Finally setting up a full node

[AB de Royse777]

As the title say. Finally I thought to run a Bitcoin full node with the hope to contribute for the Bitcoin Network. I feel ashamed that all those days I did not run a full node. All blame goes to Electrum though :-P

Notice the image, it says 7 years 40 weeks.



Anyway, I have one question for now, may be I will need to find answers for more if I need.

= I am downloading it to an external device which size is over 1Terabyte. Once the synchronization will be done then can I just remove it from the current machine and connect it with any other machine. Install the core in the 2nd machine and show the folder path of the external device. Will this work?

Bitcoin Client Software and Version Number: 0.17.1
Operating System: Win 7, 64-bit
System Hardware Specs: RAM 10GB, Intel Core i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20 GHz 3.20 GHz
Description of Problem: No prob yet
Any Related Addresses: N/A
Any Related Transaction IDs: N/A
Screenshot of the problem: N/A
Log Files from the Bitcoin Client: N/A

Please help me to understand.

#1 I see backup wallet feature but I do not see any restore option.

Since there are no restore option then how do we do that?
Is this a correct way:
Imagine I have a wallet.dat file from Electrum. Do I just copy and past it in the main directory and replace the current .DAT file?

#2 In Electrum we can create as many wallet as we can using the 12 word seeds and extended seeds.
In Bitcoin core a full node is one wallet?

#3 How can I create a multiSign wallet? I do not see any feature. I think a full node is only one wallet if the #2 is correct.

#4 Is there any easy way to "Send to many" option.
In Electrum we can just paste the addresses separating by comma with the amount in each line but here we do not have such feature. The one we have is click and fill the form which is not much user friendly. Is there any other way?

#5 If I use the encrypt wallet feature then this means the current wallet.dat file gets encrypted. How do I recover it? Follow #1 if my explanation is correct and in this case I will need the password phrase?

#6 If someone want to take the full node from me. I give them everything except the wallet.dat file? I mean which are the files I am okay to give them if they want to get the files from me to run their own full node?

#7 This full node is of-course helping the Bitcoin Network and I am happy with that. My question is that running this full node gives me any personal benefit?
I understand miners earn Bitcoin from the network by solving the algorithm and from transaction fees but for a full noder, is there any financial gain?

Cheers :-)

[Rath_]

= I am downloading it to an external device which size is over 1Terabyte. Once the synchronization will be done then can I just remove it from the current machine and connect it with any other machine. Install the core in the 2nd machine and show the folder path of the external device. Will this work?

Don't unplug the drive without waiting for Bitcoin Core to shut down completely. You might suffer from the problem described by @ETFbitcoin.

[BitMaxz]

Did you install the Bitcoin core just today? Just suggestion.
If you want to speed up the process of synchronizing you can download the blockchain.
There is an updated thread where you can download the whole blockchain check it from here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1310261.160

Or if you have a friend with the full node you can copy the whole directory including the blockchain to transfer it into your own PC.

[pooya87]

Did you install the Bitcoin core just today? Just suggestion.
If you want to speed up the process of synchronizing you can download the blockchain.
There is an updated thread where you can download the whole blockchain check it from here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1310261.160

Or if you have a friend with the full node you can copy the whole directory including the blockchain to transfer it into your own PC.

i believe downloading the blockchain from somewhere else like the torrent file stopped being faster a long time ago. now it can even be slower.
remember that you still have to verify the whole blockchain so the process is the same you just download it elsewhere instead of letting the node software download it itself.

[AB de Royse777]

I am okay with downloading the entire blockchian. I have not in hurry for it. He is the latest update:



I ran the system for 4 to 5 hours all together since I installed the core. I think progress is okay so far?

By the way, I will have a lot of questions coming in soon. Let the synchronization done first. Thanks for all the inputs so far.

Cheers :-)

[RapTarX]

That's nice of you. I was also planning the same and have already purchased an external disk but these days so much busy that I can't start it yet.
I have reacently read some artciles on it. I want to link some of these articles here, these may assist you.

https://99bitcoins.com/step-by-step-guide-firing-up-bitcoin-node/
https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/05/05/tutorial-start-full-bitcoin-node-windows/

[AB de Royse777]

That's nice of you. I was also planning the same and have already purchased an external disk but these days so much busy that I can't start it yet.
I have reacently read some artciles on it. I want to link some of these articles here, these may assist you.

https://99bitcoins.com/step-by-step-guide-firing-up-bitcoin-node/
https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/05/05/tutorial-start-full-bitcoin-node-windows/

Thanks for the links.

About starting your own full node.
I understand the busy part of our life. Same happened with me too. It's been long years I am with Crypto but never found the time to install the Bitcoin core. But when I did I thought oh well it's very easy. Just like installing a random application in your system.

The only thing takes time is the network to synchronize. As a user, you are not doing that. You just open the application once you are using your system and leave it aside while you are working. Although my one is running in a different PC. I have few laptops and desktops in my house.

I hope this inspires you to run your own node.

Take the first step. Here :-)

Cheers :-)

[RapTarX]

I hope this inspires you to run your own node.

Take the first step. Here :-)

Cheers :-)

I already had once tried it but didn't know I need more space in my disk. Then I left it for sometimes. Probably, in this weekend, I will start setting up. I have studied on it for someday.
Thank you, anyway.

