The goal of this proposal is to make HiveSQL free to use again in order to enable as many developers and users as possible to benefit from this valuable tool and develop applications and services for the Hive ecosystem.
In the following document, I may have to mention It Which Must Not Be Mentioned. In order to spare the faint of heart, I'll do my best to avoid it and replace it with Hive. In case that is not possible, I will just strikethrough.
HiveSQL has been one of my first major projects for the Steem Hive blockchain. I initiated it in 2016, at the very beginning of the Steem blockchain life.
At that time, HiveSQL was free to use! Yes, totally free... except for me ;)
Over time, with more and more users and applications relying on HiveSQL for their proper functioning, and with the volume of data steadily increasing, operating costs started to climb.
HiveSQL has regularly undergone several code reviews [1][2][3] and infrastructure upgrades [4][5] to be able to maintain the performance provided at the best level.
HiveSQL has been running uninterrupted for 4 years now and its database size is over 2TB.
Every day, HiveSQL processes around 11082 requests per minute (graph), daily servicing an average of 25 applications (graph). Among them, well known apps likes Hive Keychain, HiveDapps.com, 3Speak, ...
Hive SQL database indexes are extremely harnessed and are the key to the performances it delivers. Every minute, up to 2 millions index scans (graph) are performed.
Inevitably, being able to sustain such hammering had an impact on the costs and at the end of 2017, I launched a call for help and support in order to continue to provide this service with the same top quality level.
The call was not heard and the only solution I found to make HiveSQL survive was to switch to the actual subscription model. Unfortunately, DHF and its proposals system did not exist at that time.
My wish has always been to keep access to HiveSQL public and free to everyone. I'm a bit of a utopian and would like to try again to find a way to fund this project while remaining true to the idea of providing it for free.
Others reasons are:
1. To cover costs
Let's call a spade a spade: I also need to cover costs.
For more than 4 years, HiveSQL has proven to be reliable, responsive and highly available.
Providing high-quality services is not free. Setting up, monitoring and maintaining such an infrastructure requires a lot of attention. Maintaining and monitoring the processes that inject data from the blockchain into the database also requires its share of work.
Although costs are managed effectively, they keep growing.
I have tried to keep the subscription fees affordable, but they are no longer enough to cover these costs and increasing the price of subscriptions is not a viable solution.
It is slowly becoming unsustainable for all and I cannot continue to provide this service at loss.
2. Bring back Less fortunate devs and users left behind
It really pissed me off when HiveSQL moved to a subscription model because I saw a lot of developers and users who couldn't afford the subscription get left behind.
This led me to offer a daily subscription, but despite that, it was not enough to slow down the slaughter.
I would really like these people to be able to take advantage of the enormous potential that HiveSQL provides to them in terms of support for applications, analytics or any other use case that they have.
3. Grow the hive ecosystem
HiveSQL is a powerful, fast and efficient tool.
By making HiveSQL available to a maximum of people already immersed in Hive or, even better, to people from outside our ecosystem, I am convinced that we can make it grow.
Knowledge is power and data brings knowledge.
If we give users and application developers free access to the blockchain data, in a way they can easily retrieve and manipulate it, we are providing them with the perfect tool to develop their business and services and in turn to onboard more users.
This proposal is not intended to reimburse the expenses that have been incurred so far. It is strictly to cover current and future costs in terms of infrastructure and human resources so that HiveSQL can continue to run and enable developers and users to use it for free.
Here are the costs that have been budgeted, taking into account the past experience of several years and my plans for the future:
1. Infrastructure and services ($1900/month)
2. DevOps ($800/month)
3. WebOps ($300/month)
Considering the elements mentioned above, I'm asking for 100 HBD per day for the remaining days of 2020 and the next two years.
Thank you for your support!
