Hardware/software recommendations for node/lightning/electrs/more

[odolvlobo]

RAM usage sits at about 99% and never reaches 100% (which seems suspicious).

Is that including cache? If it is, it's normal: RAM is supposed to be used. If it's really used by all running programs, you need more RAM.

Now I got it. The reason it never exceeds 100% and no swap is used is that actual usage is only about 4 GB and the rest is just buffer/cache.

Code:

               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.6Gi       3.9Gi       120Mi       1.0Mi       3.7Gi       3.7Gi
Swap:             0B          0B          0B

[1714473990]

1714473990

[NotATether]

Definitely don't use an Umbrel either (unless it can meet the RAM and storage requirements), especially if you want to run a bunch of custom stuff.

What do you mean by "an Umbrel"? Umbrel is software which can run on any device. I've not used it before but on reading about it seems like it would be perfect for my use case.

My bad, I thought it the name of some box that some company was selling that came prepackage with that software.

[mendace]

With the death of some old hardware I was using to run one of my nodes plus a few other bits and pieces, I've decided I'd quite like to simplify my always-on home hardware down to a single device.

With that in mind, I'm looking for both hardware and software recommendations for a standalone device capable of running the usual Bitcoin and Lightning nodes, but in addition to that, an Electrum server, an instance of mempool.space, a coinjoin server (be that JoinMarket or Samourai Dojo), and Bisq. I'd also like to potentially use this device to run a variety of non-bitcoin software, such as Pi-hole, personalized cloud storage, potentially a home media server, that sort of thing. Having looked in to it a bit, it seems that Umbrel might be the most straightforward way to do all this, and can run everything I've listed above except Bisq (although an app appears to be in the works).

My first question is whether anyone who has experience with this kind of thing would disagree about using Umbrel and would suggest just running something like Debian (or any other Linux distro)?

My second question is whether anyone could suggest some hardware which would be most appropriate for this. My main considerations are low power usage and being powerful enough to run everything I've listed above. I had originally looked at a Raspberry Pi 4, but I have some concerns about whether it could handle everything listed. At the moment I'm sort of considering the Orange Pi 5. I don't actually need it to be a single board computer at all - I'm just looking for energy efficiency with good enough hardware.

Hey hi o_e_l_e_o  I'm actually answering you because I ran both Umbrel and Embassy on a raspberry pi4 but with poor results, in the sense that the Rasp as consumed remains very low but the software is a bit buggy but the risk is actually the raspberry same if there are sudden changes in voltage and it suddenly switches off, because it happened to me that the SD card gets corrupted easily and in all probability this happens due to the various presence of bugs in the os itself. I can't confirm it with certainty but since I installed raspian pi os lite I can say that I haven't had any other similar cases and I am currently running a bitcoin core on the main operating system while inside docker nextcloud, pihole, plex media server and I could continue to install many other applications in docker.

So to answer your question I advise you not to use plug and play systems but to have more control with a debian os and to take a single card for the performance/consumption ratio. There would also be the zima board
https://www.zimaboard.com/

[RickDeckard]

I've recently created a thread[1] where I was hoping to document my developments in having a node running in unraidOS but after some feedback from the community I'm considering ditching the idea and have a dedicated machine for this sole purpose (exactly like yours, except the media server part, cloud serve and pi-hole). In that regard I have two questions:

• Did you eventually decided on which machine to use? I've seen prices of Orange Pi 5 around 200 €, but I was wondering if you ended up going with that route or ended up using an old laptop;
• You mentioned using Umbrel. Have you seen this recent debate about it[2]?

[1]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5459995.0
[2]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5356129.msg62584204#msg62584204

[o_e_l_e_o]

I ended up sticking with what I know as I mentioned in this post because my list of things to try out is growing ever longer, so I scrubbed Umbrel from that list for now. I'm just using a second hand laptop I bought for cheap from a friend, and I'm only running bitcoin related stuff on it, and not the media server or any of the other non-bitcoin stuff I mentioned in my first post in this thread. That's also on my to do list, haha. It's running Debian.

You mentioned using Umbrel. Have you seen this recent debate about it[2]?

I had not, but that means Umbrel is unlikely to get back on my to do list any time soon.

[RickDeckard]

I ended up sticking with what I know as I mentioned in this post because my list of things to try out is growing ever longer, so I scrubbed Umbrel from that list for now. I'm just using a second hand laptop I bought for cheap from a friend, and I'm only running bitcoin related stuff on it, and not the media server or any of the other non-bitcoin stuff I mentioned in my first post in this thread. That's also on my to do list, haha. It's running Debian.

Thank you for the quick reply. As of now I'm debating in grabbing either a NUC featuring an i5 (8GB but 16GB would be ideal) or an apple mac mini (from 2012?) that would allow me to run the same batch of programs that you also planned in doing (if I don't end up going with the unraid route, which may happen).

[apogio]

I run Umbrel on RPI4 model B with 8GB RAM.

I have a 2TB SSD.

I use the FLIRC case for my RPI, maintaining the temperature around 55 celcius degrees.

However, I am literally in love with this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@402PaymentRequired. It gives perfect instructions on how to run all the features you want from scratch. Fun fact, if you are a nerd like me, is that the content creator uses their terminal only   I have no relation to the owner of the channel, but whoever they are, I love them.