Filecoin Team Outlines CC Sector Upgrade Pipeline Aimed at Lowering Costs for Storage Providers

Key highlights:

• Upgrading existing unused storage sectors can lower costs for storage providers compared to sealing new sectors, according to an analysis by Filecoin engineers.
• Upgrading, also known as “SnapDeal”, allows client data to be injected into previously empty committed capacity (CC) sectors.

As Filecoin continues to evolve and improve, the team behind this innovative decentralized storage network has been exploring ways to optimize operations for Storage Providers (SPs). In a recent blog post, two Filecoin engineers provided an in-depth analysis of the CC (Committed Capacity) Sector Upgrade pipeline, outlining how it can help reduce costs for SPs compared to simply adding new storage.

Understanding Filecoin storage pipelines

For those less familiar with Filecoin’s inner workings, some background may help. On the Filecoin network, SPs seal data into “sectors” and submit cryptographic proofs to demonstrate they are storing that data reliably over time. There are two main types of sectors:

Deal sectors: Contain actual client data

CC sectors: Empty sectors filled with meaningless zeros

Up until recently, if an SP wanted to store client data, they had to seal completely new deal sectors. However, an upgrade called SnapDeal now allows injecting data into existing CC sectors through a process called “upgrading.”

This means SPs have two options for adding client data storage:

• Seal new deal sectors
• Upgrade existing CC sectors

The Filecoin team analyzed the costs of each method to determine which offers better economics for SPs.

Upgrading CC Sectors emerges as a lower-cost option

The engineers built models comparing the costs for SPs when using upgrading versus sealing brand-new deal sectors. Their analysis showed upgrading existing CC sectors appears to be the most cost-effective approach, assuming certain conditions are met:

• Verified deals are available
• Existing CC sectors can be upgraded

Under these circumstances, the costs incurred by upgrading CC sectors are equal to or even slightly lower than sealing completely new deal sectors. The difference may seem small (around $0.05 per 32GB sector) but can add up substantially over thousands of sectors.

?‍? Calling all #Filecoin SPs! ? Check out this in-depth blog post on CC Sector Upgrade Guidelines and Modeling. Gain valuable insights into optimizing storage performance and harnessing the latest upgrades. Read more: https://t.co/24J7wicxdZ

— Filecoin Ecosystem (@Filecoin) July 31, 2023

Calling all Filecoin storage providers

Filecoin touted these findings in a recent tweet, encouraging all SPs on the network to check out the analysis. As the post concludes, outcomes will vary by provider, so individual SPs should evaluate their own operations to determine if pursuing upgrades offers a viable path to reducing expenses.

However, in general, the Filecoin team believes upgrading existing CC sectors represents one of the best opportunities to minimize costs as the network continues maturing. With storage capacity on Filecoin now exceeding 10EiB, small optimizations can make a big difference.

Looking ahead to further improvements

Filecoin’s developers are already brainstorming other tweaks that could further tip cost advantages in favor of the CC upgrade pipeline. Some possibilities mentioned include:

• Making CC sector acquisition cheaper than sealing new sectors
• Adjusting gas accounting for sector (re)activation
• Reducing proving costs for the SnapDeal protocol

The team welcomes feedback and ideas from across the Filecoin community on this front. Their detailed analysis aims to provide storage providers with useful insights into harnessing upgrades for maximizing returns. But optimizing incentives and operations remains an ongoing process.

Filecoin price has dropped 7.3% since last week to $4.20. This also means an increase of 35% since the beginning of the year.

By continually improving its core economics, the Filecoin project seeks to make decentralized storage even more efficient and affordable over the long term. The CC sector upgrade pipeline offers one promising avenue for reducing expenses today. To find how to stake Filecoin, check out the Filecoin Staking Guide