Connecting to a DLT network requires establishing a connection to at least one DLT node on the network.

DLT Network Connection Options

When connecting an application to one or more DLT networks, a developer has a few choices:

• DLT Node Only: The application could connect directly to a DLT node. This is not crash resilient and not scalable from a load balancing perspective.
• DLT Node Proxy: A DLT node proxy manages the routing and load balancing issues between an application and one or more DLT nodes, creating logical separation. To an application, interacting with a DLT node proxy is near identical to interacting with a DLT node as the message requests and responses will be virtually the same. The only possible difference may be some identifying meta data in the messages in order to track the DLT node proxy users (e.g. for rate limiting reasons).
• DLT Gateway: Like a DLT node proxy, a DLT gateway also manages the routing and load balancing issues between an application and one or more DLT nodes, creating logical separation. A DLT gateway differs from a DLT node proxy because a gateway provides additional functionality not offered by the DLT node itself. Such additional functionality can include a standardised data model, meaning that unlike DLT node proxies, a DLT gateway can be used to connect to many DLT networks of multiple DLT types.

Security of Connection

In an adversarial environment like a DLT Network, securing your infrastructure is of the highest importance.

Should you run a DLT node it is a requirement that you open a network connection to connect to other DLT nodes of the network. Yet it is equally necessary to control access to any other aspect of your DLT node.

To do so, the authentication and authorisation procedures of your DLT network connection architecture should be well planned and thought out.

We recommend utilising a DLT node proxy or a DLT gateway in order to secure your DLT network infrastructure.