FAQ Appendix: Sawtooth Glossary

Glossary

Address (aka State Address)

For Sawtooth, each radix address (or Node ID) into a Merkle Trie is 70 hex characters (35 bytes). The first 6 characters, the prefix, encode the name space (of the TF) and the remaining bytes are implementation-dependent. The prefix is either the first 6 characters of the SHA-512 hash of the namespace, or a hex word for base name spaces. See the list of TF prefixes in the Appendix

AVR

Attestation Verification Report. Response body signature, signed with the IAS Report Key

back pressure

Flow-control technique to help prevent denial of service attacks. Sawtooth uses this to reject unusually-frequent submissions from a client

Batch

A set of transactions that must be made together (atomic commit) to maintain state consistency. Batches are unique to Sawtooth

Block

A set of records of permanent transactions; these blocks are linked into a blockchain. A block is similar to a page in a ledger book, where the ledger book is a blockchain

Block 0 or Block Zero

See Genesis Block

Blockchain

A single-link list of blocks. The blockchain is immutable, distributed, and cryptographically-secured. Located at /var/lib/sawtooth/block-00.lmdb

Block ID

128 hex character ID (64 bytes) identifying a block in a blockchain

BFT

Byzantine Fault Tolerance. Consensus is possible with malicious actors (Byzantine Generals Problem). BFT is stronger than CFT and uses voting

C

Sign-up delay; number of blocks a validator has to wait before participating in elections (when using PoET)

C Test

A node must wait C blocks after admission before its blocks will be accepted. This is to prevent trying to game identities and some obscure corner scenarios

CCL

Coordination and Commit Log (used by PDO)

CFT

Crash Fault Tolerance. Consensus possible even with failed components

Client

Any program that creates a transaction; interfaces with the validator using REST. Does not have to be a web-based app

Consensus algorithm

Method to decide what block to add next to a blockchain

Context

The snapshot of the global state. Specifically, the subset of the state required for the transaction, based on the input and output addresses specified in the transaction.

Classical Consensus

Uses an agreement or voting mechanism to select a leader (vs. Nakamoto-style consensus) E.g., PBFT and Raft

Crypto

Cryptography--encryption, authentication, and hashing. It does not mean blockchain or digital currency

Dapps

Ethereum Decentralized Applications. These are written in Solidity and are supported by Sawtooth Seth

DAML

Digital Asset Modeling Language. Codifies financial agreements.

Distributed Ledger

See Blockchain

DLT

Distributed Ledger Technology; Blockchain is a DLT

Docker

A light-weight OS-level VM technology which isolates processes into separate "containers"

Duplicity

A faulty node sending deceitful or inconsistent messages to other nodes

CSV

Comma separated values. E.g.: a,b,c,d

Curve25519

An ECDH (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman) key agreement protocol used by Sawtooth. Used by validators in ZMQ connections to exchange keys

Data model

Can be any format (CSV, protobufs, etc.)

Deterministic

Means consistent, or the same. For Sawtooth, serialization must be deterministic, meaning the encoding is always in the same order and always the same for the same data. This excludes timestamps and counters in your data. Many JSON libraries do not encode data deterministically

EPID

Enhanced Privacy ID. An anonymous credential system; used by PoET

Enclave

SGX-protected area of data and code to provide confidentiality and integrity even against privileged malware

Endpoint

The URL sent to the REST API. For example http://localhost:8008/state . Also refers to the validator connection URI. For example, tcp://localhost:4004 . For more information, see https://sawtooth.hyperledger.org/docs/core/releases/latest/rest_api/endpoint_specs.html

EVM

Ethereum Virtual Machine. Executes machine-independent code for Ethereum. Supported by Seth on Sawtooth

Fork

When network nodes have two competing nodes at the head of a blockchain

Genesis Block

First block in the blockchain (block 0). Has initial on-chain settings, such as the consensus algorithm and configuration information

Global State Agreement

Verification of the global state (ledger) contents among peers. It is included in the Sawtooth consensus process

Gossip

A decentralized message broadcast mechanism that uses forwarding to random peers (Sawtooth Validator nodes)

GS

Global State or Ledger. For Sawtooth this is stored internally as a Merkle Tree

Hyperledger

"Hyperledger is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It is a global collaboration, hosted by The Linux Foundation." See: https://www.hyperledger.org/

