[1500 TH] p2pool: Decentralized, DoS-resistant, Hop-Proof pool

[Frizz23]

At the moment I am seeing 163GH/s ... does that mean the pool split again? Or did we lose almost half of our followers?

[m3ta]

At the moment I am seeing 163GH/s ... does that mean the pool split again? Or did we lose almost half of our followers?

Pool is at 267-270 GHs.

[Rubberduckie]

It's been a painfully long time since a block was found

[TheHarbinger]

It's been a painfully long time since a block was found

The fact that the price has taken a shit also isn't really helping my mood either.   

[Rubberduckie]

Finally a block 

[Gabi]

Pool at 315ghash/s right now

[Proofer]

A couple of recent block payments were not reported by p2pool...

bitcoind listtransactions (with "time" field converted to USA PST):

Code:

{
"account" : "",
"category" : "generate",
"amount" : 0.50812414,
"confirmations" : 194,
"time" : 1329359757 = 2012-02-15 18:35:57 -0800
},
{
"account" : "",
"category" : "generate",
"amount" : 0.51511734,
"confirmations" : 193,
"time" : 1329360054 = 2012-02-15 18:40:54 -0800
},
{
"account" : "",
"category" : "immature",
"amount" : 0.45364305,
"confirmations" : 17,
"time" : 1329471598 = 2012-02-17 01:39:58 -0800
}

p2pool output containing "BLOCK":

Code:

2012-02-15 08:05:54.522981 GOT BLOCK FROM PEER! Passing to bitcoind! 319d2ba8 bitcoin: http://blockexplorer.com/block/0000000000000a43dbd999c53981aa75c85cd5cd1fab9467a49c11b24aa0fe0f
2012-02-15 18:40:54.008730 GOT BLOCK FROM PEER! Passing to bitcoind! 30fd5ef2 bitcoin: http://blockexplorer.com/block/00000000000006d8806a9b40c53b274ca01c9a6006946b610f2005b0e77710d2

I.e., the most recent and the third most recent were not reported by p2pool.

[Portnoy]

I followed all the instructions but when I get to the point to run "python run_p2pool.py <rpc_username> <rpc_password>"
I get this error: python.exe: can't find '__main__' module in 'run_p2pool.exe'

I am using Windows 7 64bit. I downloaded and installed the 64bit versions of python, twisted etc.
( I think it would also be useful for new users coming to p2pool that the instructions include basic stuff like: put the directory "C:\Python27" in your PATH. )

I will keep mining at the pool I was using before until someone can tell me what I left out.
I wonder if p2pool would be the best choice for me anyway with only ~440 mh/s? 

Thanks

[Schleicher]

I am using Windows 7 64bit. I downloaded and installed the 64bit versions of python, twisted etc.

There's no problem with the 32bit version using this command line:

Code:

d:\python27\python.exe D:\forrestv-p2pool-afb1066\run_p2pool.py username password

[twmz]

A couple of recent block payments were not reported by p2pool...

I.e., the most recent and the third most recent were not reported by p2pool.

That's normal.  Blocks that happen to be stale shares (because they were found after someone else found a share but they happen to have been found before the bitcoin network found a new block) are transmitted over the bitcoin network (so that everyone get's paid), but are not included in the p2pool share chain and are not transmitted throughout the entire p2pool peer to peer network, so the announcements only appear on the node that found the block and on that node's immediate neighbors.

To get the full list of blocks you can check your own bitcoin transaction logs (assuming your hashrate is high enough to ensure you have at least 1 share in all blocks) or look on blockexplorer or blockchain.info for at the donation address 1Kz5QaUPDtKrj5SqW5tFkn7WZh8LmQaQi4.

I also maintain a list of found blocks at http://btcstats.net/p2pool/ that has recently been updated to redundantly utilize all these sources of information to create as comprehensive of a list of blocks as possible.

[Frizz23]

At the moment I am seeing 163GH/s ... does that mean the pool split again? Or did we lose almost half of our followers?

Pool is at 267-270 GHs.

This is what I see in the log right now:

Code:

2012-02-17 19:10:42.420000  Pool: 100GH/s Stale rate: 6.4% Expected time to block: 16.4 hours

[Portnoy]

I am using Windows 7 64bit. I downloaded and installed the 64bit versions of python, twisted etc.

There's no problem with the 32bit version using this command line:

Code:

d:\python27\python.exe D:\forrestv-p2pool-afb1066\run_p2pool.py username password

Thanks,

Can anyone confirm that all I need to do is uninstall the 64bit versions and install the 32bit versions of
all that software? 

wait... forrestv-p2pool-afb1066?  Is there some other version I should be using instead of the one
mentioned in the OP?

[m3ta]

At the moment I am seeing 163GH/s ... does that mean the pool split again? Or did we lose almost half of our followers?

Pool is at 267-270 GHs.

This is what I see in the log right now:

Code:

2012-02-17 19:10:42.420000  Pool: 100GH/s Stale rate: 6.4% Expected time to block: 16.4 hours

Which version of P2Pool?

^ This. Upgrade, restart.

[Schleicher]

wait... forrestv-p2pool-afb1066?  Is there some other version I should be using instead of the one mentioned in the OP?

You only need to install Python if you want to use the "source code" version.
The binary version works without installed Python.

