Advice on Raspberry pi hardware for running full BTC node

[Icygreen]

Daym I was struggling with so many unncessary crap for the last 2 days.

If you were too like me, start following this tutorial:

https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz

It does everything automatically.

You can even install btcpay on raspiblitz:

https://gist.github.com/normandmickey/6d6e74ebb6b3ddbd317bc1450f48f08e

If your only aim is to run a full node, then maybe this is too much but It would be more cool if you run a LN along with your full node.

LN is next but probably best to focus on core install first. Thanks for the link. Is raspiblitz different from raspbian or related somehow ?
I'll eventually get a laptop specifically for nodes but for now committed to the Rpi4.

[mindrust]

Daym I was struggling with so many unncessary crap for the last 2 days.

If you were too like me, start following this tutorial:

https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz

It does everything automatically.

You can even install btcpay on raspiblitz:

https://gist.github.com/normandmickey/6d6e74ebb6b3ddbd317bc1450f48f08e

If your only aim is to run a full node, then maybe this is too much but It would be more cool if you run a LN along with your full node.

LN is next but probably best to focus on core install first. Thanks for the link. Is raspiblitz different from raspbian or related somehow ?
I'll eventually get a laptop specifically for nodes but for now committed to the Rpi4.

It is the same thing in the background but from what I see raspblitz does everything automatically.

**I am pretty new to the world of software developers&linux so I may say some stupid stuff from now on.**

Raspiblitz (the one I got from the ISO in the first link) is basically a modified raspbian.

It downloads the bitcoin blockchain from a torrent file which is a lot faster than syncing with the network.

You can use your pre-downloaded blockchain too.

You need to try it yourself to see what I'm talking about...

The only stuff I didn't like was having to use a LAN cable but I figured out it is as easy as adding a simple "wpa_supplicant.conf" file to your sd card and when you boot, it automatically connects to your modem.

Then you open the port 22 for your rpi's ip, connect to the rpi with putty(windows) or terminal ssh (linux) and it takes care of the rest.

If you'll eventually install LN, don't waste time. Start directly with raspiblitz. I am downloading the files right now.

[Carlton Banks]

Now I'm stuck at

Code:

sudo systemctl enable bitcoind

First try returned with bitcoind.service does not exist. Subsequent tries shows a login for pi and root with a password field. It does not show my login 'Icygreen' nor does the default password "raspberry" or my personal password work for pi or root. I get the same result with

Code:

sudo systemctl start bitcoind

hmmm, you need that root password. It sounds like the user Icygreen is not sudo capable, which means the only super user is the root user (sudo means superuserdo)

have you used sudo when logged into Icygreen account before? I would assume so, if the previous steps completed ok.


This may all be a red herring though. I think perhaps I told you wrong, maybe try this:

Code:

mv /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/bitcoind.service /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants

then try:

Code:

sudo systemctl enable bitcoind

Be sure to do the mv command and not cp this time.

[Icygreen]

Now I'm stuck at

Code:

sudo systemctl enable bitcoind

First try returned with bitcoind.service does not exist. Subsequent tries shows a login for pi and root with a password field. It does not show my login 'Icygreen' nor does the default password "raspberry" or my personal password work for pi or root. I get the same result with

Code:

sudo systemctl start bitcoind

hmmm, you need that root password. It sounds like the user Icygreen is not sudo capable, which means the only super user is the root user (sudo means superuserdo)

have you used sudo when logged into Icygreen account before? I would assume so, if the previous steps completed ok.


This may all be a red herring though. I think perhaps I told you wrong, maybe try this:

Code:

mv /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/bitcoind.service /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants

then try:

Code:

sudo systemctl enable bitcoind

Be sure to do the mv command and not cp this time.

 
negative, no such file exists.  Tried to reboot and try again but now all accounts are locked out with a red bar under login saying failed to authenticate. Typing in my correct password fails to log me in. I have sudo (or I did before this happened)
 Just before this happened I unlocked pi's password with sudo passwd -u hoping to give the login screen another try that popped up earlier.
Looks like I'll have to start over with a fresh copy of raspbian or perhaps raspblitz like mindrust suggests?

Damn, I like learning but this is indeed becoming an exercise in futility as judypug1956 put it  

[Carlton Banks]

Damn, I like learning but this is indeed becoming an exercise in futility as judypug1956 put it  

as long as you know the password to the root account, this problem cannot happen again (e.g. if you know the root password now, you can get back in to your Pi without starting again)

It's frustrating, I fully appreciate that. You were literally 1 or 2 steps away from getting it setup when this setback happened though!

And the systemctl/bitcoind.service stuff is only there for... guess what reason? To make your life easier fwiw, I'm not a big fan of the way systemctl/systemd works, and avoid using it when possible


persistence always wins with these things, finding out things that don't work is an important (yet annoying) part of the learning experience

come back and ask more questions, we're all checking the thread

[Icygreen]

Damn, I like learning but this is indeed becoming an exercise in futility as judypug1956 put it  

as long as you know the password to the root account, this problem cannot happen again (e.g. if you know the root password now, you can get back in to your Pi without starting again)

I've never set or changed the root password, if there is a default one then perhaps I'm in luck? Not sure if this will be useful but
On the boot load screen just before I press enter it says "cannot open access to console, the root account is locked. See sulogin    ( 8 ) man page for more details."