IAS

Intel Attestation Server. Used to authenticate PoET SGX keys; runs in public Internet at https://as.sgx.trustedservices.intel.com/

In State

See on-chain

IntKey

Integer key TP. Sample Sawtooth TP that implements set/increment/decrement/show operations

Journal

A group of Sawtooth Validator components that work together to handle batches and proposed blocks. This includes validating proposed blocks and publishing batches into blocks. See https://sawtooth.hyperledger.org/docs/core/nightly/master/architecture/journal.html

k

Claim limit, number of blocks a validator can publish before it must sign-up again (when using PoET). The default is k=50

K Test

The node can publish at most K blocks before its peers require it to recertify itself

Ledger

Key-value store whose values are agreed on by all nodes (validators) in the network

Liveness

A consensus algorithm property where the nodes eventually must agree on a value

LMDB

Lightning Memory-mapped Database are sparse random-access files in /var/lib/sawtooth . The Merkle Tree and Blockchain use LMDB

Marshalling

serialization of data

Merkle Tree (or Trie)

a radix search tree data structure with addressable nodes. Used to store state. Located at /var/lib/sawtooth/merkle-00.lmdb

n

Nodes in a blockchain network

Nakamoto-style Consensus

Uses some sort of lottery-based mechanism, such as Proof of Work
(vs. Classical Consensus) to win the right to commit a block.: E.g., PoW or PoET.

Node ID

Address

Node

See Validator

Nonce

A one-time number; usually random, but must not predictably repeat (such as after reboot/restart)

Off-chain

Information stored externally to the blockchain

On-chain

Information stored internally in the blockchain

One-say, all-adopt

Strategy where only a single multicast round of messages reaches agreement

Oracle

An agent that finds and verifies real world occurrences and submits this information to a blockchain for use by smart contracts. Oracles are 3rd-party services.

Payload

Data processed by the TP and only the TP. Can be any format (CSV, protobufs, etc.) Data model is defined by TF. Payload is encoded using MIME's Base64 (A-Za-z0-9+/) + = for 0 mod 4 padding

PBFT

Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance. A "classical" consensus algorithm that uses a state machine. Uses leader and block election. PBFT is a three-phase, network-intensive algorithm (n\^2 messages), so is not scalable to large networks

PDO

Private Data Object. Blockchain objects that are kept private through encryption. See links to paper, code, and presentation at https://twitter.com/kellymolson/status/1019299515646406656

Permissioned Blockchain (aka Private Blockchain)

participants must ID themselves to a network (e.g., Hyperledger Sawtooth or Hyperledger Fabric)

Permissioning

For the validator, controls what nodes are allowed to connect. For the transaction processor, controls what transactions and batches are accepted, based on signing keys. See https://sawtooth.hyperledger.org/docs/core/nightly/master/architecture/permissioning_requirement.html

Permissionless Blockchain (aka Public Blockchain)

anyone can join network (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum)

PoET

Proof of Elapsed Time (optional Nakamoto-style consensus algorithm used for Sawtooth). PoET with SGX has BFT. PoET CFT has CFT. Not CPU-intensive as with PoW-style algorithms, although it still can fork and have stale blocks. See PoET specification at https://sawtooth.hyperledger.org/docs/core/releases/latest/architecture/poet.html

PoET CFT

PoET running without SGX, which has CFT

PoET Simulator Mode

Another name for PoET CFT

PoW

Proof of Work. Completing work (CPU-intensive Nakamoto-style consensus algorithm). Usually used in permissionless blockchains

PoS

Proof of Stake. Nakamoto-style consensus algorithm based on the most wealth or age (stake)

Private Blockchain

See Permissioned Blockchain

Proposal

proposed block from a validator to add to a blockchain

Protobuf

Serialization/data interchange library used by Sawtooth

Pruning Queue

Message broadcasting optimization that reduces broadcasting of all messages to all nodes

Public Blockchain

See Permissionless Blockchain

r

Rate, measurement of performance in transactions per second

Raft

Consensus algorithm that elects a leader for a term of arbitrary time. Leader replaced if it times-out. Raft is faster than PoET, but is not BFT (Raft is CFT). Also Raft does not fork.

