4 ms·

Here is one really important part that I almost missed when reading this announcement: > Using Cloudflare's gateway, you can also build a website that’s hosted

by styfle 8y ago

Here is one really important part that I almost missed when reading this announcement: > Using Cloudflare's gateway, you can also build a website that’s hosted entirely on IPFS, but still available to your users at a custom domain name. This is huge step forward for the distributed web!

koalalorenzo 8y ago
You can use any gateway to do that :)
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Cloudflare offering it might legitimize IPFS in ways that non-corporate entities championing it doesn't. Not a huge Cloudflare fan, but I will admit this is cool of them to spend engineering time and money on. EDIT: Thanks for the efforts to promote the Distributed Web. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
  - jgrahamc 8y ago
    That's the whole point. We think the Distributed Web is cool and coming and we want to accelerate that happening. Hence the time and effort to make this happen.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - fold_left 8y ago
      Bravo
    - carapace 8y ago
      I was just wondering the other day if IPFS would get enough traction to reach critical mass. This is a very hopeful sign I think. Cheers!
      - steven_pack 8y ago
        That was one of the drivers. We liked the core technology, but could see there was a significant barrier to actually using it. Being able to point your domain at IPFS content and then providing that (ssl secured) site to the masses is a big step forward.
    - mtgx 8y ago
      A most welcome feature.
    - nil_pointer 8y ago
      That is wonderful to hear
- styfle 8y ago
  You can use any gateway with your custom domain name? Potentially you could but I don't know of any that let you do this. My impression of the public gateways was that the end user would need to know the content hash of your website which makes for a poor user experience. This announcement claims the end user just uses the website as they normally would by visiting example.com but behind the scenes there is no central web server because the content is pulled from IPFS. DNS was the missing piece :) https://developers.cloudflare.com/distributed-web/ipfs-gateway/connecting-website/ https://developers.cloudflare.com/distributed-web/ipfs-gatew...
  - lgierth 8y ago
    You can use custom domains with any go-ipfs gateway, it'll transparently turn `Host: example.com` into `/ipns/example.com`. What Cloudflare adds to the mix is their infrastructure for automatic TLS certs.
  - marius_k 8y ago
    I was running my own website with my own domain on ipfs quite successfully for few months. And I have configured cloudflare just to have a green https icon. The only problem is that I have to visit my website once in a while, otherwise the content is deleted on the gateway.
- andrewxhill 8y ago
  We wrote a tutorial on setting it up on your own (secure nginx server for ipfs gateway), https://medium.com/textileio/tutorial-setting-up-an-ipfs-peer-part-ii-67a99cd2c5 https://medium.com/textileio/tutorial-setting-up-an-ipfs-pee.... But for sure, for most users, going right through cloudflare is an awesome simplification. Exciting stuff.
fiatjaf 8y ago
The killer app for IPFS in this early days should be people who are paying $10/mo to host their half-dozen HTML files on WhateverHost companies everywhere. Bonus points if they are hosting heavy files, like podcast files, for example. Is there a Soundcloud clone on IPFS anywhere? (One that doesn't provide you with cloud storage, only the public index)
- magnetic 8y ago
  Is there a way (even not free) to ensure that my data in IPFS is always available (at least as available as with "traditional hosting services)? That's a bit of a requirement when building a serious service/website.
  - 0x8BADF00D 8y ago
    CAP theorem.
    - magnetic 8y ago
      Perhaps you can elaborate?
    - ric2b 8y ago
      What we're talking about only requires the A and the P.
  - wiml 8y ago
    As I understand it, the way is: run an IPFS node (perhaps on a cheap VPS); use `ipfs pin ` to force the node to retain the file even if it isn't being requested. Presumably someone could sell "pinning as a service" for fairly cheap: a popular file will be widely cached, so the service will rarely need to provide it; and an unpopular file will be rarely requested.
    - magnetic 8y ago
      Isn't pinning as a service essentially a CDN? Is there a reason to believe that such service would be cheaper than a "traditional" CDN?
str33t_punk 8y ago
Can you? You will still need to run a node to host your own content on IPFS. Unless you just simply plan on using data that already exists in the wild

