Starting a Bitcoin Node using a VPS

[crwth]

Has anybody tried to get or build a node from like Contabo? I saw that it has this Blockchain tab and you could build or possibly have a prebuild VPS for BTC Node.



I'm looking to try and really support BTC this way. What do you think are the benefits of this?

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[ranochigo]

Fairly little. Decentralization should take into account how redundant our nodes are, as opposed to how many nodes are there. I suppose it wouldn't matter that much if there are tons of nodes in certain areas or datacenter.

Whilst it is great that they're able to include a container image for this, it isn't difficult to run a few commands to download Bitcoin Core. If you have to update Bitcoin Core in the near future, you would also have to do it yourself.

[Tuske.Network]

400gb disk capacity should not be enough for a full btc node now.

[NotATether]

400gb disk capacity should not be enough for a full btc node now.

It isn't, but then again you can always run a pruned node, which should be good as long as you do not need the complete blockchain data for API or maybe even LN purposes.

I do not believe that Contabo sets up a bitcoin node for you though - I think you have to do that yourself, and that they only supply suitable hardware for it.

[crwth]

Whilst it is great that they're able to include a container image for this, it isn't difficult to run a few commands to download Bitcoin Core. If you have to update Bitcoin Core in the near future, you would also have to do it yourself.

I agree that it's going to be easy but at least they could set it up for you if that's the goal of your VPS.

400gb disk capacity should not be enough for a full btc node now.

It is not enough, you can see the right side on the screenshot that it recommends to add more storage.

I do not believe that Contabo sets up a bitcoin node for you though - I think you have to do that yourself, and that they only supply suitable hardware for it.

Why don't you believe? It's already shown that an image is already prepared for launch. I think it would be setup already, probably have to add something before it starts, maybe the blockchain is downloaded or something once they have launched your VPS.

[NotATether]

I do not believe that Contabo sets up a bitcoin node for you though - I think you have to do that yourself, and that they only supply suitable hardware for it.

Why don't you believe? It's already shown that an image is already prepared for launch. I think it would be setup already, probably have to add something before it starts, maybe the blockchain is downloaded or something once they have launched your VPS.

It probs includes the bitcoin core daemon and client themselves, but I have never seen a VPS host automatically run software on your box when you boot it. The exception is Docker containers, but these are not Docker containers.

You would have to do that yourself. Ergo, that means you have you manually start Bitcoind to sync the node, which means that the nodes are not fully synced at boot if at all (besides do you really think the images are kept up to date with the current blocks and chainstate? That would be expensive for them to store that AND keep backups/snapshots of all the images daily.)

[ABCbits]

Fairly little. Decentralization should take into account how redundant our nodes are, as opposed to how many nodes are there. I suppose it wouldn't matter that much if there are tons of nodes in certain areas or datacenter.

It's also worth to mention there are at least 281 reachable full node which use Contabo, according to https://bitnodes.io/nodes/asns/?q=51167. Using less popular datacenter would be somewhat better.

[DaveF]

Since the cost does not include enough space for a full node how much does it cost to go to 1TB for storage?
It's not much work to do a quick pre-install of BTC and then bill you at a profit for bandwidth overages and storage overages.

Remember, most if not all hosts give you X bandwidth and even if you are doing your initial sync from a local node to your local node and never touching the internet that bandwidth still counts against your monthly total.

If you have the bandwidth at home or wherever, I have been doing these for people:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GKG3PZ/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aref=akpWrBFv5f&th=1
take out the 512GB drive that comes with it and put in a 1TB. For under $250 you have a NEW machine that does not pull too much power that can more then then run a node + electrum server and a LN server if you want.

-Dave

[ranochigo]

I agree that it's going to be easy but at least they could set it up for you if that's the goal of your VPS.

Ideally, you should trust your service provider to provide you with the container and you should install everything else by yourself. Doesn't exactly help if you're unable to perform simple sysadmin while running a server. (ie. adding apt repo, update, upgrade, etc.) If it's outdated, then you would probably have to finish it up with your own updates.

