bigchaindb/docs/source/nodes/node-components.md

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
• Monitoring software, to monitor all the machines in the node
• Maybe more, e.g. a configuration management server and agents on all machines