Run Your Own Node Service

[ryandotsmith]

Running your own Ethereum node gives you maximum performance and flexibility in accessing Ethereum data. Index Supply can help you get up and running with a Geth node on your own infrastructure.

Cost

Running a node on AWS will cost about $2,000 per month. Index Supply offers a managed setup and maintenance program for an additional $2,000 per month. The nice thing about this model is that you can make as many API requests as your machine will support. Most applications we've setup never come close to maxing out the EC2 instance. Another win is that in running your own node you will own your data. You are not locked in. You can do whatever you'd like with the data as it runs entirely on your servers.

Performance

Applications that access data directly from the Ethereum node often experience < 1ms latency. This allows you to be more creative with how your are designing your app. In practice, this means you can make contract view function calls much more quickly which leads to a better UX.

If you are using E2PG (or something you've built that is similar) you can scan through every block and every log in under 5 minutes. For example: E2PG indexes all the NFT transfers in under 5 minutes. Backfill operations become a matter of minutes not weeks. Also, keep in mind, there are no additional API costs.

Switching

Coming from a hosted API provider is pretty easy if you are using the standard ethereum/web3 clients. Most of the time you just switch out your RPC_URL and you are off to the races! Some 3rd parties offer more specialized APIs, so keep that in mind. In those cases, perhaps E2PG can be a good alternative.

If you decide running your own node isn't right for you then you can always switch back.

Uptime

We recommend running Geth. It's extremely reliable, moderately fast, and is the leader for network updates. We've managed nodes that have had 100% uptime for over 365 days. The Geth team has truly done an amazing job in this regard. That being said, we can offer a higher level of dedicated support for an additional fee.

If any of this sounds interesting, please send us an email to setup a call.