It's also worth to mention there are at least 281 reachable full node which use Contabo, according to https://bitnodes.io/nodes/asns/?q=51167. Using less popular datacenter would be somewhat better.

It's quite difficult to find ASNs less populated than that. IPs under the same ASNs doesn't mean that they are under the same datacenters; they can also be among a bunch of different datacenters that are geographically located in different locations.

[ABCbits]

Since the cost does not include enough space for a full node how much does it cost to go to 1TB for storage?
It's not much work to do a quick pre-install of BTC and then bill you at a profit for bandwidth overages and storage overages.

Remember, most if not all hosts give you X bandwidth and even if you are doing your initial sync from a local node to your local node and never touching the internet that bandwidth still counts against your monthly total.

While your statement generally is true, it seems Contabo also offer storage-focused option. But with very low price, i would question the reliability and actual performance of such VPS.

It's also worth to mention there are at least 281 reachable full node which use Contabo, according to https://bitnodes.io/nodes/asns/?q=51167. Using less popular datacenter would be somewhat better.

It's quite difficult to find ASNs less populated than that. IPs under the same ASNs doesn't mean that they are under the same datacenters; they can also be among a bunch of different datacenters that are geographically located in different locations.

You're right. But IIRC we can't find better or more accurate data without much more effort.

[seoincorporation]

Those are some really cheap VPS, is the first time i read about Contabo, they have nice reviews in trust pilot, and I'm tempted now to get one VPS with them. I'm not sure if i will use it for running a BTC node, but other coins node could be a good option.

And thanks to NotATether for the remainder of the pruned nodes, i forgot that name and wasn't able to find the concept.

[DaveF]

Since the cost does not include enough space for a full node how much does it cost to go to 1TB for storage?
It's not much work to do a quick pre-install of BTC and then bill you at a profit for bandwidth overages and storage overages.

Remember, most if not all hosts give you X bandwidth and even if you are doing your initial sync from a local node to your local node and never touching the internet that bandwidth still counts against your monthly total.

While your statement generally is true, it seems Contabo also offer storage-focused option. But with very low price, i would question the reliability and actual performance of such VPS.

It's also worth to mention there are at least 281 reachable full node which use Contabo, according to https://bitnodes.io/nodes/asns/?q=51167. Using less popular datacenter would be somewhat better.

It's quite difficult to find ASNs less populated than that. IPs under the same ASNs doesn't mean that they are under the same datacenters; they can also be among a bunch of different datacenters that are geographically located in different locations.

You're right. But IIRC we can't find better or more accurate data without much more effort.

2 cores of what CPU? 3GB ram is a bit light but doable.
For under $70 a year it's not bad. If there is some sort of price guaranty. Do you want to be moving in 6 months because it's now $9.99 / month?
Have dealt with that a few times over the years.

Also, does that come with a dedicated public IP or are you behind a NAT?
If you are only going to be on TOR for the node it's not a big deal, if you want public access it's a different story.

Yeah, I can go dig around the site but I'm on mobile at the moment.

-Dave

[ranochigo]

2 cores of what CPU? 3GB ram is a bit light but doable.
For under $70 a year it's not bad. If there is some sort of price guaranty. Do you want to be moving in 6 months because it's now $9.99 / month?
Have dealt with that a few times over the years.

Also, does that come with a dedicated public IP or are you behind a NAT?
If you are only going to be on TOR for the node it's not a big deal, if you want public access it's a different story.

Yeah, I can go dig around the site but I'm on mobile at the moment.

-Dave

The core count for a VPS is often misleading because it'll be shared and you're never really able to utilize it beyond your fair usage policy. 3GB ram is definitely doable if you're going headless with some additional parameters to limit RAM usage. VPSes usually come with dedicated IPs as well, because the demand for one behind NAT is pretty low for most use cases.

Not too sure about them, but generally you get what you pay for. If you're looking for performance and reliability, then be prepared to pay more. Or else, it seems fine to me.

[crwth]

I do not believe that Contabo sets up a bitcoin node for you though - I think you have to do that yourself, and that they only supply suitable hardware for it.

