An Introduction to Hyperledger Fabric
What is Blockchain ?
A blockchain is a time-stamped series of unchangeable record of data. It is managed by group of computers not owned by any single entity ensuring decentralisation.
Hyperledger Fabric is an open source Blockchain Framework implementation which was established under the Linux Foundation. It is permissioned blockchain. It means that there are some conditions placed on who is allowed to participate in the network and its underlying transactions. Every user does not have equal rights in the participation in the blockchain. Users are granted specific permissions and are allowed to access only certain types of data.
Components of Hyperledger Fabric Network
Ledger
A ledger consists of the records of all the transactions that have taken place (Blockchain) and the current state of the system (world state).
Smart Contract
Smart Contracts are executable programs that creates the rules between multiple organisations.
Peer
The most basic building blocks of a network that host smart contracts and ledgers are called Peers. The ledger is accessed by a simple piece of code, known as chaincode. A chaincode is used by Hyperledger Fabric to implement Smart Contracts.
Membership Service Providers (MSP)
MSP allows Peers to participate in the Hyperledger Fabric network and also gives credentials to clients.
Ordering Service
Ordering Service is the node which performs ordering of transactions. Ordering Service also keeps a record of all the organisations which are allowed to create channels.
Channel
A Channel is a communication path between multiple network members. All transactions in a network take place on a channel in which each network member must be authenticated and authorised to be able to perform transactions on that channel.
Certificate Authority
Certificate Authority issues Public Key Infrastructure(PKI)-based certificates to network members and organisations.
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