Full node on a raspberry pi with blockchain data on a samba share

[thorjag]

I am trying to get a full node running on a raspberry pi. However, because of the storage requirements I dont want to save the blockchain locally, which means I mounted a remote share which included the blockchain data files. When starting bitcoind I get the following error message:

Code:

: 
Error opening block database.

Do you want to rebuild the block database now?

More verbose from the log file:

Code:

2014-10-16 19:52:36 Bitcoin version v0.9.3.0-g40d2041-beta (Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:42:15 +0200)
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Using OpenSSL version OpenSSL 1.0.1j 15 Oct 2014
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Using BerkeleyDB version Berkeley DB 5.3.28: (September  9, 2013)
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Default data directory /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Using data directory /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Using at most 125 connections (1024 file descriptors available)
2014-10-16 19:52:36 Using wallet wallet.dat
2014-10-16 19:52:36 init message: Verifying wallet...
2014-10-16 19:52:36 CDBEnv::Open : LogDir=/home/bitcoin/.bitcoin/database ErrorFile=/home/bitcoin/.bitcoin/db.log
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Bound to [::]:8333
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333
2014-10-16 19:52:37 init message: Loading block index...
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Opening LevelDB in /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin/blocks/index
2014-10-16 19:52:37 IO error: /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin/blocks/index: Invalid argument
2014-10-16 19:52:37 : Error opening block database.

Do you want to rebuild the block database now?
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Aborted block database rebuild. Exiting.
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Shutdown : In progress...
2014-10-16 19:52:37 StopNode()
2014-10-16 19:52:37 Shutdown : done

When running bitcoind with a local datadir it runs as normal with no error message. Someone who might know what the issue might be?

I am running a slim archlinux install and mounted the remote share with:

Code:

mount.cifs //<ip-address>/bitcoin /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin -o username=<username>,uid=bitcoin

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[Newar]

Where do you specify the data directory?

[thorjag]

I dont specify a datadir. I start bitcoind with the user bitcoin so the datadir is /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin, which is where I mount the share.

[spin]

Permissions?  Does the user running bitcoind have write permissions on the samba share?
Perhaps you can use a symlink rather than mounting it directly in that folder?  Might help?
Try with an alternative mountpoint and using a datadir argument?

[shorena]

-snip-
Perhaps you can use a symlink rather than mounting it directly in that folder?

I would try this next as well. I have no idea what happens if you mount into an existing directory. Maybe there are files missing because the client was started once without the mount point or files that should be there but are not on the samba share.

[Dabs]

Maybe you should try specifying a datadir too. In addition to the symlink, which should already be mounted before you start bitcoind. You might as well grab the blockchain data from one of your other nodes first.

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

If you want to reduce the memory consumption of bitcoind(as the Raspberry pi has very little RAM), look at the post in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=765934

Worked really well for me, Bitcoind even went under 200mb at times.

[thorjag]

Thanks for the help.

There is nothing wrong with the permissions. I am able to read/write from/to the share without issues.

I tried symlinking, as you suggested, but with the same results...

Will definately check out the memory optimizations once I get up and running. Thanks for the tip.

[doof]

If you want to reduce the memory consumption of bitcoind(as the Raspberry pi has very little RAM), look at the post in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=765934

Worked really well for me, Bitcoind even went under 200mb at times.

Likewise.