Setup your first MNApp on BelNet. MNApps are private applications hosted on BelNet and can be accessed by connecting to BelNet.
What is an MNApp?
MNApps are private applications hosted on BelNet. There are applications that are hosted with the help of a BelNet address (a .bdx address) or a BNS domain.
MNApps can be accessed only on BelNet. They provide you with the underlying security and privacy of BelNet. And since they are hosted on BelNet, you can access them anonymously.
Below is an example of an MNApp that you can access by connecting to BelNet:
http://cw41adqqhykuxw51xmagkkb3fixyieat1josbux13jn6o973tqgy.bdx/
As you can see, the above address corresponds to the Beldex explorer that’s hosted on BelNet.
Why Host Web Apps on BelNet?
A web application today may be a social networking site such as a microblogging or image/video sharing platform, an e-commerce website, a search engine, a cryptocurrency exchange, a blog or a news website, an e-learning platform and many more.
Downtimes
These services (web apps) are usually hosted on a server located on a designated data center. When you connect to one of these sites like xyz.com, your request will be processed by a server on a centralized data center.
Now, consider the server hosting xyz.com goes offline, such as in this case when all of Facebook’s global data centers went offline for hours. This is the norm with centrally hosted websites.
While in Facebook’s case, it was a faulty command during a routine maintenance check that caused the outage, it’s not an isolated event. Several data centers face such outages from time to time due to the way their network infrastructure is designed and set up.
On a centralized network setup, your connection passes through a set of routers that connect to hubs which in turn connect to a larger network infrastructure. An issue with the local routers or an outage at the hub means that your connection is hindered.
Zero Downtime
MNApps are hosted on a server just like any other web app on the clearnet. But the server hosts the app on BelNet. On a decentralized onion routing network like BelNet, network traffic is handled by a number of routers (Beldex masternodes) that find the optimal path to the host server. Though the websites that are hosted aren’t themselves decentralized, your connection to them is. Even if one channel path is rendered inactive or useless, the nodes will find a way to securely transmit your data over another channel. Thus, downtimes are avoided or effectively managed.
Censorship, again
Your website is blocked, again.
That’s because your web host determined the traffic coming onto your website to be suspicious. How ludicrous! All you do is share information and critique on the latest tech trends. You shouldn’t be liable for the traffic on your website right?
Well, that’s not how centralized web hosting services see it. And with the changing dynamics in the geo-political weather, a slight change in policy is all that is required to cancel you or make you go out of business.
Censorship is misguided most of the time. Like when Github suspended accounts of Russian devs at sanctioned companies or when Elon musk banned Journalists from his not-so-tolerant social media platform, Twitter.
Censorship-Free Apps on BelNet
Web applications on BelNet are hosted on servers that are obfuscated by an onion network. The host’s IP address is not visible, even to the hosting service provider.
The web app is hosted behind a randomly generated alphanumeric address such as this — cw41adqqhykuxw51xmagkkb3fixyieat1josbux13jn6o973tqgy.bdx.
Web apps hosted in this manner are similar to hidden services. They can be accessed only by connecting to BelNet. Since nobody knows where the application is hosted, there is zero chance of it being censored.
ISPs and hosting services can see the traffic going in and out of the host, but may not know the origin of the traffic or the data that it carries.
Security
If you own a website, then you’ll know that there’s no guarantee your hosting service is 100% secure. While your request itself may be protected by HTTPS, centralized servers are susceptible to central points of failure.
The security risks of centrally hosted platforms is consistent even with well-known platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp. Last month, a hacker released data of almost 500 million WhatsApp users for FREE on a darknet forum. At the same time, Twitter has acknowledged the breach of 5.4 million of its users’ personal data.
What makes an MNApp hosted on BelNet So Secure?
Any request to and from the web app is encrypted and onion routed through the BelNet routers (Beldex masternodes).
Since BelNet adds a layer of obscurity to applications that are hosted on its network, it is virtually impossible for hackers and bad actors to find the IP address or the location of the host.
Even if they’re able to intercept your traffic, all they’re able to view is illegible jargon. The actual data remains protected under multiple layers of encryption.
Privacy
On websites that are centrally hosted, your data is constantly being monitored.
Ever heard of the cookie monster?
Ever heard of functional, analytical, performance, marketing, and advertising cookies? Well, these aren’t actual monsters but they know everything there is to know about your online activity.
Cookies are text files sent to your browser from the websites that you visit to track your activity on their website. They also collect and store your personal data.
For example, on an e-commerce website, cookies remember the product you look at, hold in your card or add to your wishlist. They may also collect information on your optimal price range for that product. Based on this information, you’ll be shown ads on other websites that you visit on the same device.
Cookies can collect this information even if you do not login to the e-commerce site by logging your IP address and device information.
Privacy On BelNet
Connecting to web apps on BelNet will not expose your personal information such as your IP address, name, email, location, etc.
Period.
No information is collected or shared.
More on MNApps
Are MNApps Decentralized Applications?
MNApps do not connect to the blockchain. Thus, they aren’t decentralized applications and do not require every node on the Beldex network to update a state change. They are, however, web applications that protect your privacy. They leverage Beldex masternodes via the BelNet onion router.
What Can Be An MNApp?
Any website on the clearnet can be an MNApp on BelNet.
For example,
- A social media site e.g. photogram.bdx 📷
- A microblogging platform e.g. chatter.bdx 🐿️
- An e-commerce site e.g. congo.bdx 🛒
- A search engine within BelNet e.g. beagle.bdx 🔍
- A video streaming platform e.g. getflix.bdx 🎬🍿
- A cryptocurrency exchange e.g. 10nance.bdx 💱
and the like.
Can I Host a Mobile App on BelNet?
Yes, you can host servers on BelNet for a mobile application just the way you host web applications.
How to Host MNApps on BelNet?
Hosting an MNApp is similar to hosting any other web app. The following guide gives you an overview of the step by step process involved in hosting an MNApp.
Note:
The server specifications such as storage and bandwidth are dependent on the user’s requirements. For example, a video streaming platform may require more storage than an information sharing platform.
However, you need a Linux system with Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 to run an MNApp.
You don’t need to run a masternode or an exit node to host an MNApp on BelNet.
Host your MNApp today:
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