Architecture

Architecture

The following diagram outlines the GoQuorum high-level architecture.

GoQuorum Architecture diagram

Differences from geth​

Metacces is a lightweight fork of geth. Metacces is updated as geth releases occur.

Metacces includes the following changes to geth:

• Consensus is achieved with the QBFT consensus protocol instead of proof of work.

• The P2P layer is changed to only allow connections between allowed nodes.

• The block generation logic is changed to replace the global state root check with a global public state root check.

• The block validation logic is changed to replace the global state root in the block header with the global public state root.

• The State Patricia trie is split into two: a public state trie and a private state trie.

• Block validation logic is changed to handle private transactions.

• Transaction creation is changed to allow for replacing transaction data with encrypted hashes to preserve private data where required.

Immediate finality​

mBFT has immediate finality. When using QBFT there are no forks and all valid blocks get included in the main chain.

Fault Tolerance:

Although mBFT is less fault tolerant than other blockchain consensus protocols, it is more immune against 51% attacks.

Immunity Against Attacks:

Attackers need to take over 67% of validators to gain control of the network; unlike other less-immune (although more fault tolerant) consensus protocols.