Architecture Overview

Core components

Access Controller (Provider)

The Access Controller (alternatively Provider in the context of Ocean Protocol) is a REST API designed for the provision of services. It performs a series of checks to verify the buyer's permission to access the service. The access controller acts as an intermediary between the data source and the user, thus preventing the need for the user to have direct access to the data.

It encrypts service offering metadata which enables private service catalogues.

Metadata cache (Aquarius)

Aquarius is a service designed to streamline the management and caching of metadata from multiple blockchain networks. Operating off-chain with an Elasticsearch database, Aquarius simplifies the process of querying metadata generated on-chain by maintaining an up-to-date record of metadata activities across multiple chains.

Portals

The portals in Pontus-X provide users with the ability to browse the catalogue and search for specific service offerings. Furthermore, the portal offers straightforward capabilities for publishing, ordering and consumption of services.

Subgraph

The subgraph is responsible for the extraction of service pricing and purchase history data from the blockchain, subsequent processing of this data, and its storage in a format that allows for straightforward querying via GraphQL.

Compute Environments

Compute environments operate based on Docker and Kubernetes. Multiple compute environments with different properties (CPU/GPU clusters) can be operated on parallel.