11Welcome to Fabric
22=================
33
4- Hyperledger Fabric is a social innovation that is about to free innovators in startups,
5- enterprises and government to transform and radically reduce the cost of working together
6- across organizations. By the end of this section, you should have the essential understanding
7- of Fabric you need to start *knitting * together a great business network.
8-
9- Fabric is a network of networks, like the Internet itself. An application can use one or more
10- networks, each managing different :ref: `Assets `, Agreements and Transactions between different
11- sets of :ref: `Member ` nodes. In Fabric, the Ordering Service is the foundation of each network.
12- The founder of a network selects an Ordering Service (or creates a new one) and passes in a
13- config file with the rules (usually called Policies) that govern it. Examples of these rules
14- include setting/defining which Members can join the network, how Members can be added or removed,
15- and configuration details like block size. While it is possible for one company to set and control
16- these rules as a "dictator," typically these rules will also include policies that make changing
17- the rules a matter of consensus among the members of the network. Fabric also requires some level of
18- "endorsement" in order to transact. Check out the power and intricacy of :doc: `endorsement-policies `
19- , which are used across the Fabric landscape - from a consortium's network configuration to a simple
20- read operation.
21-
22- We mentioned that the Ordering Service (OS) is the foundation of the network, and you're probably
23- thinking, "It must do something beyond just ordering." Well you're right! All members and entities
24- in the network will be tied to a higher level certificate authority, and this authority is defined
25- within the configuration of the Ordering Service. As a result, the OS can verify and authenticate
26- transactions arriving from any corner of the network. The OS plays a central and critical role in
27- the functionality and integrity of the network, and skeptics might fear too much centralization of
28- power and responsibility. After all, that's a principal feature of shared ledger technology - to
29- decentralize the control and provide a foundation of trust with entities who you CAN'T wholeheartedly
30- trust. Well let's assuage that fear. The OS is agnostic to transaction details; it simply orders on
31- a first-come-first-serve basis and returns blocks to their corresponding channels. Perhaps more
32- importantly though, control of the ordering service can be shared and co-administered by the
33- participating members in the network. OR, if even that solution is untenable, then the OS can be
34- hosted and maintained by a trusted third-party. Fabric is built upon a modular and pluggable
35- architecture, so the only real decision for business networks is how to configure an OS to meet
36- their requirements.
37-
38- (This notion of the OS as a pluggable component also opens the door to exciting opportunities for
39- innovative teams and individuals. Currently there are only a few OS orchestrations - Solo and Kafka.
40- However, other options such as Intel's PoET or certain BFT flavors could be powerful supplementaries to Fabric,
41- and help solve challenging use cases.)
42-
43- To participate in the Network, each Organization maintains a runtime called a :ref: `Peer `, which will
44- allow an application to participate in transactions, interact with the Ordering Service, and maintain
45- a set of ledgers. Notice we said a set of ledgers. One of Fabric's key innovations is the ability to
46- run multiple :ref: `Channel ` s on each network. This is how a network can conduct both highly confidential
47- bilateral transactions and multilateral, or even public, transactions in the same solution without
48- everyone having a copy of every transaction or run the code in every agreement.
49-
50- Watch how Fabric is `Building a Blockchain for Business <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKa5Gh9whgU >`__ .
51-
52- If you're still reading, you clearly have some knowledge and an interest in distributed ledger
53- technology, AND you probably think a key piece is missing. Where is consensus in all of this? Well,
54- it's embedded in the entire life cycle of a transaction. Transactions come into the network, and the
55- submitting client's identity is verified and consented upon. Transactions then get executed and endorsed,
56- and these endorsements are consented upon. Transactions get ordered, and the validity of this order is
57- consented upon. Finally, transactions get committed to a shared ledger, and each transaction's subsequent
58- impact on the state of the involved asset(s) is consented upon. Consensus isn't pigeonholed into one
59- module or one function. It lives and exists throughout the entire DNA of Fabric. Fabric is built
60- with security at the forefront, not as an afterthought. Members and participating entities operate with
61- known identities, and no action on the network circumvents the sign/verify/authenticate mandate. Requirements
62- such as security, privacy and confidentiality are paramount in some manner to nearly all business dealings,
63- and they, like consensus, are stitched into the very essence of Fabric.
64-
65- So what problem do you want to solve? What assets are at stake? Who are the players? What levels of
66- security and encryption do you need? Fabric is designed to provide an answer and solution to this
67- challenging collective of questions and beyond. Just like fabric - in the literal sense of the word - is
68- used in everything from airplane seats to bespoke suits, solutions built on Hyperledger Fabric can range
69- from diamond provenance to equities trading. Explore the documentation and see how you can leverage Fabric
70- to craft a PoC for your own business network.
4+ Hyperledger Fabric is a platform for distributed ledger solutions, underpinned
5+ by a modular architecture delivering high degrees of confidentiality, resiliency,
6+ flexibility and scalability. It is designed to support pluggable implementations
7+ of different components, and accommodate the complexity and intricacies that exist
8+ across the economic ecosystem.
9+
10+ Hyperledger Fabric delivers a uniquely elastic and extensible architecture,
11+ distinguishing it from alternative blockchain solutions. Planning for the
12+ future of enterprise blockchain requires building on top of a fully-vetted,
13+ open source architecture; Hyperledger Fabric is your starting point.
14+
15+ It's recommended for first-time users to begin by going through the
16+ :doc: `getting_started ` section in order to gain familiarity with the Fabric
17+ components and the basic transaction flow. Once comfortable, continue
18+ exploring the library for demos, technical specifications, APIs, etc.
19+
20+ Before diving in, watch how Fabric is `Building a Blockchain for Business <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKa5Gh9whgU >`__ .
21+
22+
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8840 :caption: Key Concepts
8941
9042 overview
43+ capabilities
9144 fabric_model
9245 biz/usecases
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