Building a Blockchain Domain Website: Exploring New Directions in Decentralization Web3

A recent event has prompted a reconsideration of the reliability of traditional domain name access services. We have always believed that very stable domain resolution services could also encounter issues. This inevitably raises the question of whether Decentralization solutions could be a viable alternative worth exploring?

Deploying pages on the blockchain may have the following advantages:

1. Decentralization: All modifications require consensus to be made, and no single entity can act unilaterally.

2. No certificates required: The blockchain itself uses encryption technology, eliminating the need for additional certificate configuration.

I had previously learned about the domain name solutions on a certain blockchain platform, and at that time, I thought it was just novel and interesting, with low practicality, as traditional access methods are already quite stable and widespread. However, it now seems that this kind of solution may indeed have its unique application scenarios, warranting further research.

create a website in blockchain

This article will attempt to deploy a website on a certain blockchain platform and make it accessible through a browser. The entire process is divided into three steps: 1. Purchase a domain name; 2. Prepare the front-end page; 3. Bind the page to the domain name.

The concept of domain names in blockchain is similar to that in the Web2 world, both serving as aliases for complex addresses. In blockchain, it represents user addresses, while in Web2, it represents server IP addresses.

Purchase domain name

Taking a certain blockchain platform as an example, domain names can be purchased through the official website, priced in platform tokens. Similar to Web2, the shorter the character length of the domain name, the higher the price, ranging from 1 to 100 tokens.

If the domain name is not occupied, you can place a low bid, and then enter the countdown auction phase. The acquired domain name will be stored in the user's wallet in the form of an NFT and can be traded. The validity period of the domain name is 1 year, and it will be reclaimed after expiration.

In short, acquiring a domain name can be done through official auctions or by trading with other users.

Prepare front-end page

This step requires preparing a front-end page for display. To simplify the process, this article only prepares an html file and uses nginx to expose the page; of course, a cloud server is also needed to run the front-end application. This step is similar to traditional front-end deployment.

Bind the page to the blockchain domain name

After obtaining a blockchain domain name, you can bind your ANDL address on the official website. You can also use the binding tool provided by the platform to operate according to the official guidelines.

After the binding is complete, it is necessary to start a listening port on the server to forward HTTP requests to UDP. You can use the proxy tool provided by the official website and enter the following command to start:

rldp-http-proxy/rldp-http-proxy -p 8080 -c 3333 -C global.config.json

Among them, 8080 is the TCP port for listening to HTTP queries, while 3333 is the UDP port for RLDP and ADNL activities. global.config.json is the global configuration file, which can be obtained from official channels.

Access Blockchain Domain Name

Directly entering blockchain domain names in the browser cannot be accessed because the browser cannot resolve such domain names. Therefore, some additional operations are needed.

Blockchain Domain Name Request Process

When requesting a blockchain domain name, the corresponding ANDL address will first be queried on the chain, similar to an IP address in Web2, which is automatically generated when deploying a website. This querying process is similar to a DNS query.

Then, based on the ANDL address, the request will be forwarded to the corresponding machine, returning the specified page. The whole process is similar to Web2, with the main difference being the different methods of querying address and domain name mapping.

Access the page through the proxy

It is recommended to use the official proxy tool Tonutils Reverse Proxy. After downloading, installing, and starting it, a proxy will be opened on port 8080, allowing access to blockchain domain names.

Usage Summary

Currently, the following issues have been encountered during use:

1. There are requirements for the website operating environment. The system must support glibc version 2.34 or above, and the machine must be checked to meet the requirements before deployment.

2. The documentation is not clear enough. It may be due to the lack of requirements, and the documentation is not comprehensive enough, requiring self-exploration. The Chinese documentation is updated slowly, lagging behind the English version.

3. The access speed is relatively slow. Compared to traditional websites, the access speed has decreased. This involves multiple factors, and there is still significant room for improvement in the future.

4. Wallet support is not available. The official provides a simple embedded browser page that can be accessed without installing a proxy. However, most mainstream wallets currently regard it as a phishing site.

Overall, the current experience is average, and there are many areas that can be improved. However, this direction is very innovative and worth trying.