Why don't you believe? It's already shown that an image is already prepared for launch. I think it would be setup already, probably have to add something before it starts, maybe the blockchain is downloaded or something once they have launched your VPS.

It probs includes the bitcoin core daemon and client themselves, but I have never seen a VPS host automatically run software on your box when you boot it. The exception is Docker containers, but these are not Docker containers.

You would have to do that yourself. Ergo, that means you have you manually start Bitcoind to sync the node, which means that the nodes are not fully synced at boot if at all (besides do you really think the images are kept up to date with the current blocks and chainstate? That would be expensive for them to store that AND keep backups/snapshots of all the images daily.)

I understand where you are coming from. It definitely needs to be updated or launched then sync it manually. I'm just curious if somebody else here has done this. I might get some more information or something with this.

Since the cost does not include enough space for a full node how much does it cost to go to 1TB for storage?
It's not much work to do a quick pre-install of BTC and then bill you at a profit for bandwidth overages and storage overages.

Remember, most if not all hosts give you X bandwidth and even if you are doing your initial sync from a local node to your local node and never touching the internet that bandwidth still counts against your monthly total.

If you have the bandwidth at home or wherever, I have been doing these for people:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GKG3PZ/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aref=akpWrBFv5f&th=1
take out the 512GB drive that comes with it and put in a 1TB. For under $250 you have a NEW machine that does not pull too much power that can more then then run a node + electrum server and a LN server if you want.

-Dave

It adds another $32, so it's going to be every month. I think it's better to have your route and have a mini PC instead. I haven't thought about that approach and planning to do a node and that LN server.

Is the mini PC you linked enough already? The 12th gen of Intel Alder Lake N100 is good already, right? What else can you do with it aside from being a node, electrum server, and LN server?

Those are some really cheap VPS, is the first time i read about Contabo, they have nice reviews in trust pilot, and I'm tempted now to get one VPS with them. I'm not sure if i will use it for running a BTC node, but other coins node could be a good option.

What type of nodes do you plan to run with this? I'm looking for something to do as well if ever I plan to run on a mini PC or VPS.

[ABCbits]

Those are some really cheap VPS, is the first time i read about Contabo, they have nice reviews in trust pilot, and I'm tempted now to get one VPS with them. I'm not sure if i will use it for running a BTC node, but other coins node could be a good option.

And thanks to NotATether for the remainder of the pruned nodes, i forgot that name and wasn't able to find the concept.

But overall 4.1 isn't that nice. And reading review with 1-4 starts, there are some complaint about customer service and server reliability (e.g. down or disconnect). It doesn't seem to be good idea to run node and run staking, where you got punished for going offline.

--snip--

2 cores of what CPU? 3GB ram is a bit light but doable.
For under $70 a year it's not bad. If there is some sort of price guaranty. Do you want to be moving in 6 months because it's now $9.99 / month?
Have dealt with that a few times over the years.

Also, does that come with a dedicated public IP or are you behind a NAT?
If you are only going to be on TOR for the node it's not a big deal, if you want public access it's a different story.

Yeah, I can go dig around the site but I'm on mobile at the moment.

-Dave

I dig their FAQ and docs, but i didn't find about which CPU they use. You get dedicated IPv4 and IPv6. As for pricing, i don't think there's any guarantee.

[seoincorporation]

Those are some really cheap VPS, is the first time i read about Contabo, they have nice reviews in trust pilot, and I'm tempted now to get one VPS with them. I'm not sure if i will use it for running a BTC node, but other coins node could be a good option.

What type of nodes do you plan to run with this? I'm looking for something to do as well if ever I plan to run on a mini PC or VPS.

I was thinking about an Staking node for ClamCoin, i like that coin because it's cheap, and with 5000 of them you stake 1/day. The clam node only needs like 10 GB, so, it could be a good option. And i like it for developing proposes, it easy to use and it has the same syntax than normal coins like LTC, DOGE, BTC...

So, i still thinking about getting one VPS with Contavo, let's see if this week i pay for the 3 months plan for testing.

[LoyceV]

Has anybody tried to get or build a node from like Contabo?