[Real-Duke]

Iam running my own full node now since 4 years on a little banana pi (similiar to a Raspberry Pi 2) that consums ~8 watts
There is no need for using a high-end computer but for the first sync of the blockchain I would recommend to do so
With a 1 TB HDD you should be fine for a few years...
Here is our topic about the project (sorry in german) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=973628.0

[AB de Royse777]

Iam running my own full node now since 4 years on a little banana pi (similiar to a Raspberry Pi 2) that consums ~8 watts
There is no need for using a high-end computer but for the first sync of the blockchain I would recommend to do so
With a 1 TB HDD you should be fine for a few years...
Here is our topic about the project (sorry in german) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=973628.0

Thanks for the information. I read through the requirements. Very cost effective in my opinion and worth giving it a try however I will see how the current process is working for the time being.

I am excited to take the experience.

This is where I am standing now.

[Real-Duke]

Last time I had to sync form scratch took me around 6 hours
But to be honest, I have Fiber Internet with 500/100 connection speed...

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

Not sure if this helps but I found this.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/

Seems to be a torrent link to the blockchain in bootstrap type format.

there is also reference to this here though the link seems to be changed.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145386.0

As per the above you should do verification on this if you use it.

[Carlton Banks]

Not sure if this helps but I found this.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/

Seems to be a torrent link to the blockchain in bootstrap type format.

I doubt that's being updated any longer, it was superseded by "headers-first" downloading in version 0.10 (parallel downloading didn't work before headers-first. Bittorrent only downloads, it doesn't check the blocks, which is what really takes all the time). Version 0.10 was a very long time ago.

[HCP]

Not sure if this helps but I found this.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/

I doubt that's being updated any longer, it was superseded by "headers-first" downloading in version 0.10 (parallel downloading didn't work before headers-first. Bittorrent only downloads, it doesn't check the blocks, which is what really takes all the time). Version 0.10 was a very long time ago.

Indeed... from the bootstrap.txt file:

Block height: 317000

So you're missing around 250,000 blocks... and the files were uploaded on 24-Aug-2014 01:40

As has been mentioned several times, "syncing" the blockchain is NOT just "downloading" blocks... those blocks need to be verified and it is this processing, which is highly CPU and disk IO intensive, that is generally the bottleneck when syncing.

All the fibre bandwidth in the world won't help much if you're running on an old dual core CPU with 2 Gigs RAM using a 5400 RPM HDD

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~
All the fibre bandwidth in the world won't help much if you're running on an old dual core CPU with 2 Gigs RAM using a 5400 RPM HDD

Utterly and butterly true :-P

Anyway, I am hoping finally today the entire synchronization will finish. Around 80k blocks are reaming for my full node. I will then start playing with the system :-)

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~

Additionally database format was changed since Core 0.15.0 which means you'll need to wait for database conversion to newer format and verify the blocks.

I've no idea how long it'd take, but probably you will waste more time rather than download whole Blockchain using Bitcoin Core directly.

I was not aware of this newer format. My node is few hours behind to finish the synchronizing. i am happy with the process so far.

Try downloading the blockchain first. Probably to late on response

Download from here? I think you have not read the responses so far.

[RodeoX]

I just rebuilt my Linux node machine recently. A full DL of the blockchain took a full week.  Fortunately storage is so cheep that I was able to go with a 3 Terabyte HD. That should hold me for a few years. I like having a dedicated machine like this. I usually shop on a different computer and spend from my node for additional privacy.   

Thanks for contributing to the network's strength and resilience!

[Carlton Banks]

I doubt that's being updated any longer, it was superseded by "headers-first" downloading in version 0.10 (parallel downloading didn't work before headers-first. Bittorrent only downloads, it doesn't check the blocks, which is what really takes all the time). Version 0.10 was a very long time ago.

Additionally database format was changed since Core 0.15.0 which means you'll need to wait for database conversion to newer format and verify the blocks.

I've no idea how long it'd take, but probably you will waste more time rather than download whole Blockchain using Bitcoin Core directly.

I think only the chainstate database changed format, and I would assume the torrent file contained only the blocks. It makes no difference anyhow, the torrent is probably not being seeded anymore, and of course using Bitcoin to do the IDB is, as you say, quicker in any case

[AB de Royse777]

Finally the synchronization has done.



The total file size is now 224 GB. I want to play with the entire system and before I do that do you think I keep a copy of the current entire folder?

[AB de Royse777]

After the synchronization so far these are the things I am wondering. I will be happy to get responses on these please:

#1 I see backup wallet feature but I do not see any restore option.

Since there are no restore option then how do we do that?
Is this a correct way:
Imagine I have a wallet.dat file from Electrum. Do I just copy and past it in the main directory and replace the current .DAT file?

#2 In Electrum we can create as many wallet as we can using the 12 word seeds and extended seeds.
In Bitcoin core a full node is one wallet?

#3 How can I create a multiSign wallet? I do not see any feature. I think a full node is only one wallet if the #2 is correct.

#4 Is there any easy way to "Send to many" option.
In Electrum we can just paste the addresses separating by comma with the amount in each line but here we do not have such feature. The one we have is click and fill the form which is not much user friendly. Is there any other way?

#5 If I use the encrypt wallet feature then this means the current wallet.dat file gets encrypted. How do I recover it? Follow #1 if my explanation is correct and in this case I will need the password phrase?

#6 If someone want to take the full node from me. I give them everything except the wallet.dat file? I mean which are the files I am okay to give them if they want to get the files from me to run their own full node?

#7 This full node is of-course helping the Bitcoin Network and I am happy with that. My question is that running this full node gives me any personal benefit?
I understand miners earn Bitcoin from the network by solving the algorithm and from transaction fees but for a full noder, is there any financial gain?

Thanks in advance.