Are my nodes part of the broader (IPFS) network?

[alexandervlpl]

This isn't Go-specific, but I wasn't able to get any answers on discuss.libp2p.io. After reading the docs and guides I still have one very basic question. Are all libp2p nodes on the same p2p network? The one that powers IPFS?

On a practical level, does this mean my application’s nodes are sharing the DHT with other applications like IPFS, using public nodes outside my control as circuit relays, etc? Do my nodes play the same role in powering other libp2p applications too?

[sukunrt]

By default, yes. If you don't configure your DHT with a ProtocolPrefix, they'll connect to the IPFS DHT. You need to provide bootstrap peers that are part of the Amino(IPFS) DHT, like the default bootstrappers

[alexandervlpl]

Interesting, too bad this crucial info is missing in the docs! So how do I run my own bootstrap peers?

I could also go the other way and "mooch" off the IPFS network, is there anything inherently wrong with this? How does the community feel about it?

[hsanjuan]

In what way you are going to Moooch?

A bootstrapper is just another peer that is running and new peers can contact. Nothing different in it in most cases.

[alexandervlpl]

Aren't there situations where public peers act as circuit relays and handle large amounts of traffic on behalf of other peers, for example?

[hsanjuan]

No, since relayV2, relays are capped and only used for hole punching, with very small amounts of traffic involved.