[mindrust]

Few days ago I was also trying to setup bitcoin core on my raspberry before i figure out how to use raspiblitz with wifi and it was one problem after another. I fixed one and the other came up.

I installed the berkeley db 4.8 but the when I get to the step "./configure", no matter what i did I couldn't make it install the wallet with GUI. And I wanted the GUI on my pi. I don't want the daemon bitcoin which runs in the background without the wallet feature.

Always some dependency or repository or library (or all of them :9) was missing. Finally I got them all but then it didn't like my berkeley db version and I was pretty sure I installed the correct version. Then I almost lost my mind because I failed to remove the current berkeley db and install it again. Who knows how many unnecessary crap I installed one after another and how much incompatibility they caused.

In the end I gave up

If you are unexperienced with linux like me, it will ruin your world while trying to figure things out.

You will eventually but it is going to eat away your soul.

Download raspiblitz.

[DaveF]

I've never set or changed the root password, if there is a default one then perhaps I'm in luck? Not sure if this will be useful but
On the boot load screen just before I press enter it says "cannot open access to console, the root account is locked. See sulogin    ( 8 ) man page for more details."

I have been out of this thread and off the board since Tuesday because of work. So if I missed it while going through this thread sorry about the re-posting but did you try
pi/raspberry?

-Dave

[Dabs]

My netbook on the other hand has an atom processor and 2gb of ram and it is working like a boss. I even bought a battery for $5 and it can keep the system running for hours without electricity so the database won't be hurt.

Did you mean you got a UPS for it? Or some sort of power bank charger thing? Or an actual netbook battery meant for it?

I'd get one of those branded UPS, even a small one should last you several more hours or days, depending on netbook power consumption.

I'll eventually get a laptop specifically for nodes but for now committed to the Rpi4.

Laptops are also not designed to run 24/7. If you have the space, you should get the smallest refurb mini tower / desktop / rack server you can get.

I believe a 1U server stuck in a corner of your house would run 5 years straight with very little maintenance, has 4 to 8 to 16 GB RAM, add a large enough SSD, and cost as low as $150 (without the SSD, that's the most expensive part.)

[mindrust]

My netbook on the other hand has an atom processor and 2gb of ram and it is working like a boss. I even bought a battery for $5 and it can keep the system running for hours without electricity so the database won't be hurt.

Did you mean you got a UPS for it? Or some sort of power bank charger thing? Or an actual netbook battery meant for it?

I'd get one of those branded UPS, even a small one should last you several more hours or days, depending on netbook power consumption.

Nope. I mean this:



Netbooks consume so little electricity a battery like this can keep them up for hours.

[Searing]

I have a BTC node...that went 'phooey'.

It was the 'lazy' way to get a BTC node..just buy it.

It is a Bitseed BTC Node with 1TB HD. (Maybe it went phooey because 1TB is not enough?

Now that the place is out of business, not even sure if the site is still up. I tried www.bitseed.org

and such is dead. Anyway, suggestions on doing a rebuild with the PI and the 1TB in this beastie. I THINK

the PI is a Model 2, but unsure.

So, anyone else in this boat. Also my LINUX to build such consists of following detailed instructions line by line,

er...NONE.

Thanks

Brad

[Carlton Banks]

I've never set or changed the root password, if there is a default one then perhaps I'm in luck?

did you try pi/raspberry?

-Dave

this

raspbian will have a default root password set already, and it's usually something obvious like what DaveF is suggesting (which you should change to something secure)

On the boot load screen just before I press enter it says "cannot open access to console, the root account is locked. See sulogin    ( 8 ) man page for more details."

hmmm, maybe something happened to corrupt the root password, and Raspbian has locked the root account.


quick search suggests an issue like this:

https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/73716/strange-problem-on-startup-cannot-open-access-to-console

you might well have done nothing wrong, and it's simply the SD card crapping out on you (manifested as the password stored for root account being corrupted).

So you can probably save your current install by manually editing the password entry in /etc/shadow manually on the SD card using a different computer. SD cards are not reliable.

[DaveF]

you might well have done nothing wrong, and it's simply the SD card crapping out on you (manifested as the password stored for root account being corrupted).

So you can probably save your current install by manually editing the password entry in /etc/shadow manually on the SD card using a different computer. SD cards are not reliable.

It could also be something made the RPi think that the card was removed in the middle a read / write.

Also, to expand on SD cards.

