mc-scripts/storage-net/README.md

Computercraft Storage Network

This is an implementation of a centralized storage network architecture that uses just ComputerCraft and vanilla Minecraft.

Deployment

The master node must have a modem attached and be within range of all slave nodes.

1. Deploy at least one slave turtle

• The inventory it is to monitor must be above the unit
• The unit should be able to drop below itself to push items to the master node
• Any subsequent slaves should be placed in front of the unit

2. Set up a return system that pushes into the first slave node (can be a hopper or similar)

Communication Protocol

Port 42914 is used for Master => Slave broadcasting

Port 42915 is used for Slave => Master return broadcasting

Packet Format

Packet format is uniform between master <-> slaves and is structured like so:

{
    // Metadata
    networkid:              int()
    sourceid:               int()
    sourcetype:             str()
    destid:                 int()

    // Payload
    type:                   str()

    // Optional Arguments
    itemname:               str()
    itemquant:              int()
    destination:            int()
    location:               [int(),int(),int()]
}

Name	Required?	Type	Description
networkid	true	int	The ID of the network
sourceid	true	int	The CC ID of the machine sending the packet
sourcetype	true	string	The mode of the machine sending the packet
destid	true	int	The CC ID of the intended recipient of the packet
type	true	string	An arbitrary string literal corresponding to the type of the request. Common examplse include ping, query, etc.
itemname	false	string	The unlocalized name of an item. Used for querying, crafting, movement, etc.
itemquant	false	int	Quantity of the aforementioned item
destination	false	int	The CC ID of the intended recipient of the item

Messages are sent over rednet with the protocol ccstoragenet.

Slave Node Initialization

• The slave starts up

Master Node Initialization

• The master node starts up
• The master node sends a packet with type ping.
• The master node listens for pong packets for a configurable timeout.
• The sourceid of all pong packets is recorded for statistics displays. This cached data is only used for user display. Node availability is evaluated at request time.

Inventory Search (query)

• A sender node (master or slave) sends out a ping
• All available slaves respond with pong
• The sender node sends a packet with type query. Field itemname is populated with an item to query for.
• Each available slave responds with type query.
  • itemname is populated with data from the previous packet
  • itemquantity is populated with the quantity of that item attached to storages the slave has access to.
• The requester waits for a response from each slave that responded to the ping or until a configurable timeout is reached.
• Results are consumed