Active Bitcoin nodes per day since December - cool charts

[imperi]

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This shows how many connected nodes there are to Bitcoin since December. The first date displayed is December 18, 2010, and the last date displayed here is July 12, 2011. I used the data from http://dump.bitcoin.it/misc, and counted the number of occurrences for Status:"Up" for each day. As you can see, Bitcoin is not dying.  

[Bitcoin Swami]

what exactly is a node.  Is me running a client a node? Is my miner a node? not sure what a node is.

[imperi]

what exactly is a node.  Is me running a client a node? Is my miner a node? not sure what a node is.

I think it is clients only, but could be wrong. It's probably the Bitcoin process running on your computer (bitcoind or bitcoin.exe).

[FreeMoney]

what exactly is a node.  Is me running a client a node? Is my miner a node? not sure what a node is.

Should be clients only. Afaik you can't tell if a client is mining and you could mine on 10000 machines and only appear as one node.

[Jaime Frontero]

what exactly is a node.  Is me running a client a node? Is my miner a node? not sure what a node is.

yeah - i'm not sure either.

what comes to mind is a solo miner - because running the client 24/7 is identifiable on the 'net.  which means there's a helluva lot more people mining and using than we've been thinking.  does this node chart detect pooled miners?  i suspect not.

[istar]

Great stats!

Would love to see something like this updated on a website daily.

[Nescio]

As you can see, Bitcoin is not dying.

Well, it does look like an asymptote towards 100k users, so unless something changes it will die since you need a little bit more than that for critical mass (like a few million). That change needs to come from mainstream merchants supporting it.

[JoelKatz]

A 'node' is someone running the bitcoin client.

[Jaime Frontero]

A 'node' is someone running the bitcoin client.

so it's really only representative of solo miners, right?

i mean, how many people start their client even once a day - or once a week, for that matter?

pooled miners probably never (effectively) run it.

i've gotta think we're approaching half a million users.  it just doesn't show up on this chart.

[muyoso]

so it's really only representative of solo miners, right?

i mean, how many people start their client even once a day - or once a week, for that matter?

pooled miners probably never (effectively) run it.

i've gotta think we're approaching half a million users.  it just doesn't show up on this chart.

I never close mine down.  Why would I?  I am a pooled miner.  I want my BTC in my wallet the instant a pool sends a payment, and have never had to wait more than an hour to have funds confirmed.

[JoelKatz]

so it's really only representative of solo miners, right?

Solo miners and those who keep their client running for other reasons as well/

i mean, how many people start their client even once a day - or once a week, for that matter?

I keep mine running all the time. I doubt I'm typical though.

i've gotta think we're approaching half a million users.  it just doesn't show up on this chart.

Hard to say. People who use services to hold their wallets also won't show up as nodes.

[Jaime Frontero]

I never close mine down.  Why would I? 

so are you mining solo?

why else would you run the client 24/7?

[Leon]

Very cool, thanks for the post.  

[Jaime Frontero]

so it's really only representative of solo miners, right?

i mean, how many people start their client even once a day - or once a week, for that matter?

pooled miners probably never (effectively) run it.

i've gotta think we're approaching half a million users.  it just doesn't show up on this chart.

I never close mine down.  Why would I?  I am a pooled miner.  I want my BTC in my wallet the instant a pool sends a payment, and have never had to wait more than an hour to have funds confirmed.

i'll confess that i don't understand this.

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

and what's the difference if your pooled mining proceeds show up in your wallet more or less instantly?  they're in the blockchain.  that's all that matters...

i mine pooled.  i open my client maybe once every two or three weeks.  from the account of a separate user with an extremely restrictive firewall.

[TraderTimm]

i'll confess that i don't understand this.

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

and what's the difference if your pooled mining proceeds show up in your wallet more or less instantly?  they're in the blockchain.  that's all that matters...

i mine pooled.  i open my client maybe once every two or three weeks.  from the account of a separate user with an extremely restrictive firewall.

Having a port open on a specific range above 1024 forwarded to a single machine on your internal network isn't that damaging. I've done it for my entire career on the internet, with proper internal security measures in place. (Up to date OS, anti-malware, virus-scanning. Not to mention 'safe' data-handling for any unknown binaries.)

Also, I don't know of any current exploits that could use port 8333 of the bitcoin protocol as an attack.

[muyoso]

so are you mining solo?

why else would you run the client 24/7?

No, as I said I mine in a pool.  Why shut it down though?  What purpose does shutting it down serve?

[muyoso]

i'll confess that i don't understand this.

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

and what's the difference if your pooled mining proceeds show up in your wallet more or less instantly?  they're in the blockchain.  that's all that matters...

i mine pooled.  i open my client maybe once every two or three weeks.  from the account of a separate user with an extremely restrictive firewall.

You sound beyond paranoid.  Do you burn the machine with thermite after your client updates the wallet and you back it up and encrypt it?

You can't imagine how not worried I am about someone scanning my ports and hacking me.  I am sure there are a hundred other ways for someone to hack me if they want to.  If you think the measures you are taking would stop a determined hacker, you are probably sorely mistaken.

[Jaime Frontero]

i'll confess that i don't understand this.

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

and what's the difference if your pooled mining proceeds show up in your wallet more or less instantly?  they're in the blockchain.  that's all that matters...

i mine pooled.  i open my client maybe once every two or three weeks.  from the account of a separate user with an extremely restrictive firewall.

You sound beyond paranoid.  Do you burn the machine with thermite after your client updates the wallet and you back it up and encrypt it?

You can't imagine how not worried I am about someone scanning my ports and hacking me.  I am sure there are a hundred other ways for someone to hack me if they want to.  If you think the measures you are taking would stop a determined hacker, you are probably sorely mistaken.

you completely misunderstand.

i'm not paranoid - i have tremendous faith in the blockchain.  i don't have the need to see the Bitcoins in my client - i'm quite sure they're there.

as for my approach to security...  i see no reason to run things i don't need, and no reason to have ports open that i don't use.  to me, this is just common sense, gleaned from decades of internet/usenet/network usage.

one can run an open box, and shut off the things that appear to be dangerous - or one can close a box off completely, and open only those things which need to be used.  < shrug > YMMV

[JoelKatz]

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

If the client has a vulnerability that allows someone to steal from it over the network, I'm willing to lose a few coins in exchange for knowing that. The network needs high connectivity stable nodes that can accept inbound connections, and I'm more than happy to provide a few. (The total number of bitcoins stored on all the clients I keep running continously -- less than 2.)

[Jaime Frontero]

leaving your client running 24/7 is an invitation to a hack.  you know -- port scanners?

If the client has a vulnerability that allows someone to steal from it over the network, I'm willing to lose a few coins in exchange for knowing that. The network needs high connectivity stable nodes that can accept inbound connections, and I'm more than happy to provide a few. (The total number of bitcoins stored on all the clients I keep running continously -- less than 2.)

that seems a reasonable approach.