Running My First Bitcoin Node – My Experience & Setup Guide

[MarangoZ]

Hey everyone
Just wanted to share something small but meanigful

I recently finished setting up my first Bitcoin node pruned running on a VPS with ubuntu and honestly it feels great to finally be doing my part to support the network
I know it's not a full-blown Raspberry Pi setup with blinking lights or some massive archive node but I'm working with limited disk space on a VPS and still wanted to contribute

Why I Did It
For a while now I've been learing about how Bitcoin really works not just from a price angle but from the actual infrastructure side I realized I've been trusting explorers and other people's node for everything
that is not what Bitcoin is supposed to be about
I don't have a powerful PC or spare gear lying around but i do have access to a cheap VPS so I thought why not run a pruned node? It won't store the full chain but it still fully validates everything and helps decentralize the network
And it turns out that it was way easier than I expected

My Setup
Ubuntu VPS (2 core 4GB ram 60GB ssd)
Bitcoin Core Pruned
Pruned size I set it around 10gb
installed from source vie the official Github

The sync took a bit of time around 2-3 days but the VPS handled it fine
Now it is up and running 24/7 quietly doing its job verifying blocks and transactions No GUI just logs and terminal magic

What I Learned

• you do not need full disk space to run a node a pruned node works just fine for verifying your own transactions and helping the network
• you can run a Bitcoin core on a VPS with very modest specs
• you don't need to be a dev or hardcore Linux wizard just follow some well writen guides and you'll be fine
• Most importantly you don't have to wait until everything is perfect to contribute

I followed a Cherry Servers guide and used prune in my bitcoin.conf which keeps the disk use down to 6-7 GB while still fully validating
anyway just wanted to share
it's a small step but it feels good to finally be part of the infrastructure not just a passive user

wanted to add a pic but I dont know why its not working for me

Code:

bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo
{
  "chain": "main",
  "blocks": 908717,
  "headers": 908717,
  "bestblockhash": "000000000000000000017d5fe2e70c15f3320b43fa0ba0ec89931923f48221b6",
  "difficulty": 127620086886391.8,
  "mediantime": 1754389740,
  "verificationprogress": 0.9999964267354117,
  "initialblockdownload": false,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000d7caf4fad84a5fd10af33cfc",
  "size_on_disk": 655106454,
  "pruned": true,
  "pruneheight": 908375,
  "automatic_pruning": true,
  "prune_target_size": 576716800,
  "softforks": {

Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

[casey15]

Wow... Thank you very much..
I have been thinking about running my own node too for a while... But I have been thinking about the performance of my current computer if it will be able to handle such task .. but with things I'm more confident in trying it out

[Mahiyammahi]

wanted to add a pic but I dont know why its not working for me

You need to become atleast JR member to publish photos on forum through bb code. Forum don't support a direct upload system. We upload photos on 3rd party image hosting then imbedded a post with BB code

Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

It's fine to run a pruned node if you don't have enough space. I also run my bitcoin core node in prune mode. Why not you participate in 14days bitcoin core node challenge

After that you can also run the LND node, use lightning network to reduce the txn fees. Fast txn

[Antotena]

Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

I'm also running Bitcoin prune node. I adjusted my prune to 5gb, I can take more than that but I think that's okay for me for now. I wish I can give those blocks without deleting them but I will not have any space left to perform other task. I have some other big file of applications that are taking much space like some games and I don't want to lose them now but I will still look for a way to get an external high ssd capacity so as to run the full node for better experience.

Wow... Thank you very much..
I have been thinking about running my own node too for a while... But I have been thinking about the performance of my current computer if it will be able to handle such task .. but with things I'm more confident in trying it out

You can run node with any computer of your choice but it's the specifications of the computer that is going to determine if yiunar going to use 2 days to finish initial block download and fully synced your node or wait for weeks before you complete the initial block download. If you have a big ram like 8gb ram with ssd let's say like 120gb, you can run a Bitcoin node easy without any delay, all you have to do is to download Bitcoin core like he instructed, install set your prune parameters and then let it sync for you.

[Findingnemo]

If you have a big ram like 8gb ram with ssd let's say like 120gb, you can run a Bitcoin node easy without any delay, all you have to do is to download Bitcoin core like he instructed, install set your prune parameters and then let it sync for you.

Even 8GB is not that much atleast 16 GB will give more space for core to stress the system and if someone wants to download full node then it must be around 650GB so make sure you have atleast 700GB for running your full node and NVMe is recommended since R/W will be faster and it's more reliable.

If I am not wrong, we can even do that using GUI without editing the 'bitcoin.conf'.

[ABCbits]

installed from source vie the official Github

Do you mean compile and install from source code? It's good to see you're capable of doing that, but personally i don't see any strong reason doing that when you can just download from https://bitcoincore.org/ .

wanted to add a pic but I dont know why its not working for me

For now, you can include link to the image using this tag.

