Sentinel v12 Hub Upgrade: Faster Connections, Easier Subscriptions, and Better Nodes - Testnet LIVE

The chain's block time will be reduced from five seconds to three.

In technical terms this means that transactions will be faster on the Sentinel blockchain—and in practical terms that will mean an increase of >30% to in-app dVPN connection speeds, according to the team.

Pricing for Sentinel Nodes and dVPN subscriptions can now be displayed in U.S. dollars within apps, thanks to an Osmosis-integrated pricing oracle.

It should be noted that the USD pricing oracle is just a superficial conversion of a node's DVPN price to dollars for the convenience of app users. DVPN remains king for commerce on the Sentinel blockchain.

Application users can now set their subscriptions to auto-renew through on-chain methods, instead of topping up their subscription manually every time it expires, or auto-renewing through third-party workarounds.

Sentinel Node hosts now have the option of offering totally free dVPN service to app users.

The main purpose of this is to give application developers greater flexibility in offering free trial periods, but the Sentinel Growth DAO has already announced that its nodes will be adopting this model full-time after the upgrade is deployed.

Please note that not every Sentinel-powered dVPN application offers the same set of nodes; therefore, whether free nodes are available for selection depends entirely on which app you are using.

The on-chain subscription process has been streamlined, meaning fewer clicks or taps to get connected and start browsing securely with your dVPN app.

It is now possible to create multiple sessions with an individual node from a single wallet.

For example, if you have a subscription to a particular node you can now connect both your phone and computer to it simultaneously. Previously, this would have necessitated creating a separate payment account on each respective device.

Sentinel's new dVPN node architecture no longer requires Docker—and the team has hinted that it might make Windows and Mac ports feasible in the near future.

The long-awaited refresh of the automated health check system has arrived. The team promises that the new queue system will reduce the number of errors and unexplained failures encountered by hosts.

In the words of a team member:
“The new health check system is very sophisticated. Not only can it be distributed, but there is a queue based system... Node hosts can resubmit their node into the queue before the next scheduled health check period. Whenever there is a blockchain event for the node status update, the address will be added to the queue automatically (if it's not in the queue). Alternatively, anyone can request the API to perform the health check for a node using a webpage, so the address will be pushed to the queue.”

Because of the Osmosis-powered price oracle, the minimum and maximum rates for service can be set at a fixed USD rate.

In the past, those values had to be adjusted through governance every time there was a substantial fluctuation in the market value of DVPN against the dollar.

Node hosts can now set their pricing for periodic (time-based) subscriptions in USD, with aid from the aforementioned Osmosis oracle. As seen in the section below, this can even help get your node into an application's custom subscription plan.

Never worry about your application's users being left in the cold even for a minute: If you host an on-chain subscription plan for an application, topping up the various nodes which constitute it can now be done automatically.

With dVPN nodes now able to provide service for no cost (see the application users section) it is now easier than ever to set up free trial periods for your users. No more workarounds needed.

Nodes can now be selected and added to subscription plans based on their USD/hour rate. Create a custom plan for your app and track every detail about your expenses without getting bogged down in crypto-to-fiat calculations.

User sessions are now divided into "node-based" and "subscription-based" categories. This will give developers greater flexibility in configuring their application's backend and creating an experience tailored to their userbases.

User sessions will now automatically terminate if their node becomes inactive, the user's subscription expires, or the node gets removed from their plan.