When I install ipfs client, an unique peerID is generated for the installation. My question is that if I want to move the client to another PC and would like to retain the same peer id (and private key if there is any), is it possible to do so?
It might be possible to do this, but then you would never want to run both node instances at the same time. You would have two nodes on the network saying that they are the same, which defeats the purpose of the âunique peer idâ. What do you have in mind? Why would you like to do this, move the client to another PC?
Not running 2 nodes at the same time. For example, my PC is upgraded and I would like to move the ipfs node from the old to new PC. Just like a new email client is installed but the email address to login remains the same.
My understanding of Peer ID is it is a kind of identify on IPFS and ownership of the files uploaded. If the peer id was changed, then the ownership of the files uploaded with that peer id will be lost.
I have never tried this. You could install ipfs on the new machine, but do not run âipfs initâ
Instead, copy over your .ipfs directory from old machine to new machine, to the correct location for your user on new machine. Then try âipfs config showâ, that should tell you if it worked. After that âipfs daemonâ and you should be good to go.
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And yes, you will be copying along the private key also when you copy over your .ipfs directory from old to new machine. It is found within the âconfigâ file as PrivKey. For security reasons, it is not shown when you run âipfs config showâ
There isnât really an âownerâ of files added to IPFS. There are providers, but the original provider isnât given special consideration that Iâm aware of.
There is a delete button on the ipfs file interface and I thought this button only exists for the peer who originally uploaded the file. But I may be wrong about the button.
No, this button exists for everyone and just delete the file from the local computer. Once a piece of data have been shared with someone, it is out of hand of the original provider, just like you canât remotely delete a torrent file from other computers, even if you are the original uploader.
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If the file blocks can be deleted by the peer who stores them, is the IPFS not dependable storage solution? What I mean is the file stored with IPFS may not be available when I like to retrieve it sometime late. According to my reading, there is no way I would know how many copies of my file has been stored by IPFS and where they are stored.
This page might answer your question: https://docs.ipfs.io/guides/concepts/pinning/
Itâs possible for peers to have your file but not advertise themselves as providers. But for peers who are configured to provide content they have cached/pinned, you can see those peers using ipfs dht findprovs <key>.
In the general case: youâre correct. You canât force them to store things for you or stay online. But you can either make your content popular so that there always an online node having it in its cache, or pay someone directly to host you data (that is a âpinning serviceâ, like Temporal or Pinata.cloud), or (soon) ask on a blockchain market who want you money to host you file.
Thatâs correct. You can estimate a probable lower bound by asking the DHT for some providers. When Filecoin is out, if you pay for storage, you will have an exact count of copies of your file hosted by the nodes you hired (thanks to crypto magic).
this is a late reply, but it will do the job, and help others with the same issue.
Would this work in a disaster recovery (DR) scenario? If I have a current back up of the IPFS repository, and I move (or recover) to a fresh ipfs installation, will it have the same IPNS? or if I do an ipns name publish ..., will it generate the same IPNS name?
if not any ideas on how to do this?
simply use old config file. It contains your PeerID and itâs key.
Replace it into new installation folder.
Done