Remix

A popular web-based IDE for Solidity

Replica

Another term for node or validator

REST

Representational State Transfer. Industry-standard web-based API. REST is available on a Sawtooth validator node through TCP port 8008. For more information, see the Sawtooth REST API Reference at https://sawtooth.hyperledger.org/docs/core/releases/latest/rest_api.html

ST

Sawtooth

Sabre

TF that implements on-chain smart contracts with the WebAssembly VM. For more information, see Sabre RFC at https://github.com/hyperledger/sawtooth-rfcs/blob/master/text/0007-wasm-smart-contracts.md

Sawtooth

Hyperledger Sawtooth is a modular enterprise blockchain platform for building, deploying, and running distributed ledgers

Sawtooth Lake

Sawtooth's original code name before Intel contributed Sawtooth to the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger consortium

Seed Nodes or Seed Peers

Initial hard-coded set of peers a node knows about. The list expands with the Gossip algorithm

Solidity

A contract-oriented programming language used to implement smart contracts. Compiles into Ethereum VM code and is supported by Seth

Stale block

A block proposed to be at the head of a blockchain, but lost to a competing block that became the head as decided by the consensus algorithm

State Pruning

Removing unneeded older state roots from Merkle-Radix global state database. See https://github.com/hyperledger/sawtooth-rfcs/pull/8

Static Nodes or Static Peers

A hard-coded set of peers a node knows about, but may not change

TEE

Trusted Execution Environment. Secure area of a microprocessor that guarantees confidentiality and integrity of code and data loaded. SGX is an example of a TEE

TF

Transaction Family. Consists of the Client, State, and TP. See https://www.hyperledger.org/blog/2017/06/22/whats-a-transaction-family

TP

Transaction Processor. Processes transactions for a specific TF. Runs on Validator. Similar to a Ethereum "smart contract" or Bitcoin "chain code"

Transaction Receipt

Off-chain store about information about transaction execution. Located at /var/lib/sawtooth/txn_receipts-00.lmdb

Truffle

Popular Ethereum development environment

TXN

Transaction

Safety

A consensus algorithm property where the "honest" (non-Byzantine) nodes agree on the same value

Sawtooth

Permissioned blockchain platform for running distributed ledgers

Seth

Ethereum-compatible Sawtooth Transaction Processor. Supports running Ethereum Virtual Machine

secp256k1

An ECDSA (Elliptic Curve DSA) cryptographic algorithm used by Sawtooth with a 32-byte key. Used for Validator and TP. Bitcoin also uses this algorithm

Serialization

A scheme to encode data as a byte stream. For Sawtooth the serialization must be deterministic, meaning the encoding is always in the same order and always the same for the same data. Protobufs are often used in Sawtooth Serialization, but that is not a requirement. A simpler alternative, for example, is CSV

SGX

Intel Software Guard Extensions. Specialized hardware that provides enclaves with protected code and data. Used to implement PoET SGX

State

The current information for each Transaction Family. The global state is stored in a Merkle Tree. View local validator through http://localhost:8008/state

State Address

See Address

Sybil Attacks

Using forged identities in a blockchain network to subvert the reputation system. Was named after the book and movie

Transaction

A single entry in a the distributed ledger (blockchain). The contents are TF-dependent

Transactor

The Sawtooth client that creates a transaction, or the part that that communicates with the validator

Validator

Validates transactions and sends to the appropriate TP; proposes new blocks for block chain

Validator

Validates transactions and sends to the appropriate TP; proposes new blocks for block chain usually in a network of validator nodes

VM

Virtual Machine

Wasm

See WebAssembly

WebAssembly

A stack-based VM newly-implemented in major web browsers. It is well-suited for the purposes of smart contract execution due to its sandboxed design, growing popularity, and tool support. Sabre implements WebAssembly

XO

Example Sawtooth TP that implements the Tic-tac-toe game

Z Test

Test a block-claiming validator is not winning too frequently. It is a defense-in-depth mechanism

ZMQ (aka 0MQ, ZeroMQ)

Zero Message Queue. A message transport API available on Linux; used by Sawtooth Validator nodes

ZKP

Zero Knowledge Proof. One party proving they know a value x without conveying x

zkSNARKS

Zero Knowledge Succinct Non-interactive Arguments of Knowledge, which allow proof of correctness, given public and private input

FAQ Appendix: Sawtooth Glossary

See Also

Glossary