Working with blockchain names

BNS names are “blockchain name system” names (akak blockchain names). You can register one or more addresses under a name, and every name has an owner. The Diode CLI can be used to register, update, lookup, inspect, unregister, and transfer ownership of a blockchain name on the Diode Network.

The Diode CLI command to manage BNS names is:

bns

invoked as:

diode bns <command>

Read below for details!

#How to use BNS names

Blockchain names can be used to give any Ethereum address a human readable name. While this is just generally helpful for recognizing an address, it is also helpful for the following use cases:

• Decentralized website name - if you host a website at your Ethereum address, your BNS name is your website’s name - anyone can type it into a Diode-enabled browser and view your website
• Failover for resource publication - you can register multiple addresses to a Domain name and the network will automatically handle fail-over in case the primary address is not available.
• Group management - BNS names are convenient to register multiple addresses to in order to set publication perimeters. For example, the “diode publish” command can publish to a BNS name as its publication context/perimeter. In this way, the BNS name address list becomes an allow-list for private publication, allowing CI/CD and on/offboarding automation for OT, IT, and IoT systems.

#Commands

#register name

diode bns -register <name>=<address(es)>

Note that registering a name will take at least one block time (more than 10 seconds and less than 5 minutes). The messages printed in the terminal will provide updates.

Example - register one address to a name:

diode bns -register mynewname=0x123229542c4afe8cd39da33f81bf698d57d3cb2a

Example - register two addresses to a name:

diode bns -register mynewname=0x123229542c4afe8cd39da33f81bf698d57d3cb2a,0xa8721a541c4a2e8cd39d433f81af698d57d1ca33

#update name

To update a BNS name, your Diode CLI’s address must be the owner of the name already. If it is not, you must transfer ownership of the name to your CLI’s address.

diode bns -register <name>=<updated address(es)>

Note that updating a name will take at least one block time (more than 10 seconds and less than 5 minutes). The messages printed in the terminal will provide updates.

Example - update a name with a single address:

diode bns -register myoldname=0x123229542c4afe8cd39da33f81bf698d57d3cb2a

Example - update a name with two addresses:

diode bns -register myoldname=0x123229542c4afe8cd39da33f81bf698d57d3cb2a,0xa8721a541c4a2e8cd39d433f81af698d57d1ca33

#lookup name

To lookup which addresses are registered under a name use “lookup”.

diode bns -lookup <name>

This will produce a list of “Lookup result” lines listing one address registered to the name per line.

#unregister name

If you no longer want to own a name, use “unregister”.

diode bns -unregister <name>

This will release the name and someone else will be able to register it.

Note that unregistering a name will take at least one block time (more than 10 seconds and less than 5 minutes). The messages printed in the terminal will provide updates.

#transfer name

If you want to give someone else the name, use “transfer”.

diode bns -transfer <name>=<new owner>

This will transfer ownership of the name to the new owner address.

Note that transferring a name will take at least one block time (more than 10 seconds and less than 5 minutes). The messages printed in the terminal will provide updates.