I2P: Principles of functioning of basic network services

Today we will talk about what NetDB , SusiDNS is and about the initial initialization of the I2P network.

Very soon, the Internet in Russia will not be free , now various providers are blocking certain sites.

And the blocked resource has two ways:
1) It is hoped that the user will access the site through proxy / VPN
2) Transfer the site to a decentralized, anonymous network

PS Perhaps I can only name I2P as a real decentralized and anonymous network, TOR does not fall under this definition, due to the fact that the principle of the network is different for Tor - multilevel proxy access to the regular Internet, and .onion resources as a nice bonus.

In the I2P network, the opposite is true, the main thing is the internal resources and the external proxy is a bonus.

How is the initial initialization of the I2P network?

After downloading the distribution kit and installing it, the I2P network tries to initialize by searching for local nodes via NetDB (DHT); if no nodes are found, the initial list of nodes is requested

An interesting feature, the nodes that were obtained during initial initialization - cannot be final when accessing internal sites. (This is done in order to exclude the possibility of creating nodes by the government and traffic analysis) if the node is created by a malicious group of people, then it will only transmit anonymous traffic to another node, no more.

After receiving the first addresses of I2P network participants through a standard https connection, the client tries to connect to them and NetDB starts.

What is NetDB?

The simplest definition of NetDB technology is how DHT is in the Torrent protocol.



NetDB is a distributed database of network participants, it is through it that the tunnels of access to sites are configured, but interestingly, your personal identifier is not sent to the network, so it is impossible to make an analogy between IP and I2P ID.

Of course, keys are also stored in NetDB to report the authenticity of information published there.



What else is stored there?
- Tunnel installation statistics for nodes
- Number of successfully established connections through a node
- Number of dropped connections
- Timeout time when accessing a node
- Version of the router (I2P client)

The NetDB network supports all the same baner functions as the DHT network in the torrent protocol (for example, if the router has too many successful connections to error connections)

Thus, once you establish a connection with NetDB, you will always have access to I2P network.

And on a special site - stats.i2p, you can see the current state of the network, which is determined through NetDB:



Floodfill router - these are routers that have a fully up-to-date NetDB database or close to the current one.

What is SusiDNS?

Resources in the I2P network have their own top-level domain - .I2P
But since there are no IP addresses in I2P, the DNS service is special there.

Essentially, DNS in I2P is a huge hosts file.
Initially, the distribution kit is able to get the ratio of I2P host: internal ID only from the native registrar, but there are many registrars on the network that allow you to register your site, whatever it is and whatever you write about it.

The most popular one is http: //inr.I2P.

But you can not even subscribe to domain registrars, you can save each name yourself.

Using jump services or entering a long hash address of the host.

Thus - at this stage, the network is fighting cyber crime.

But in any case, when the network gains popularity - the registrar will most likely have 1 (or no more than 3, the most popular) and it is they who will (pay money?) Fight for registration.

It is also possible to use the Namecoin service in place of the existing DNS network in I2P, at the present time, active development in this direction is underway.

Official site of the project: http://i2p2.de

What else to read about I2P:
Preparing for the onset of the Great Russian Firewall
I2P - Creating your own site
I2P - Project Invisible Internet