Proper Way To Replicate DB and Access From Another Device

[polluterofminds]

Great project! I can very easily log in with uPort and store data. However, it seems I am only storing data to local storage, because when I use another browser as a test of accessing from another device, I cannot open the DB created from Browser1. Here's what I'm trying:

on Browser1:

export function loadDB() {
  ipfs.on('ready', async () => {
    const orbitdb = new OrbitDB(ipfs)
    db = await orbitdb.open("/orbitdb/QmdABCZSfHpGunEEZznoWsXWcRTKgFvawVh4LSL1m8YqEd/first-database", {create: true, type: "keyvalue"})
    db.load()
    .then(() => {
      this.handleGet();
    });
  })

Note: handleGet() loads the previously stored documents, which works on Browser1. I am also passing a hard-coded orbitdb address for now as I test.

Now, on Browser2, I am trying to load the DB using the exact same code as above, but the documents I stored in Browser1 do not load. I get an empty object instead.

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I know I'm doing something wrong here. Just can't figure it out.

[m00nwtchr]

Are you using js-ipfs or js-ipfs-api + go-ipfs? Because iirc js-ipfs doesn't have node discovery properly implemented yet (only in the browser) and you need to specify servers that are going to be used for that manually:

	let ipfs = new IPFS({
		EXPERIMENTAL: {
			pubsub: true
		},
		config: {
			Addresses: {
				Swarm: [
					// Use IPFS dev signal server
					// Prefer websocket over webrtc
					//
					// Local signal server
					//'/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/13579/ws/p2p-websocket-star',
					// Websocket:
					'/dns4/ws-star-signal-1.servep2p.com/tcp/443/wss/p2p-websocket-star',
					'/dns4/ws-star-signal-2.servep2p.com/tcp/443/wss/p2p-websocket-star',
					'/dns4/ws-star.discovery.libp2p.io/tcp/443/wss/p2p-websocket-star',
					// WebRTC:
					// '/dns4/star-signal.cloud.ipfs.team/wss/p2p-webrtc-star',
				]
			}
		}
	});

[polluterofminds]

Thanks, @lukas2005! I'm using js-ipfs (I think). I went through the quick start guide instructions on OrbitDB to get started:

npm install orbit-db ipfs

So are you saying that with the configuration example you provided, you can manually specify servers with js-ipfs? And if so, are those standard websocket signaling server addresses or do I have to provide my own?

[m00nwtchr]

the node.js ipfs package is js-ipfs and yes those are the official ones. You can also run your own signal server if you want using https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p-websocket-star-rendezvous

[polluterofminds]

Thanks a lot. I can't get it to work with that configuration, and I feel like I'm missing a step somewhere that's just not documented maybe:

webSocket connection to 'wss://ws-star-signal-1.servep2p.com/socket.io/?EIO=3&transport=websocket' failed: Error in connection establishment: net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

[polluterofminds]

FYI I got this working with the following configuration:

  EXPERIMENTAL: {
        pubsub: true
      },
      config: {
        Addresses: {
          // ...And supply a swarm address to announce on to find other peers
          Swarm: [
            '/dns4/ws-star.discovery.libp2p.io/tcp/443/wss/p2p-websocket-star'
          ]
        }
      }
}```

So it just took using a different websocket address. Thanks for the help, @lukas2005!