The Apillon Platform Closed Beta is live and seeks feedback from brave testers. Learn more about the Web3 Hosting service, test, suggest, and help us improve.
In Apillon Closed Beta, you can try the platform’s Web3 services before it’s ready for public launch. We count on every participant to help us improve the platform’s offering and add to faster adoption of Web3, one feedback at a time.
Read more 👉 Apillon launches an invitation-only Closed Beta of the Web3 development platform
In this walk-through guide, we take you from account registration to deploying your website with Web3 Hosting, one of the services available in Apillon Closed Beta.
But before we begin, you should keep in mind a few things.
Good to know
In its current state, Apillon is a Web3 hybrid platform. This means that certain services are still run by centralized providers to ensure fast development and optimal UI. However, the platform’s infrastructure will gradually become fully decentralized, and newer versions will deliver more services for faster development of Web3 products.
Moreover, Apillon Closed Beta delivers no guarantees, either regarding functionalities or access, and it is intended for testing purposes only. Beta features are limited in some aspects and will become more accessible as the platform evolves.
Now, let’s dive in.
Account log in and access code
To test the features available in the Apillon Closed Beta, you first need an Apillon account. Go to http://app.apillon.io/ to create one, or simply log in if you are already a registered user.
At the bottom of the intro page, you can find a Closed Beta code. Copy and paste it to our closed-beta channel on Apillon Discord. Once you receive an email invitation, you can access Closed Beta and the available Web3 services.
☝️ Note: We will be rolling out invites gradually, so be patient — it might take a day or two before your invite reaches your inbox.
Once the door opens, you can start plotting your first Web3 project with Apillon.
Create a Web3 project
Start by adding a new project. In the top left corner of the screen, click Add new project, set its name and description in the pop-up window, and click Create new project.
Once done, you can check more details under Project overview in the menu on the left.
Now, it’s time to attach Web3 services.
In the Closed Beta, you can attach Web3 Storage and Web3 Hosting service. The process of Web3 Storage was described in our previous post. And here, we take a look at the Web3 Hosting service.
Let’s begin.
Web3 Hosting
Apillon Web3 Hosting is a Web3-based hosting service that allows you to increase the accessibility of your website or app and make it unstoppable, as it gets hosted on a decentralized network of nodes around the globe.
Underlying technologies
Apillon Web3 Hosting implements AWS S3 as a cache to optimize the upload of large files, IPFS, and Crust Network to pin files on multiple IPFS nodes.
IPFS
When you upload a file to IPFS, it gets split into smaller chunks and cryptographically hashed. It also receives a unique fingerprint called a content identifier (CID), which acts as a permanent record of your file as it is at that point in time.
Crust Network
Crust Network is a decentralized cloud storage provider on Polkadot. It supports multiple storage-layer protocols, such as IPFS, and delivers instantly accessible on-chain storage functions. Crustʼs technical stack also supports data manipulation and computing.
Storage bucket
Decentralized hosting of a website or an app on Apillon is very similar to using storage buckets, a more dynamic way of managing file storage on Web3. It takes advantage of the underlying Crust Network and IPFS protocol to host your Web3 website or application.
Learn more about Web3 Storage and storage buckets. 👇
https://dev.to/apillon/apillon-platform-closed-beta-walk-through-web3-storage-555b
Web3 website/app hosting process
☝️ Note: At this point, only hosting of static websites is supported by Apillon Web3 Hosting service, while dynamic websites will be supported in future versions of Apillon.
Here is what happens to your website or app when it’s hosted decentrally with Apillon:
- Uploaded files land on a reputable centralized cloud provider to ensure fast file capture.
- Once received, the files proceed to the Apillon node and become accessible through the IPFS gateway until moved from staging to production.
- Once the files move from staging to production, they proceed to the decentralized Apillon IPFS gateway, where Crust starts pinning and replicating them.
- A custom domain can be connected, which starts the SSL certificate generation process on the Apillon gateway.
- Your domain’s DNS records can be migrated to Apillon, and a website or app is launched with decentralized hosting.
Decentralized deployment
Deploying a website or application with decentralized hosting on Apillon is just a matter of minutes and a few steps.
First, log in to your Apillon dashboard.
In the menu on the left, under Services, navigate to Hosting, and click Add first website.
In the pop-up window, enter your webpage name, description, and domain name. Click Create webpage and proceed to the deployment process.
Next, upload files and folders or drag and drop your static website files and wait for the upload to finish.
For faster management and easier navigation, you can also create file directories. Click Create directory on the right, set its name and description, and organize your files.
Once the file upload is complete, Crust Network starts pinning and replicating files automatically.
Next, proceed to move the uploaded website files to the staging phase. Click Deploy to staging in the top right.
Now, check what’s been deployed in the Preview tab. Under Domain preview, you can see your files’ IPFS-based domain — click on it and see your files hosted on IPFS.
The details listed below tell about your website or app’s Environment, Deployment status, total Size, and Update time. If everything looks good, you can move it to the production phase.
Click Deploy to production. Once the deployment process is done, your website or app will be hosted on your custom domain to the world wide web on a decentralized network of nodes.
File editing
During Apillon Closed Beta, the Web3 Hosting service does not support single file changes since hosting is treated as batch file upload. This means that as your deploy a new version of your website or app, its contents are rewritten, and new files get pinned and replicated on Crust Network.
☝️ Note: This limitation will be improved or removed in future dashboard updates. If you need a larger storage capacity to host your website or app, feel free to get in touch on Apillon Discord, and we will grant you extra space or more storage buckets.
File deletion
Storage lease for every file on IPFS that passes through Crust’s pinning and replication service is paid upfront for a minimum of 6 months, which is out of Apillon’s control. This means that all files that you upload to Apillon Web3 storage buckets will remain accessible for that long.
File marked for deletion
If you decide to delete a file before the expiration of the 6-month storage lease on Crust, the file is marked for deletion. Doing that, the storage lease will not be extended, and once the storage lease is up, your file will be deleted from all IPFS instances, and the storage load of deleted files in your storage bucked will be emptied, so you can upload new files and redeploy your website or app.
3-month deletion period
Web3 Storage lease period by Crust lasts 6 months. However, to deliver a better experience to our users, Apillon artificially lowers the deletion period to 3 months. This way, you can continue uploading new files faster and update your Web3 website/app contents more frequently.
☝️ Note: These limitations only come with the Apillon Closed Beta, which is intended for testing. Once the Beta period is up, Apillon Web3 services will have limitations adjusted to more realistic production requirements.
Website/app redeployment
In case you want to redeploy the website or app with new changes to files or folders, repeat the process above simply by uploading the whole website or app via Apillon Hosting view.
☝️ Note: Repeat deployment to Apillon Hosting will continue spending the Hosting storage capacity. However, every 3 months, the Hosting storage capacity will be expanded again after deleting older versions (as described above).
Share your feedback
Now that you know how to navigate Apillon Closed Beta and its Web3 Hosting service, feel free to play around with it and see how it works for you.
We’re eager to hear your feedback and suggestions on what could be improved and what type of features would serve you better as you build Web3 products.
Share your thoughts in Apillon Discord’s closed-beta channel, and help us improve the platform for greater adoption in the developer community.
See you there!
This post was originally published on Apillon Medium.
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