Cheap SD cards are not reliable.
Mid-Range SD cards are not that reliable.
Good high end SD cards are somewhat reliable.
Industrial SD cards are mostly reliable. But they are slower and expensive as hell.

http://www.industrialflashcards.com/products/delkin-secure-digital-sd-slc/-se04tfphl-c6000-d-17107.html

-Dave

[Dabs]

You can try the branded endurance cards. I think both Samsung and Sandisk have "Endurance" rated micro SD cards meant for such uses as dash cams that continuously record video.

Netbooks consume so little electricity a battery like this can keep them up for hours.

Imagine if you stick in a 1500 VA UPS to power it. That should last days with no power. You'd just need to replace the battery every 5 years or so. Sooner if you want to be preemptive, (as in before it actually breaks down and stops working, have a spare ready.)

[mindrust]

Netbooks consume so little electricity a battery like this can keep them up for hours.

Imagine if you stick in a 1500 VA UPS to power it. That should last days with no power. You'd just need to replace the battery every 5 years or so. Sooner if you want to be preemptive, (as in before it actually breaks down and stops working, have a spare ready.)

My aim is to keep the system running for a few hours in case there is a random power outage. If the electricity randomly goes away, your database will get all messed up and you'll have to do all the downloading and syncing crap again. A UPS would be overkill for that purpose.

You can have a similar setup with raspberry pi too i guess. Using a powerbank comes to my mind first but I am not sure if that's going to be a stable solution.

There are 2 potential problems:

1- The powerbank will always be on and It may lose its function pretty fast because there will always be current flowing through it. A netbook battery is probably designed to handle this kind of stuff.

2- The output of the powerbank might not have the same stable output as a raspberry pi power adapter.

I'll build 2 nodes, one with rpi, one with my netbook. The database I downloaded to my netbook will serve as a backup when needed.

[Dabs]

Get a cheaper UPS then, nothing is really "overkill" for this problem. At least you are more or less assured it won't randomly die on you. It'll die because the system is 3 to 5 years old, or some lightning bolt fried everything in your city.

I think cheap but good decent UPS is maybe $50? (I found a "router / modem UPS that's like $90, maybe that's too much.)

Might be a good idea to also have some sort of local backup maintenance schedule, like once a month or so? Just so you don't do all the downloading and syncing crap from zero.

[DaveF]

I have been doing a lot of testing between RPi models and USB drives  (SSD vs spinning) for setting up nodes and have come to the following and very obvious conclusions.

1) Cheap generic USB to SATA connectors suck. Seriously, there is a difference between the better brands (Startec / SYBA) and the generic off brand ones.
Now, I did not check many but I did check a bunch and on the same hardware the sync time did go up a lot with the cheap cables.

2) Cheap SSDs suck. Although there was not as big a difference as with the USB to SATA adapters there was a difference. The worst off brand SSD drive was actually slower then the best spinning drive. But in it's defense it was LESS money the the spinning dive so there is that.

3) There is not much a difference between the RPi4 with 2GB ram and 4GB ram. There is a big difference between 1 and 2 GB

4) The RPi4 is MUCH faster then the RPi3 IF YOU COOL IT. Initial sync will thermal throttle the RPi4 so you do  some form of cooling on it.

5) Spend the extra few bucks and get a real power supply. Seriously, the cheap "2.1 Amp" models do not do 2.1 Amps and the cheap 4 Amp models don't even come close to it.

6) Somewhere in one of the RPi threads (might even be this one) I mentioned that some cheap cases with cooling are so badly made that they do not even make contact with the chips and you need to add a shim to actively cool. This is still true.

7) Get a real SD card that has a longer rated read / write life: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V5Q1N1I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They do matter. It's not that much more then the generic ones. Yes they are a bit slower, but you have the blockchain and most of the read / writes going to the external drive so the speed it not as important.

I guess it's kind of obvious, but it really shows up here, going cheap will cost you time and grief.
Also, as others have said getting a $100 PC off of eBay will be much better then doing a RPi build. But not as much as a challenging, learning, experience.

My ideal setup now for doing something like this (for now) would be a RPi4 with 2GB ram, some kind of case with active cooling and the Samsung 512GB external SSD drive along with with official RPi 3A power supply.


-Dave

[Dabs]

I read your post and it looks like this:

1. Get a real SSD.
2. Get a real Power Supply.
3. Get a real case.
4. Get a real SD card.
5. Get a real computer.

[DaveF]

I read your post and it looks like this:

1. Get a real SSD.
2. Get a real Power Supply.
3. Get a real case.
4. Get a real SD card.
5. Get a real computer.

Heh, you could read it that way but you are missing the this:

But not as much as a challenging, learning, experience.

Seriously, it goes back to you don't even need to run a node you can install electrum and be done.

This is more for the seeing what can be done.

If we were gearheads instead of crypto people it goes back to you can buy the mid priced V8 Camaro and work on the motor and suspension and everything else or you can just drop $65,000 on the counter at the dealer and get the ZL1 and be done.

-Dave

[Icygreen]

Merited for the links.  Kinda difficult to get good quality SD cards where I am currently and I think poor quality sandisk sd card is the issue I've been having.  
Still going to give this project another whirl after the Tet new year.