In Chainlink's documentation and tutorials, running a Chainlink node is explained along with brief mentions of the OCR protocol for node communication. When I run a Chainlink node myself, does it automatically join a single main chain for OCR protocol communication, or are there separate/private OCR chains? My current guess is that there are several private OCR blockchains; is this accurate?
2 Answers
Currently, Chainlink Off-Chain Reporting (OCR) oracle networks are permissioned, meaning off-chain coordination of oracle requests is currently restricted to official Chainlink node operators only.
You can read more about the specific features you can use as a Chainlink community (non-official) node operator via this documentation provided by LinkWell Nodes.
answered Mar 28 at 8:16
Chainlink is not a blockchain.
Chainlink is a blockchain services platform that connects the real world with smart contracts and consists of multiple different products available to developers, from Price Feeds to CCIP. To connect the real world with smart contracts on any blockchain, those products offer off-chain data and computation.
To provide off-chain data and computation, there is a need for Decentralized Oracle Networks (DONs for short). Each of these products has at least one DON, but there can be multiple DONs like in the case of CCIP for example.
To become a Node Operator in a DON, one needs to run a Chainlink Node. By running a Chainlink Node, you become part of a DON, not a blockchain. Chainlink DON often needs to reach a consensus on some off-chain computation or data, and to do that efficiently nodes need to share information between themselves using some kind of peer-to-peer communication. To accomplish that, the Off-Chain Reporting (OCR) protocol is being used.