Code:

[url][/url]

Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

I run non-pruned node since i also run electrum server. In addition, i still use HDD to store blockchain data.

[apogio]

Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

I am having a set of nodes.

One is full-storage, running bitcoin core and electrum server (electrs).

One is full-storage and also includes a lightning node (LND), but it doesn't work as I 'd like it to work and I don't have the time to commit fully into making it super functional. I 've also experimented with C-Lightning on this node. It worked meh for me.

One is pruned to the minimum storage size. I use it as a hot wallet just for fun and for my testnet reseach, which isn't so much of a research but more of a playground.

My most common use-case for my nodes is to connect light clients (electrum, sparrow etc) to them. I don't really use Core as a wallet, apart from my node #3.

[Ronsbit]

Nice knowing you are running a bitcoin node, as a matter of fact, there is an ongoing bitcoin node 14-day challenge, maybe you should join it and also another GingerWallet.io | LN Quest as sponsored by the various reputable organizations found on this platform. You could try them and see your strength on how far you can go with them.

[BlockchainWizard]

Nice work! That’s exactly the kind of step more people should take if they really want to understand Bitcoin beyond just the price chart. Running your own node – even pruned – means you’re not relying on third-party explorers and you’re actually verifying your own transactions. That’s the whole point of decentralization.

I’m still running mine on local hardware, but VPS is a solid choice if you want 24/7 uptime without worrying about your own machine running all day. The main thing is to keep control of your setup and not just trust someone else’s node.

It’s a small step for you maybe, but for Bitcoin it’s a big deal – every additional honest node strengthens the network.

[MarangoZ]

Nice knowing you are running a bitcoin node, as a matter of fact, there is an ongoing bitcoin node 14-day challenge, maybe you should join it and also another GingerWallet.io | LN Quest as sponsored by the various reputable organizations found on this platform. You could try them and see your strength on how far you can go with them.

thank you for guide I will take a look into these challenge

[pancelot]

Hey everyone
Just wanted to share something small but meanigful

I recently finished setting up my first Bitcoin node pruned running on a VPS with ubuntu and honestly it feels great to finally be doing my part to support the network
I know it's not a full-blown Raspberry Pi setup with blinking lights or some massive archive node but I'm working with limited disk space on a VPS and still wanted to contribute

Why I Did It
For a while now I've been learing about how Bitcoin really works not just from a price angle but from the actual infrastructure side I realized I've been trusting explorers and other people's node for everything
that is not what Bitcoin is supposed to be about
I don't have a powerful PC or spare gear lying around but i do have access to a cheap VPS so I thought why not run a pruned node? It won't store the full chain but it still fully validates everything and helps decentralize the network
And it turns out that it was way easier than I expected

My Setup
Ubuntu VPS (2 core 4GB ram 60GB ssd)
Bitcoin Core Pruned
Pruned size I set it around 10gb
installed from source vie the official Github

The sync took a bit of time around 2-3 days but the VPS handled it fine
Now it is up and running 24/7 quietly doing its job verifying blocks and transactions No GUI just logs and terminal magic

What I Learned

• you do not need full disk space to run a node a pruned node works just fine for verifying your own transactions and helping the network
• you can run a Bitcoin core on a VPS with very modest specs
• you don't need to be a dev or hardcore Linux wizard just follow some well writen guides and you'll be fine
• Most importantly you don't have to wait until everything is perfect to contribute

I followed a Cherry Servers guide and used prune in my bitcoin.conf which keeps the disk use down to 6-7 GB while still fully validating
anyway just wanted to share
it's a small step but it feels good to finally be part of the infrastructure not just a passive user

wanted to add a pic but I dont know why its not working for me

Code:

bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo
{
  "chain": "main",
  "blocks": 908717,
  "headers": 908717,
  "bestblockhash": "000000000000000000017d5fe2e70c15f3320b43fa0ba0ec89931923f48221b6",
  "difficulty": 127620086886391.8,
  "mediantime": 1754389740,
  "verificationprogress": 0.9999964267354117,
  "initialblockdownload": false,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000d7caf4fad84a5fd10af33cfc",
  "size_on_disk": 655106454,
  "pruned": true,
  "pruneheight": 908375,
  "automatic_pruning": true,
  "prune_target_size": 576716800,
  "softforks": {

Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?

Very helpful thread, especially for me and maybe some fellow beginners who want to run it, I'm also still unsure about the connection with the device I'm using, but with the considerations that OP conveyed, maybe it could be my way to start it

[othell_rogue]

Nice knowing you are running a bitcoin node, as a matter of fact, there is an ongoing bitcoin node 14-day challenge, maybe you should join it and also another GingerWallet.io | LN Quest as sponsored by the various reputable organizations found on this platform. You could try them and see your strength on how far you can go with them.

