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1 | 1 | # [](http://sia.tech) v1.3.3 (Capricorn) |
2 | 2 |
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3 | | -[](https://travis-ci.org/NebulousLabs/Sia) |
4 | | -[](https://godoc.org/github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia) |
5 | | -[](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia) |
6 | | - |
7 | | -Sia is a new decentralized cloud storage platform that radically alters the |
8 | | -landscape of cloud storage. By leveraging smart contracts, client-side |
9 | | -encryption, and sophisticated redundancy (via Reed-Solomon codes), Sia allows |
10 | | -users to safely store their data with hosts that they do not know or trust. |
11 | | -The result is a cloud storage marketplace where hosts compete to offer the |
12 | | -best service at the lowest price. And since there is no barrier to entry for |
13 | | -hosts, anyone with spare storage capacity can join the network and start |
14 | | -making money. |
15 | | - |
16 | | - |
17 | | - |
18 | | -Traditional cloud storage has a number of shortcomings. Users are limited to a |
19 | | -few big-name offerings: Google, Microsoft, Amazon. These companies have little |
20 | | -incentive to encrypt your data or make it easy to switch services later. Their |
21 | | -code is closed-source, and they can lock you out of your account at any time. |
22 | | - |
23 | | -We believe that users should own their data. Sia achieves this by replacing |
24 | | -the traditional monolithic cloud storage provider with a blockchain and a |
25 | | -swarm of hosts, each of which stores an encrypted fragment of your data. Since |
26 | | -the fragments are redundant, no single host can hold your data hostage: if |
27 | | -they jack up their price or go offline, you can simply download from a |
28 | | -different host. In other words, trust is removed from the equation, and |
29 | | -switching to a different host is painless. Stripped of these unfair |
30 | | -advantages, hosts must compete solely on the quality and price of the storage |
31 | | -they provide. |
32 | | - |
33 | | -Sia can serve as a replacement for personal backups, bulk archiving, content |
34 | | -distribution, and more. For developers, Sia is a low-cost alternative to |
35 | | -Amazon S3. Storage on Sia is a full order of magnitude cheaper than on S3, |
36 | | -with comparable bandwidth, latency, and durability. Sia works best for static |
37 | | -content, especially media like videos, music, and photos. |
38 | | - |
39 | | -Distributing data across many hosts automatically confers several advantages. |
40 | | -The most obvious is that, just like BitTorrent, uploads and downloads are |
41 | | -highly parallel. Given enough hosts, Sia can saturate your bandwidth. Another |
42 | | -advantage is that your data is spread across a wide geographic area, reducing |
43 | | -latency and safeguarding your data against a range of attacks. |
44 | | - |
45 | | -It is important to note that users have full control over which hosts they |
46 | | -use. You can tailor your host set for minimum latency, lowest price, widest |
47 | | -geographic coverage, or even a strict whitelist of IP addresses or public |
48 | | -keys. |
49 | | - |
50 | | -At the core of Sia is a blockchain that closely resembles Bitcoin. |
51 | | -Transactions are conducted in Siacoin, a cryptocurrency. The blockchain is |
52 | | -what allows Sia to enforce its smart contracts without relying on centralized |
53 | | -authority. To acquire siacoins, use an exchange such as [Bittrex](https://bittrex.com), [Yunbi](https://yunbi.com), or |
54 | | -[Bisq](https://www.bisq.io). |
55 | | - |
56 | | -To get started with Sia, check out the guides below: |
57 | | - |
58 | | -- [How to Store Data on Sia](https://blog.sia.tech/getting-started-with-private-decentralized-cloud-storage-c9565dc8c854) |
59 | | -- [How to Become a Sia Host](https://blog.sia.tech/how-to-run-a-host-on-sia-2159ebc4725) |
60 | | -- [Using the Sia API](https://blog.sia.tech/api-quickstart-guide-f1d160c05235) |
61 | | - |
62 | | - |
63 | | -Usage |
64 | | ------ |
65 | | - |
66 | | -Sia is ready for use with small sums of money and non-critical files, but |
67 | | -until the network has a more proven track record, we advise against using it |
68 | | -as a sole means of storing important data. |
69 | | - |
70 | | -This release comes with 2 binaries, siad and siac. siad is a background |
71 | | -service, or "daemon," that runs the Sia protocol and exposes an HTTP API on |
72 | | -port 9980. siac is a command-line client that can be used to interact with |
73 | | -siad in a user-friendly way. There is also a graphical client, [Sia-UI](https://github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia-UI), which |
74 | | -is the preferred way of using Sia for most users. For interested developers, |
75 | | -the siad API is documented [here](doc/API.md). |
76 | | - |
77 | | -siad and siac are run via command prompt. On Windows, you can just double- |
78 | | -click siad.exe if you don't need to specify any command-line arguments. |
79 | | -Otherwise, navigate to its containing folder and click File->Open command |
80 | | -prompt. Then, start the siad service by entering `siad` and pressing Enter. |
81 | | -The command prompt may appear to freeze; this means siad is waiting for |
82 | | -requests. Windows users may see a warning from the Windows Firewall; be sure |
83 | | -to check both boxes ("Private networks" and "Public networks") and click |
84 | | -"Allow access." You can now run `siac` (in a separate command prompt) or Sia- |
85 | | -UI to interact with siad. From here, you can send money, upload and download |
86 | | -files, and advertise yourself as a host. |
87 | | - |
88 | | -Building From Source |
89 | | --------------------- |
90 | | - |
91 | | -To build from source, [Go 1.10 must be installed](https://golang.org/doc/install) |
92 | | -on the system. Make sure your `$GOPATH` is set, and then simply use `go get`: |
93 | | - |
94 | | -``` |
95 | | -go get -u github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia/... |
96 | | -``` |
97 | | - |
98 | | -This will download the Sia repo to your `$GOPATH/src` folder and install the |
99 | | -`siad` and `siac` binaries in your `$GOPATH/bin` folder. |
100 | | - |
101 | | -To stay up-to-date, run the previous `go get` command again. Alternatively, you |
102 | | -can use the Makefile provided in this repo. Run `git pull origin master` to |
103 | | -pull the latest changes, and `make release` to build the new binaries. You |
104 | | -can also run `make test` and `make test-long` to run the short and full test |
105 | | -suites, respectively. Finally, `make cover` will generate code coverage reports |
106 | | -for each package; they are stored in the `cover` folder and can be viewed in |
107 | | -your browser. |
| 3 | +The Sia project has moved to [GitLab](https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/Sia). |
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