Cluster is the ideal backbone for your IPFS deployment. It’s custom-designed to handle IPFS workloads such as crypto mining, blockchain development projects, media and content delivery workloads, and secure general-purpose business computing.

The Oberon cluster is the result of hours of engineering, testing, and optimization. It can save you time and focus because its design is customized to meet your specific IPFS and crypto mining workload needs.

Oberon Decentralized Data Storage Cluster

Expert Included

Our engineers are not only experts in traditional HPC and AI technologies, we also routinely build complex rack-scale solutions with today's newest innovations so that we can design and build the best solution for your unique needs.

Talk to an engineer and see how we can help solve your computing challenges today.