Electrum server discussion thread

[tnkflx]

The fact that there are less than 50 servers scares me quite a bit.
What happens if all the Electrum servers go offline?

If all 50 servers disappear, you can still set up your own

And with that one I can then send my BTC to a non-light wallet, by making a last transfer from Electrum to another BTC address, right?

Indeed.

OK, thank you
However, aren't 50 server a bit few?
I mean, I didn't have performance problems up to now, but in the future?

The Electrum developers will probably tackle that if it ever becomes a problem, don't worry

[JWU42]

The fact that there are less than 50 servers scares me quite a bit.
What happens if all the Electrum servers go offline?

If all 50 servers disappear, you can still set up your own

And with that one I can then send my BTC to a non-light wallet, by making a last transfer from Electrum to another BTC address, right?

Indeed.

OK, thank you
However, aren't 50 server a bit few?
I mean, I didn't have performance problems up to now, but in the future?

The Electrum developers will probably tackle that if it ever becomes a problem, don't worry

There are plenty of servers to satisfy the current number of clients.  If anything, I am probably going to shut down a server or two as the load is negligible.

[MusX]

Any knows or have a good reference on starting electrum-server in regtest mode? I tried to setup it in VM but the installation steps are outdated, at least for Ubuntu - fails on `python setup.py install` step. Optionally if anyone knows updated electrum-server docker image?

[MusX]

Any knows or have a good reference on starting electrum-server in regtest mode? I tried to setup it in VM but the installation steps are outdated, at least for Ubuntu - fails on `python setup.py install` step. Optionally if anyone knows updated electrum-server docker image?

maybe anyone knows an alternative spv wallet + server for it that can be easily started from docker or complete script?

[EvryIntl]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get a new electrum server started, but it doesn't seem to sync all the way with bitcoind.  Bitcoind is up to the latest block, but electrum server is almost 1000 blocks behind it and falling further behind.  At one point it was 941 blocks behind, then 966 blocks behind, ...

Edit: Can it take that much longer to process via electrum than to keep up with the blockchain with bitcoind?  That is, if the hardware can keep up with bitcoind with lots of CPU and RAM to spare, shouldn't it be possible for electrum-server to catch up?  The log just shows it dropping further and further behind.  Perhaps I'm just missing something here?

[molecular]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get a new electrum server started, but it doesn't seem to sync all the way with bitcoind.  Bitcoind is up to the latest block, but electrum server is almost 1000 blocks behind it and falling further behind.  At one point it was 941 blocks behind, then 966 blocks behind, ...

Edit: Can it take that much longer to process via electrum than to keep up with the blockchain with bitcoind?  That is, if the hardware can keep up with bitcoind with lots of CPU and RAM to spare, shouldn't it be possible for electrum-server to catch up?  The log just shows it dropping further and further behind.  Perhaps I'm just missing something here?

The thing is slow. In my experience it take a lot more resources than bitcoind per block to digest. Maybe the insert into the patricia tree (?) utxo data structure is to blame? I wouldn't know.

There was an alternative implementation mentioned further up (in java?). I've been wanting to give it a try, but there's no pressure (the machine I use for electrum server has plenty of juice). Maybe you can try it and report back?

EDIT: found the post:

Are there any news about server re-write, with faster block processing?

Fireduck re-wrote electrum-server in Java and it processes blocks much faster than the original Python version.
See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=726338.0

[EvryIntl]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get a new electrum server started, but it doesn't seem to sync all the way with bitcoind.  Bitcoind is up to the latest block, but electrum server is almost 1000 blocks behind it and falling further behind.  At one point it was 941 blocks behind, then 966 blocks behind, ...

Edit: Can it take that much longer to process via electrum than to keep up with the blockchain with bitcoind?  That is, if the hardware can keep up with bitcoind with lots of CPU and RAM to spare, shouldn't it be possible for electrum-server to catch up?  The log just shows it dropping further and further behind.  Perhaps I'm just missing something here?

The thing is slow. In my experience it take a lot more resources than bitcoind per block to digest. Maybe the insert into the patricia tree (?) utxo data structure is to blame? I wouldn't know.

There was an alternative implementation mentioned further up (in java?). I've been wanting to give it a try, but there's no pressure (the machine I use for electrum server has plenty of juice). Maybe you can try it and report back?

EDIT: found the post:

Are there any news about server re-write, with faster block processing?

Fireduck re-wrote electrum-server in Java and it processes blocks much faster than the original Python version.
See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=726338.0

I'll give it a try tonight.  It continues to fall further behind bitcoind, so I have to try something.  I'll report back tomorrow.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[JWU42]

Some interesting things brewing in the world of electrum servers...

ElectrumX announced and showing potential.

Fireduck is back to hacking away (in his spare time) on Jelectrum

[ThomasV]

ElectrumX announced and showing potential.

