# Node Components

A BigchainDB node must include, at least:

* BigchainDB Server and
* RethinkDB Server.

When doing development and testing, it's common to install both on the same machine, but in a production environment, it may make more sense to install them on separate machines.

In a production environment, a BigchainDB node can have several other components, including:

* nginx or similar, as a reverse proxy and/or load balancer for the web server
* An NTP daemon running on all machines running BigchainDB code, and possibly other machines
* A RethinkDB proxy server
* Scalable storage for RethinkDB (e.g. using RAID)
* Monitoring software, to monitor all the machines in the node
* Maybe a configuration management (CM) server and CM agents on all machines