by styfle 8y ago

koalalorenzo 8y ago

You can use any gateway to do that :)

toomuchtodo 8y ago
Cloudflare offering it might legitimize IPFS in ways that non-corporate entities championing it doesn't. Not a huge Cloudflare fan, but I will admit this is cool of them to spend engineering time and money on. EDIT: Thanks for the efforts to promote the Distributed Web. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
- jgrahamc 8y ago
  That's the whole point. We think the Distributed Web is cool and coming and we want to accelerate that happening. Hence the time and effort to make this happen.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - fold_left 8y ago
    Bravo
  - carapace 8y ago
    I was just wondering the other day if IPFS would get enough traction to reach critical mass. This is a very hopeful sign I think. Cheers!
    - steven_pack 8y ago
      That was one of the drivers. We liked the core technology, but could see there was a significant barrier to actually using it. Being able to point your domain at IPFS content and then providing that (ssl secured) site to the masses is a big step forward.
  - mtgx 8y ago
    A most welcome feature.
  - nil_pointer 8y ago
    That is wonderful to hear
styfle 8y ago
You can use any gateway with your custom domain name? Potentially you could but I don't know of any that let you do this. My impression of the public gateways was that the end user would need to know the content hash of your website which makes for a poor user experience. This announcement claims the end user just uses the website as they normally would by visiting example.com but behind the scenes there is no central web server because the content is pulled from IPFS. DNS was the missing piece :) https://developers.cloudflare.com/distributed-web/ipfs-gateway/connecting-website/ https://developers.cloudflare.com/distributed-web/ipfs-gatew...
- lgierth 8y ago
  You can use custom domains with any go-ipfs gateway, it'll transparently turn `Host: example.com` into `/ipns/example.com`. What Cloudflare adds to the mix is their infrastructure for automatic TLS certs.
- marius_k 8y ago
  I was running my own website with my own domain on ipfs quite successfully for few months. And I have configured cloudflare just to have a green https icon. The only problem is that I have to visit my website once in a while, otherwise the content is deleted on the gateway.
andrewxhill 8y ago
We wrote a tutorial on setting it up on your own (secure nginx server for ipfs gateway), https://medium.com/textileio/tutorial-setting-up-an-ipfs-peer-part-ii-67a99cd2c5 https://medium.com/textileio/tutorial-setting-up-an-ipfs-pee.... But for sure, for most users, going right through cloudflare is an awesome simplification. Exciting stuff.

fiatjaf 8y ago

The killer app for IPFS in this early days should be people who are paying $10/mo to host their half-dozen HTML files on WhateverHost companies everywhere. Bonus points if they are hosting heavy files, like podcast files, for example. Is there a Soundcloud clone on IPFS anywhere? (One that doesn't provide you with cloud storage, only the public index)

magnetic 8y ago
Is there a way (even not free) to ensure that my data in IPFS is always available (at least as available as with "traditional hosting services)? That's a bit of a requirement when building a serious service/website.
- 0x8BADF00D 8y ago
  CAP theorem.
  - magnetic 8y ago
    Perhaps you can elaborate?
  - ric2b 8y ago
    What we're talking about only requires the A and the P.
- wiml 8y ago
  As I understand it, the way is: run an IPFS node (perhaps on a cheap VPS); use `ipfs pin ` to force the node to retain the file even if it isn't being requested. Presumably someone could sell "pinning as a service" for fairly cheap: a popular file will be widely cached, so the service will rarely need to provide it; and an unpopular file will be rarely requested.
  - magnetic 8y ago
    Isn't pinning as a service essentially a CDN? Is there a reason to believe that such service would be cheaper than a "traditional" CDN?

str33t_punk 8y ago

Can you? You will still need to run a node to host your own content on IPFS. Unless you just simply plan on using data that already exists in the wild