What is Spheron?

Spheron is a decentralized cloud hosting platform for hosting modern dApps. It is the simplest, fastest, and most affordable way to host and deploy any dApp.

A decentralized application – or dApp – is like a digital app found on any smartphone or laptop, with the additional feature of employing blockchain technology to keep users’ data out of the hands of the organizations behind it. Just like cryptocurrency is decentralized money, dApps are decentralized apps.

Spheron's interface is designed so that it provides the best experience to web3 developers and the developers shifting from web2 to web3. It helps to reduce most of the efforts of the developers who want to deploy their dApp in a decentralized atmosphere.

In this blog I have shared my experience of Spheron which helps the users to understand the uniqueness and feature of Spheron, and why should we use Spheron.

Also, after reading it you are able to deploy your first dApp using Spheron Protocol.

Why Spheron?

Now, the question arises why should we use Spheron Protocol?

When I used Spheron for the first time, a thought came to my mind, why do we use Spheron when there are web hosting platforms like Netlify, Fleek, and Vercel that are already present and doing nothing wrong, so why to use Spheron instead of them?

So the simple answer to that question is all these existing platforms are answerable to a single central authority and censor the information & data bar present on the website forcing the executives to take measures against it, thus criticizing the freedom of speech and expressions.

But, Spheron due to its decentralized storage networks, provides the opportunity to the owner of the web application to own their information & data. Thus eliminating all the allegations.

Also ensuring that the website remains deployed permanently, securing from any type of censorship, and providing 100% uptime throughout its life.

Uniqueness in Spheron

There are some cool features and uniqueness in Spheron which personally I liked very much✨

• You can create your own Organization on Spheron, and you can invite other members too. This helps in sharing the ownership of your project, also you can manage groups of individuals in various ways.

• There are 3 Git provider platforms supported by Spheron->GitHub, Gitlab and Bitbucket

Spheron protocol is set to incorporate GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. GitLab and Bitbucket, similar to Github, are DevOps platforms that bring together development, operations, and security teams in a single app. GitLab allows teams to save development costs and risks while reducing time to market from weeks to minutes.

• There are 10+ frameworks that are supported by Spheron.

• There are 4 decentralized storage protocols to choose from, according to the needs and requirements of yours-> Filecoin, Arweave, Skynet and Pinata

With decentralized storage, data is encrypted and stored across multiple locations, or nodes, that are run by individuals or organizations that share their extra disk space for a fee. Only the data's owner holds the private encryption key; storage providers cannot access the data

• Spheron supports CI/CD automated deployment, the pipeline generates code, runs tests (CI), and delivers a new version of the application in a secure manner (CD). Automated pipelines eliminate human mistakes, offer developers consistent feedback loops, and allow for rapid product revisions. Isn't it awesome !!🤩

CI/CD is a method to frequently deliver apps to customers by introducing automation into the stages of app development. The main concepts attributed to CI/CD are continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment.

My experience of Deployment🧑‍💻

So, I would say that the Spheron provides the developer, with a gentle and clean experience of deployment. The interface is so beginner friendly that anybody can deploy their dApp without putting any extra effort.

I just have to configure my GitHub, choose a repository, select any storage protocols, and after filling in some basic details I am good to go for the deployment. The deployment part takes only a few moments to host the application.

I can create my own organization with only invited members, so I can share the ownership of the project among them. The decentralized feature of blockchain technology helps me to own my information and it provides a smooth experience of deploying my front-end part of the project.

Also, I can archive the project that I don't want to use so that nobody is able to access the project without unarchiving it. The supported CI/CD feature helps me to update my deployed project on its own whenever my code gets updated on GitHub. It saves a lot of effort and time to deploy it again and again.

I have shared the step-by-step instructions below to get started with Spheron to deploy your first dApp .

So let's get Started w/ Spheron!

• Firstly, go to Spheron Network.

• Now, login to Spheron, by clicking on the Deploy Now button.

• You can use GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket to login Spheron. Connecting with GitHub is the best option to choose so that you can select any GitHub repository from there and start deployment.

Pick your Repository

• On the overview page click on New Project to import a Repository to start deploying.

• Choose the platform from which you want to select the repository.

• Select any repository from the available repositories shown on the screen.

If you are unable to find the Repository on the screen, you can select it from Git Providers by configuring it from Spheron. Confirm the access and proceed.

Pick your Protocol

• Spheron support DSN (Decentralize Storage Networks), on which you can deploy your dApp. There are currently 4 protocols to select -> Filecoin, Arweave, Skynet and Pinata. You can select any of them which suits you best for your requirements.

Configuring your Build options

• Now, you have to fill in some basic details to deploy the dApp like branch to deploy, build commands and node version that will be used for building your project. Also, you can select Environment Variables for deployment.

• Deploy Settings

Deploy Parameters

1. BRANCH TO DEPLOY - The branch of the Repository to be deployed.

2. ROOT DIRECTORY - In projects, sometimes there are two directories in the main directory. For ex- There are frontend and backend directories and you have to deploy the frontend directory, so you have to mention the frontend as the root directory here for the deployment.

Basic Build Parameters

1. FRAMEWORK - You can select any framework which is supported by the Spheron mentioned in the dropdown.

1. BUILD COMMAND - The command used to build the publish directory which will be going to use for deployment. For ex- npm run build or yarn build.

2. PUBLISH DIRECTORY - The directory which is used to deploy the project.

Advance Build Parameters

1. Node Engine - The version of the node which is used to build your project.

2. Environment Variables - You can add the environment variables used in your project.

Note that adding environment variables here won't work if the project already exists, you have to add environment variables by going to your Project Settings -> Environment Variables.

• Now, Click on the Deploy button, to proceed further with deployment.

Deploy

• After selecting all parameters correctly and clicking on the Deploy button, the deploy logs can be visible on the screen i.e. your deployment is started.

• The deployment for the project takes a few minutes to deploy and you can access your dApp through the link shown below.

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Do check out the deployment of my dApp - Krypt

Resources

• Intro to Spheron Protocol

• Video on how to deploy your dApp using Spheron Protocol by me.

Conclusion

In this blog, we learned about what is Spheron and why Spheron is best for hosting static websites, and how to get started to deploy any dApp project of yours on Spheron Protocol. So, we are at the end of this blog and I hope that now you all are able to deploy your project on Spheron on your own. Cheers to us 🥳.

I would like to thank Prakarsh Pathak who encouraged me to write my first technical blog.✍️

Don't forget to like and share this blog if you liked it. Connect with me on Twitter for getting updates on more such blogs.

THANKS FOR READING !!😁✌️