hashnet

Multi-hop rpc router

Install

npm install --save hashnet

What

Hashnet (although the name was poorly chosen at the start of the project) handles routing of rpc calls within an overlay network.

What not

• Peer discovery
• Service discovery (maybe procedure listing in the future?)
• Gateway into different networks

API

To load the core element of this package, include the following code:

const {Peer} = require('hashnet');

new Peer(options)

Returns a new peer which can act as a node within the network.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
id	string	null	Set the ID of the peer instead of generating one
interval	number	5000	Interval to check connections with
timeout	number	2000	Maximum time in milliseconds a procedure call is allowed to take
maxConnections	number	15	Maximum amount of connections the peer is allowed to manage
routeLabelSize	number	32	Route label size included in packages (must match the network)

peer.addProcedure({ name, handler })

Adds a procedure handler locally. If multiple handlers are registered under the same name, the return value of the earlier handler is fed into the next handler.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
name	string	undefined	Name of the procedure to register under
handler(data,message)	function	undefined	Function to call when the procedure is called upon

peer.removeProcedure({ name, handler })

Removes the given handler from the named handler list.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
name	string	undefined	Name of the procedure to remove the handler from
handler(data,message)	function	undefined	Function to not call anymore

peer.addConnection(socket)

Adds a managed connection to the list of known connections.

The given socket must follow the same API as defined by simple-peer

peer.callProcedure({ peerId, procedure, data, getResponse })

Call a (remote) procedure within the network on the peer having the given peerId.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
peerId	string	null	null = self ; The peer to call the procedure on
procedure	string	null	Which procedure to call
data	mixed	null	Data to pass into the procedure handler
getResponse	boolean	true	Whether or not to retrieve the handler's response

peer.shutdown()

Shut down the whole peer, closing all connections.

Internal API

The internal API is not intended for application use. This is documented for use within connection brokers, plugins & other non-application purposes.

peer._callProcedure({ routeLabel, connection, socket, procedure, data, getResponse })

Call a remote procedure, sending the request over the given socket with the given routeLabel.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
routeLabel	string, BitBuffer	undefined	Which hops to follow towards the targetted peer
connection	n/a	undefined	Internal representation of a connection
socket	simple-peer	undefined	Socket to send the call over
procedure	string	undefined	Which procedure to call on the targetted peer
data	mixed	undefined	Data to pass into the handler of the procedure
getResponse	boolean	true	Whether or not to retrieve the handler's response

_findPeer(peerId)

Find the path to a peer with the given peer id.

Options:

Name	Type	Default	Description
peerId	string, Buffer	undefined	A hex string or buffer representing the peer to find