Many people think that the decentralization of blockchains is based only on block production. Underneath the Proof-of-Stake (or another consensus) layer is the peer-to-peer network (or gossip network) that is used to connect the nodes. This is a physical infrastructure that you can think of as nodes connected by a network cable. Above these layers, there is the governance layer that is used for project management. Decentralization could not be achieved without the existence of a distributed network. Security depends on both of these layers. It is important to consider security and decentralization comprehensively and include all three layers. An attack on the blockchain can target any layer. If the network layer is successfully attacked, the consensus layer may also be compromised. With the new Cardano node version 1.35.6, network participants can start using automated dynamically updated P2P configuration without a need for manual maintenance. The Cardano network layer is becoming more secure and performant.
TLDR
- With the older version of the Cardano node, SPOs had to manually maintain an unnecessarily large number of connections to peers.
- Dynamic P2P enables an automated process that through self-discovery and optimization finds the most suitable peers.
- The network is more resistant to DoS attacks.
- The Cardano node will automatically reconfigure connections to peer nodes to make the speed of data distribution in the P2P network near optimal.
This article was prepared by Cardanians with support from Cexplorer.
Read the article: https://cexplorer.io/article/cardano-has-dynamic-p2p-networking