[Portnoy]

wait... forrestv-p2pool-afb1066?  Is there some other version I should be using instead of the one mentioned in the OP?

You only need to install Python if you want to use the "source code" version.
The binary version works without installed Python.

Okay another try...

First off I run bitcoin-qt.exe.

In the bitcoin.conf I have:
rpcuser=someusername x
rpcpassword=some password y
server=1

then I run run_p2pool.exe:
run_p2pool.exe x* y*

and run_p2pool.exe says, "Testing bitcoind RPC connection to 'http://127.0.0.1:8332/' with username x*"
and then "...success!"

( Why does the OP mention port 9332 when 8332 is displayed here? )

And then when I try to run my miner like this:
poclbm.exe x*:y*@127.0.0.1:8332 -d0 -v -w128 -f1

I get an error from run_p2pool.exe which says, "Bitcoin connection lost. Reason: Connection to the other side was lost in a non-clean fashion."

I try the miner with port 9332 instead but it gives the error, "Problems communicating with bitcoin RPC..."

---

*x being the same rpcuser name I use in bitcoin.conf
*y being the same rpcpassword I use in bitcoin.conf

[thirdlight]

First off I run bitcoin-qt.exe.

Use bitcoind.exe instead - qt is unstable with p2pool.

In the bitcoin.conf I have:
rpcuser=someusername x
rpcpassword=some password y
server=1

then I run run_p2pool.exe:
run_p2pool.exe x* y*

That's right.

and run_p2pool.exe says, "Testing bitcoind RPC connection to 'http://127.0.0.1:8332/' with username x*"
and then "...success!"

( Why does the OP mention port 9332 when 8332 is displayed here? )

And then when I try to run my miner like this:
poclbm.exe x*:y*@127.0.0.1:8332 -d0 -v -w128 -f1

use

Code:

poclbm.exe anything:anything_or_vip@127.0.0.1:9332 -d0 -v -w128 -f1

p2pool talks to bitcoind on 8332, your miner talks to p2pool on 9332.

The miner password can be anything, but if it matches the contents of the "vip_pass" file in p2pool/data/bitcoin the worker will show in the graphs at 127.0.0.1:9332/graphs . This bit needs rrdtool, apparently this is difficult on windows.

it gives the error, "Problems communicating with bitcoin RPC..."

Is bitcoind still downloading blocks? It needs to be up to date before it can mine.

Stick with it, you're nearly there!

[stevegee58]

Bitcoind is kind of a pain because it doesn't print any helpful messages on the console like "done synchronizing" or "ready for use".
Here's a hint to know when bitcoind has finished and is stable to use:

1. Run bitcoind from a command prompt.
2. From another command prompt type "bitcoind getblockcount" (This communicates with the instance you started in #1)
3. Keep doing #2 until the displayed block count stops incrementing.
4. Bitcoind is now ready.

If you go to http://blockchain.info/ you'll see what the current world-wide block count is.  The final block count reported by bitcoind should equal this value.

[forrestv]

P2Pool release 0.8.6 - tag: 0.8.6

Windows py2exe binary: http://u.forre.st/u/szpnzcpo/p2pool_win32_d222f8d.zip
Source tarball: https://github.com/forrestv/p2pool/tarball/0.8.6

Changes:
* IRC announcer doesn't spam as much
* Some possible bugs in sharechain ranking have been fixed, so forks may be prevented
* Outgoing connections are constrained to one per /16, making Sybil attacks harder

Note: I would recommend switching to Bitcoin 0.6.0 RC 1, which includes the RPC getblock call. The getblock call lets P2Pool keep track of block heights more robustly, and so might protect you from sharechain forks. Download it from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=63165.0

Frizz23 and anyone else having problems with apparent forks, upgrade to this and follow the above advice.

[ThiagoCMC]

P2Pool release 0.8.6 - tag: 0.8.6

Windows py2exe binary: http://u.forre.st/u/szpnzcpo/p2pool_win32_d222f8d.zip
Source tarball: https://github.com/forrestv/p2pool/tarball/0.8.6

Changes:
* IRC announcer doesn't spam as much
* Some possible bugs in sharechain ranking have been fixed, so forks may be prevented
* Outgoing connections are constrained to one per /16, making Sybil attacks harder

Note: I would recommend switching to Bitcoin 0.6.0 RC 1, which includes the RPC getblock call. The getblock call lets P2Pool keep track of block heights more robustly, and so might protect you from sharechain forks. Download it from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=63165.0

Frizz23 and anyone else having problems with apparent forks, upgrade to this and follow the above advice.

AWESOME FORRESTV!!

Can't wait to forget about payout variance...

Lets make more lobby in favor of P2Pool! We need to reach 600-800GHash ASAP! 

Cheers!
Thiago

[Portnoy]

Okay thanks everybody. Something seems to be happening now, without error messages.

With a hashrate of around: [423.123 MH/s <~378 MH/s>] how often should I expect to see
an increase in my balance, and by approx. how much?  I am trying to gauge how well it
is doing compared with the last pool I was at. Right now the rejection rate isn't that good
at 9.33% (perhaps it will come down over time?), compared to .3% at that last pool.  

I can check bitcoind while it is running with p2pool right?  bitcoind getinfo?

I don't know what to make of all the messages in the run_p2pool.exe window.