Hi!
Is the challenge still current? I see it was started in 2024 (the OP)

[MarangoZ]

Nice knowing you are running a bitcoin node, as a matter of fact, there is an ongoing bitcoin node 14-day challenge, maybe you should join it and also another GingerWallet.io | LN Quest as sponsored by the various reputable organizations found on this platform. You could try them and see your strength on how far you can go with them.

Hi!
Is the challenge still current? I see it was started in 2024 (the OP)

yes its still going on you have the link to the post
you need to post every day for 14 days on a row

[Ronsbit]

Nice knowing you are running a bitcoin node, as a matter of fact, there is an ongoing bitcoin node 14-day challenge, maybe you should join it and also another GingerWallet.io | LN Quest as sponsored by the various reputable organizations found on this platform. You could try them and see your strength on how far you can go with them.

Hi!
Is the challenge still current? I see it was started in 2024 (the OP)

Yes the challenge is still very much active and you can still join. All you have to do is to download the Bitcoin core and run your node till it is fully synchronised. You can click the link to the thread, read the instructions and follow accordingly. Make sure to report on a daily basis so your records can be taken by the OP of the challenge.

[Cricktor]

Even 8GB is not that much atleast 16 GB will give more space for core to stress the system and if someone wants to download full node then it must be around 650GB so make sure you have atleast 700GB for running your full node and NVMe is recommended since R/W will be faster and it's more reliable.

On OPs VPS Bitcoin Core seems to run fine with 4GiB RAM. I never had issues running Bitcoin Core on my Raspis which have 8GiB RAM, but more is better, especially to speed up initial blockchain download for which you want to raise dbcache value preferably to around 12 GiB. But if you're patient it works fine with less. Not to mention if you want to run an Electrum server on the same device.

For a non-pruned, full archival node you need more space. Here's what one of my nodes consume as of right now (I've txindex=1 and the blockfilter stuff enabled):

Code:

11G	./chainstate
61G	./indexes/txindex
105M	./indexes/blockfilter/basic/db
12G	./indexes/blockfilter/basic
12G	./indexes/blockfilter
72G	./indexes
138M	./blocks/index
731G	./blocks
813G	.

[DYING_S0UL]

Even 8GB is not that much atleast 16 GB will give more space for core to stress the system and if someone wants to download full node then it must be around 650GB so make sure you have atleast 700GB for running your full node and NVMe is recommended since R/W will be faster and it's more reliable.

On OPs VPS Bitcoin Core seems to run fine with 4GiB RAM. I never had issues running Bitcoin Core on my Raspis which have 8GiB RAM, but more is better, especially to speed up initial blockchain download for which you want to raise dbcache value preferably to around 12 GiB. But if you're patient it works fine with less. Not to mention if you want to run an Electrum server on the same device.

For a non-pruned, full archival node you need more space. Here's what one of my nodes consume as of right now (I've txindex=1 and the blockfilter stuff enabled):

Previously I ran Bitcoin core on my potato laptop, basically 24/7! Although it had some ups and downs, it worked without any issue there.
i5 8th gen, 256 SSD, 8GB. So I guess 8gb is still manageable somehow, if we are to tweak some settings here and there.

Running the full node, that seems like a lot of space! Despite having 2TB (current system) of storage, I set pruned size at 10gb only! For some reasons my /C drive is getting filled everyday. It was showing blue the previous day and now it's red. The other day, I deleted the temp files and it was around 30-40 gb, is it normal though? Can't figuare out why temp take this much space.

[othell_rogue]

Yes the challenge is still very much active and you can still join. All you have to do is to download the Bitcoin core and run your node till it is fully synchronised. You can click the link to the thread, read the instructions and follow accordingly. Make sure to report on a daily basis so your records can be taken by the OP of the challenge.

Interestig, I actually have a full node, which was shut down last year in the summer, so I only need to fire it up.
I will have a look into the OP ann more closely, thanks!

[MarangoZ]

Yes the challenge is still very much active and you can still join. All you have to do is to download the Bitcoin core and run your node till it is fully synchronised. You can click the link to the thread, read the instructions and follow accordingly. Make sure to report on a daily basis so your records can be taken by the OP of the challenge.

Interestig, I actually have a full node, which was shut down last year in the summer, so I only need to fire it up.
I will have a look into the OP ann more closely, thanks!

If you need help on setting it up let me know or reply here if u have any issue  Good luck

[othell_rogue]

If you need help on setting it up let me know or reply here if u have any issue  Good luck

Thank you, I will do that, of course but I don't know if I would love to switch from my full node to a pruned one.

[Cricktor]

... but I don't know if I would love to switch from my full node to a pruned one.

If you have the resources to run a full (non-pruned) node and want to keep it that way, why would you want to switch to a pruned one? The mentioned Bitcoin node challenge doesn't require to use a pruned node, this is optional.

Many participants of the node challenge simply use a pruned node because this is less storage space hungry, especially when their main interest are likely the merit points and not so much running a Bitcoin node permanently.