TLDR;
HiveSQL is a publicly available Microsoft SQL database containing all the Hive blockchain data.
It allows apps and users to easily access structured data from the Hive blockchain and perform analysis or find valuable information.
Browsing the blockchain over and over to retrieve and compute values is time and resource-consuming. Instead of having a local copy of the blockchain or downloading the whole data from some external public node to process it or maintaining your own database, anyone can send their query to HiveSQL and get the result in seconds.
HiveSQL makes it possible to produce quick answers to complex questions.
HiveSQL has been one of my first major projects for our blockchain. I initiated it in 2016 at the very beginning of the blockchain's 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][4][5][6][7].
It was also necessary to carry out several infrastructure upgrades [1][2][3] to be able to maintain the performance provided at the best level.
Extensive documentation, which now serves as a reference for many developers, has been created and is regularly updated. It is available at https://docs.hivesql.io
Well-known Hive applications that rely on HiveSQL to operate include Peakd, Hive Keychain, HiveDapps.com, 3Speak, pinmapple, ... as well as websites like Staking Rewards or @primersion Hive Tools.
HiveSQL has been running uninterrupted for 6 years now and its database size is over 3.5TB, with some tables containing over 1.7 billion records!. In the last 2 years alone, its size has increased by almost 1.5TB. This tells you the volume of data generated daily.
Every day, HiveSQL processes around 15K requests per minute (graph), 20K table scans per minute (graph) daily servicing an average of 25 applications (graph) which generate between 2 and 2.5 millions lock request each minute (graph).
HiveSQL indexes are extremely harnessed and are the key to the performances it delivers. HiveSQL sometimes handles up to ~3 millions index scans per minute (graph).
Regarding availability, the SLA of HiveSQL is close to 100% with a downtime over the last year of only a few minutes (graph).
Sustaining such a pounding and delivering a top-notch level of performance requires professional infrastructure and service. This inevitably has a strong influence on costs.
The goal of this proposal is to keep HiveSQL free to use in order to allow the greatest number of developers and users to benefit from this tool and to develop applications and services for our ecosystem.
1. To cover costs
Let's call a spade a spade: I also need to cover costs.
For more than 6 years, HiveSQL has proven to be reliable, responsive and highly available.
Providing such 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 the work.
Although costs are managed effectively, they keep growing.
Operating HiveSQL with an affordable subscription for its users is not a viable solution. It is unsustainable and I cannot provide this service at a loss.
2. Bring back Less fortunate devs and users left behind
It 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.
It's important to me and to Hive that everyone can take advantage of the huge potential that HiveSQL offers its users in terms of supporting applications, analytics, or any other use case they might consider.
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 is the basis of knowledge.
If we give users and application developers free access to the blockchain data, in a way they can easily play with, we are providing them with the perfect tool to develop their business and services and onboard more users.
This proposal request is 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.
The operational budget is based on the following elements:
1. Infrastructure and services
2. DevOps
3. WebOps
Taking into account the past experience of several years and our anticipations for the future, we are asking for 135 HBD per day for the next two years.
Thank you for your support!
