Bitcoin Core 0.16 - How can I add more than 8 Network connection?

[fmboyzz]

Bitcoin Core 0.16 running good but I think it's slow. It has only 8 network connection. Can I add more networks manually? Whats the process? Please use easy steps (I'm non-native ENG, + very new to BTC).

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[LoyceV]

First things first: is there a reason you want to change the default settings? You say you're very new to Bitcoin, what makes you want to adjust something that works just fine?

According to https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8109/how-does-one-attain-1-000-connections-like-blockchain-info/8140#8140 , you can't increase this.

[bob123]

Would you mind to explain further what exactly is 'slow' ?
Are you talking about downloading the blockchain? Or syncing?
What exactly is being slowed down? Did you check task manager for overloaded capacity? Is it your hard drive (SSD?), your CPU ?

Increasing the outgoing connections doesn't give you any increase in speed. It does not bring any positive effect with it.
Additionally the only way of increasing the maximum amount of outgoing connections would be to modify the source code and compile it yourself, i think.

[aleksej996]

Having more connections doesn't help with speed as much as reliability and security.
It is the ping that you should look at when you go to Debug Window->Help->Peers that can show you the quality of your connections.

You can always add more nodes as long as you are specific about which nodes you are adding.
Go to Debug Window->Help->Console and type "addnode <ip> add" to add a node with that IP address.

You can make these nodes add automatically when you start Bitcoin Core by adding a line (or multiple lines like it) to bitcoin.conf in your data directory.

addnode=<ip>

[cellard]

Many people complain of big gaps of network inactivity, namely, that the green graphic in the network tab has periods of 0 downloading activity, even if you have 8 peers which should be enough. I never got a definitive answer of why this happens.

Apparently, some people fixed it by buying a faster computer to speed up the verification process, since the blockchain is downloaded and verified at the same time so this could be causing these gaps. I haven't tested this myself yet, for now im stuck with what I have.

[ranochigo]

Having more connections doesn't help with speed as much as reliability and security.
It is the ping that you should look at when you go to Debug Window->Help->Peers that can show you the quality of your connections.

You can always add more nodes as long as you are specific about which nodes you are adding.
Go to Debug Window->Help->Console and type "addnode <ip> add" to add a node with that IP address.

You can make these nodes add automatically when you start Bitcoin Core by adding a line (or multiple lines like it) to bitcoin.conf in your data directory.

addnode=<ip>

You can't really add more nodes. Bitcoin Core limits the outgoing connections to 8, unless you somehow modify the code and compile it yourself. You're correct about the last part however.

IMO, neither the number of peers nor the quality of peers is much of a concern. Bitcoin Core wouldn't connect to peers who won't relay blocks and the speed of the transfer is usually much slower than the validation speed. The validation speed is almost always the bottleneck. You would experience significant increase in speed if you increase your dbcache, if you have enough ram.

[aleksej996]

You can't really add more nodes. Bitcoin Core limits the outgoing connections to 8, unless you somehow modify the code and compile it yourself. You're correct about the last part however.

IMO, neither the number of peers nor the quality of peers is much of a concern. Bitcoin Core wouldn't connect to peers who won't relay blocks and the speed of the transfer is usually much slower than the validation speed. The validation speed is almost always the bottleneck. You would experience significant increase in speed if you increase your dbcache, if you have enough ram.

I currently have 9 outgoing connections, since I added a node in my configuration file.
So you can have more, you just need to specify their IP address. It can't find more then 8 for you automatically.

[achow101]

I currently have 9 outgoing connections, since I added a node in my configuration file.
So you can have more, you just need to specify their IP address. It can't find more then 8 for you automatically.

There are 8 automatic outgoing connection slots and 8 addnode connection slots. By default, you will have 8 outgoing connections, but then you can also add 8 more by addnode'ing some nodes.