Sandstorm.io
Personal cloud platform
Kenton Varda
kenton@sandstorm.io
sandstorm.io/slides
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Personal Cloud Apps
What is Sandstorm?
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The demo tells all
demo.sandstorm.io
Just try it. 60 seconds.
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Where does it run?
Up to you:
● Subscribe to shared hosting, or
● Set up on your own machine.
It’s open source!
https://github.com/sandstorm-io
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But I can already run a server...
Sandstorm is different:
● No config files.
● No command lines.
● App store. Like a phone.
Ideal for techies and non-techies.
Architecture
Sandboxing:
● Linux containers (same syscalls as Docker).
○ Native code — use any tech stack.
● Reduced attack surface: seccomp, etc.
● App package mapped read-only at /.
● Per-instance storage at /var.
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Architecture
Fine-grained containers:
● Share app code/assets read-only.
● Shut down when not in use.
Allows per-user or even per-document
containerization.
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Architecture
Communication
● RPC
● Distributed objects
● Promise pipelining
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Architecture
HTTP-over-RPC
sandstorm-http-bridge
for legacy apps.
Architecture
User interface
● App rendered in an iframe.
● Unified login and sharing.
● Proxy does authentication.
● Shell (parent frame) can display system UI.
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Architecture
Powerbox: Mediates introductions
● App A: “I implement interface Foo”
● App B: “I need an instance of Foo”
● System displays picker.
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But why?
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Why we need this
End the
Developer-Host
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Why we need this
1. Developer-hosts are too powerful.
● Spying/data-mining
● Unwanted experiments
● Privacy violations
● Disappearing apps
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Why we need this
2. Developer-hosts are walled gardens
● Federated auth is hard ⇒ temptation to
integrate only with first-parties.
“if you want a definition of the term
‘walled garden’ as it pertains to
technology, ask a man with both an
iphone and a chromebook” - @malki
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Why we need this
OAuth?
Painful for developers.
Annoying/scary for users.
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Why we need this
3. Enable open source and indie apps
● Not all useful apps are monetizable.
● Hobby projects don’t want to run servers.
● You wouldn’t want to use their servers.
● What good is “open source” if you can’t
deploy your modified code?
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Why we need this
4. Enterprise
● Many companies won’t/can’t use SaaS.
○ Privacy laws
○ Competition
● On-prem servers suck.
○ High IT costs
○ Poor integration
○ Security
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Why we need this
5. It’s inevitable.
● 1990’s: AOL vs. WWW
● 2010’s: SaaS vs. decentralized hosting
We will win.
Question is how soon.