ElectrumX is pretty stable and fast. It is now linked from electrum.org, in replacement of electrum-server

[kipper01]

Trying to get an electrum server up and running but get following error in logs

INFO:root:ElectrumX server starting
INFO:BlockProcessor:switching current directory to /home/kipper01/.electrumx/db
INFO:BlockProcessor:reorg limit is 200 blocks
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/EGG-INFO/scripts/electrumx_server.py", line 68, in main
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/EGG-INFO/scripts/electrumx_server.py", line 49, in main_loop
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/protocol.py", line 58, in __init__
    self.bp = BlockProcessor(env)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/block_processor.py", line 161, in __init__
    super().__init__(env)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/db.py", line 54, in __init__
    self.reopen_db(True)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/db.py", line 86, in reopen_db
    self.db = open_db(db_name, self.env.db_engine, max_open_files)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 24, in open_db
    return db_class(name, for_sync)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 34, in __init__
    self.open(name, create=self.is_new, for_sync=for_sync)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 85, in open
    max_open_files=mof, compression=None)
  File "_plyvel.pyx", line 236, in plyvel._plyvel.DB.__init__ (plyvel/_plyvel.cpp:3129)
  File "_plyvel.pyx", line 80, in plyvel._plyvel.raise_for_status (plyvel/_plyvel.cpp:1698)
plyvel._plyvel.IOError: b'IO error: lock Bitcoin-mainnet/LOCK: Resource temporarily unavailable'
CRITICAL:root:ElectrumX server terminated abnormally

[zebedee]

Trying to get an electrum server up and running but get following error in logs

INFO:root:ElectrumX server starting
INFO:BlockProcessor:switching current directory to /home/kipper01/.electrumx/db
INFO:BlockProcessor:reorg limit is 200 blocks
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/EGG-INFO/scripts/electrumx_server.py", line 68, in main
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/EGG-INFO/scripts/electrumx_server.py", line 49, in main_loop
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/protocol.py", line 58, in __init__
    self.bp = BlockProcessor(env)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/block_processor.py", line 161, in __init__
    super().__init__(env)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/db.py", line 54, in __init__
    self.reopen_db(True)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/db.py", line 86, in reopen_db
    self.db = open_db(db_name, self.env.db_engine, max_open_files)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 24, in open_db
    return db_class(name, for_sync)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 34, in __init__
    self.open(name, create=self.is_new, for_sync=for_sync)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/electrumx-0.9.19-py3.5.egg/server/storage.py", line 85, in open
    max_open_files=mof, compression=None)
  File "_plyvel.pyx", line 236, in plyvel._plyvel.DB.__init__ (plyvel/_plyvel.cpp:3129)
  File "_plyvel.pyx", line 80, in plyvel._plyvel.raise_for_status (plyvel/_plyvel.cpp:1698)
plyvel._plyvel.IOError: b'IO error: lock Bitcoin-mainnet/LOCK: Resource temporarily unavailable'
CRITICAL:root:ElectrumX server terminated abnormally

Please visit #electrum for help, I don't read this site.

The above just means you had the DB open already elsewhere, perhaps you were running 2 sessions.

[loserkids]

I have some spare macbook pro late 2011 and I'm thinking of either selling it for peanuts or running electrum server on it (and possibly have more security for my secondary funds held in Electrum). Is it's still impossible to run the code on anything other than linux?

[JWU42]

Possible - yes though I have no idea how it is done.

The developer of ElectrumX had been doing testing on a Mac.  I suspect you need a bit of technical chops to get it working...

[loserkids]

The developer of ElectrumX had been doing testing on a Mac.  I suspect you need a bit of technical chops to get it working...

Thanks, I'll give it a try! I'm a tech guy so I think I'll be able to figure it out.

[mmortal03]

I wonder if it's possible to run the ElectrumX server on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (Bash on Ubuntu on Windows). Has anyone tried this?

Also, what's the difference between Electrum server and ElectrumX server?

[JWU42]

No to the first question.

ThomasV has stopped development of electrum-server and is encouraging all to use ElectrumX.  The main advantages of ElectrumX are the smaller DB and mainly the much faster sync time if building the db from genesis block.  It is literally 100+X faster.

[mmortal03]

No to the first question.

As soon as I get my txindex resynced, I'll give it a shot.

[mmortal03]

JWU42, It looks like I've gotten ElectrumX to work on the Windows Subsystem for Linux. I'll post directions in a little while. I have a quick question, though: How large is the ElectrumX database directory once it's synced currently?

[mmortal03]

Also, it looks like I'm running into a memory leak (I've been having to close it and open it back up to try to avoid this):

Code:

INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,501 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 854MB hist 228MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,569 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 854MB hist 240MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:flushed to FS in 0.2s
INFO:BlockProcessor:flushed history in 14.0s for 1,159,443 addrs
INFO:BlockProcessor:flush #45 took 14.9s.  Height 304,569 txs: 40,250,489
INFO:BlockProcessor:tx/sec since genesis: 971, since last flush: 841
INFO:BlockProcessor:sync time: 11h 30m 18s  ETA: 3d 15h 33m
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,672 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 858MB hist 19MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,781 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 863MB hist 35MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,848 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 872MB hist 52MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,935 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 874MB hist 64MB
INFO:BlockProcessor:our height: 304,988 daemon: 470,107 UTXOs 874MB hist 76MB
ERROR:Controller:Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/controller.py", line 157, in on_future_done
    future.result()
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/block_processor.py", line 201, in main_loop
    await task()
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/block_processor.py", line 243, in check_and_advance_blocks
    await self.controller.run_in_executor(self.advance_blocks, blocks)
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/controller.py", line 137, in run_in_executor
    return await self.loop.run_in_executor(None, func, *args)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 55, in run
    result = self.fn(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/block_processor.py", line 493, in advance_blocks
    undo_info = self.advance_txs(block.transactions)
  File "/home/mmortal03/source/electrumx/server/block_processor.py", line 546, in advance_txs
    hashX + tx_numb + s_pack('<Q', txout.value))
MemoryError

[mmortal03]

I guess I should try lowering CACHE_MB and see what happens.