I used to run a Bitcoin Core node on a dedicated server (until the disk configuration changed and I didn't have the disk space anymore). If I remember correctly, it uploaded about 20 GB per day. Far less than the 0.5 TB limit I set. That made me conclude there's no shortage of upload bandwidth in the Bitcoin network.
I'm still running the node, but pruned. That means it now only uploads the latest blocks to other nodes. I just checked: it's still uploading 3 times more than it's downloading.

I'm looking to try and really support BTC this way. What do you think are the benefits of this?

Based on the above: not much.

I've also installed a pruned Bitcoin Core on the cheapest pay-per-hour VPS I could find. With 16 GB RAM, it was quite fast. I wouldn't use that host for production, but it's great for testing.

I wouldn't use any default containers, just download Bitcoin Core and start it manually.

While your statement generally is true, it seems Contabo also offer storage-focused option. But with very low price, i would question the reliability and actual performance of such VPS.

A storage VPS, as the name suggests, is meant for storage. Although I've only used them with HDD in the past, in general, they're not meant to be used for load-intensive applications like Bitcoin Core.

As far as I know TryNinja's ninjastic.space still runs on a Contabo VPS.

[Cricktor]

I have two VPS in different configuration at Contabo. Pricing is as far as I remember pretty stable, no surprises so far after half or a full year or other periods (I have one of my VPS for a bunch of years now). I can't complain about stability or uptime. Those VPS aren't in use by me for crypto coins/nodes or steady heavy load tasks, though I've stressed one of them for two or three weeks to the max. No big deal with that.

My experience so far with VPS at Contabo is good. They are quite affordable and at least for me no bad pick.
I don't work for Contabo nor am I paid by them to advertise their products. I'm just a satisfied customer.

[crwth]

Those are some really cheap VPS, is the first time i read about Contabo, they have nice reviews in trust pilot, and I'm tempted now to get one VPS with them. I'm not sure if i will use it for running a BTC node, but other coins node could be a good option.

What type of nodes do you plan to run with this? I'm looking for something to do as well if ever I plan to run on a mini PC or VPS.

I was thinking about an Staking node for ClamCoin, i like that coin because it's cheap, and with 5000 of them you stake 1/day. The clam node only needs like 10 GB, so, it could be a good option. And i like it for developing proposes, it easy to use and it has the same syntax than normal coins like LTC, DOGE, BTC...

So, i still thinking about getting one VPS with Contavo, let's see if this week i pay for the 3 months plan for testing.

So at least to get an ideal staking node for clam coin, have at least $1.3k USD to convert it into 5000 clam coin and have 1 clam coin per day? I think it's not bad. I remember reading about it somewhere, but I'm not sure when or what it is about.

Has anybody tried to get or build a node from like Contabo?

I used to run a Bitcoin Core node on a dedicated server (until the disk configuration changed and I didn't have the disk space anymore). If I remember correctly, it uploaded about 20 GB per day. Far less than the 0.5 TB limit I set. That made me conclude there's no shortage of upload bandwidth in the Bitcoin network.
I'm still running the node, but pruned. That means it now only uploads the latest blocks to other nodes. I just checked: it's still uploading 3 times more than it's downloading.

Pruned server would be ok if you are tight with the storage space

I wouldn't use any default containers, just download Bitcoin Core and start it manually.

I guess there's really no benefit in trying out those Bitcoin core copies from Contabo or something. I just wondered if anyone tried it.

My experience so far with VPS at Contabo is good. They are quite affordable and at least for me no bad pick.
I don't work for Contabo nor am I paid by them to advertise their products. I'm just a satisfied customer.

I have been a customer of Contabo as well for years because of my trading bot but it's just recently that I acquired a new VPS and just saw these offerings that they have. They have been a great service provider.

[TryNinja]

As far as I know TryNinja's ninjastic.space still runs on a Contabo VPS.

It does. €17,49 / month for 8 cores, 30 GB RAM, 800 GB (100% SSD), 600 Mbit/s. Prices are pretty nice.

I also never had another downtime since the last time I complained with them (I was having unscheduled maintenance every couple of weeks).