The impact of using CouchDB on Hyperledger Fabric performance for heterogeneous medical data storage

Abstract

The popularization of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has motivated the interest in using blockchain infrastructure in contexts other than the original. This is due to blockchain allows for a distribution of data with decentralized management and in a secure environment. In this scenario, the goal of this work is to evaluate the impact of database usage when blockchain is employed to manipulate large volumes of heterogeneous data. The methodology used in our evaluation considers the Hyperledger Fabric to set up a network for sharing medical data, which is obtained from a real database. The performance of this network was collected through experimental studies, with the Hyperledger Caliper benchmark, by measuring the throughput and latency of the network with and without the CouchDB database. Our results show the impact of the overhead imposed by the database when it is used in a blockchain network. This work contributes to future developers of blockchain applications as it shows the impact of database usage on such applications.