Electrum server discussion thread

[vuce]

Is there a way of getting "blockchain.address.get_history" from a certain block hash onwards only? I'd imagine downloading full history of some addresses with a lot of traffic might be somewhat resource-consuming.

Maybe something like:

Code:

{
  "id": 0,
  "method": "blockchain.address.get_history",
  "params": [
    "17Su3J2RWnm2WLqf8pfpgj4hFUf6MFH9SZ",
    "000000000000077b2195a0c9db6f4179cb98ef579f300943b3a69357ac9e2028"
  ]
}

With the block hash from subscribe this could be very useful.

[Red Emerald]

I should have another server up again soon.  I ran one for a little bit, but then Abe died and I haven't bothered since.

[bitfoo]

I'm now running a server as well to hopefully provide some redundancy for users.

[ThomasV]

Is there a way of getting "blockchain.address.get_history" from a certain block hash onwards only? I'd imagine downloading full history of some addresses with a lot of traffic might be somewhat resource-consuming.

Maybe something like:

Code:

{
  "id": 0,
  "method": "blockchain.address.get_history",
  "params": [
    "17Su3J2RWnm2WLqf8pfpgj4hFUf6MFH9SZ",
    "000000000000077b2195a0c9db6f4179cb98ef579f300943b3a69357ac9e2028"
  ]
}

With the block hash from subscribe this could be very useful.

yes, I am planning something like that.
get_status will be deprecated, and the client will send a hash of its current history

[ThomasV]

Can I ask you what kind of resources a electrum server uses or rather what kind of resources I should dedicate to it to have it running stable.

post scriptum:
 * make sure you use a 64-bit OS
 * the first time you import the blockchain in abe, stop bitcoind during the import, it will go much faster.
 * I do not currently use a SSD for ecdsa.org, but I would pick a VPS with SSD if I had to redo this

[vuce]

Thomas, is there any specification for the server commands? I have trouble with some of the "methods" (namely "blockchain.address.subscribe"), but it might be due to me not understanding what it actually does. I've looked at the stratum protocol draft (I'm assuming electrum uses this or is at least based on it?) but it doesn't seem to have any real info either.

[ThomasV]

Thomas, is there any specification for the server commands? I have trouble with some of the "methods" (namely "blockchain.address.subscribe"), but it might be due to me not understanding what it actually does. I've looked at the stratum protocol draft (I'm assuming electrum uses this or is at least based on it?) but it doesn't seem to have any real info either.

the specs are hosted on the bitcoinconsultancy wiki. that wiki is down atm. there is no ETA afaik

[genjix]

vuce, i made an implementation of the server backend and created the server frontend so i can help you out. you should come to #electrum on Freenode.

[vuce]

vuce, i made an implementation of the server backend and created the server frontend so i can help you out. you should come to #electrum on Freenode.

Managed to figure it out, but I'll drop by if I have any more questions, thanks genjix!

[bitfoo]

Here's a note about running the electrum server on a 32-bit machine. The issue is that abe tries to mmap the blk000x.dat file, which may be too large to fit in 32-bit virtual memory. I use a patch for bitcoin that reduces the max size of each dat file to ~500MB:

Code:

diff -ur bitcoin-0.6.2_orig/src/main.cpp bitcoin-0.6.2/src/main.cpp
--- bitcoin-0.6.2_orig/src/main.cpp	2012-07-07 23:18:28.365376724 -0700
+++ bitcoin-0.6.2/src/main.cpp	2012-06-19 18:40:45.842931405 -0700
@@ -1865,7 +1865,7 @@
         if (fseek(file, 0, SEEK_END) != 0)
             return NULL;
         // FAT32 filesize max 4GB, fseek and ftell max 2GB, so we must stay under 2GB
-        if (ftell(file) < 0x7F000000 - MAX_SIZE)
+        if (ftell(file) < 0x1F000000 - MAX_SIZE)
         {
             nFileRet = nCurrentBlockFile;
             return file;

The idea for this patch comes from this post by John Tobey. The "right" way to do this may be to fix abe to only mmap the file partially, but until then, this little hack works.

[wabber]

I've set up an electrum server some time ago for me and my friends because we didn't want to download the blockchain. I've made it public now, it doesn't have a domain but the IP should show up in the server list: 176.9.206.164

[marcus_of_augustus]

So I notice there are currently 6 servers the Electrum client is aware of ... just wondering if the servers can be made aware of other servers in the same way that the client is?

[wabber]

So I notice there are currently 6 servers the Electrum client is aware of ... just wondering if the servers can be made aware of other servers in the same way that the client is?

I didn't take a closer look to the source but i think electrum uses irc to find servers, so yeah it wouldn't be a problem for the server to be aware of other servers. But why would you need that?

[marcus_of_augustus]

So I notice there are currently 6 servers the Electrum client is aware of ... just wondering if the servers can be made aware of other servers in the same way that the client is?

I didn't take a closer look to the source but i think electrum uses irc to find servers, so yeah it wouldn't be a problem for the server to be aware of other servers. But why would you need that?

It makes possible the linking of servers into groups for auditing, cross-checking, etc. It offers other possibilities like a stratum network on top of bitcoin, a server-to-server network, or even just groupings of servers that electrum clients could log into and be ambivalent about which precise server they are referencing just that it is one of a trusted group, etc ... it may be easier for electrum servers to get blockchain update information directly from other electrum servers (in addition to the bitcoin network) since they share db architecture ...

... and lots of other reasons

Basically a network of servers is stronger and less centralised than nodes of lone, isolated servers.

[unclemantis]

do the electrum servers have the available to be connected using rpcjson? I am currently using blockchain.info but I would like to be able to use an electrum server.

[duncant]

Hi! I just upgraded my server to the lastest git version. I'm getting the following error when I try to run the server

Code:

Starting Electrum server on uncle-enzo.info
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/bitcoin/bin/electrum-server", line 122, in <module>
    chain_proc = backend.BlockchainProcessor(config)
  File "/var/bitcoin/src/electrum/server/backends/abe/__init__.py", line 452, in __init__
    self.store = AbeStore(config)
  File "/var/bitcoin/src/electrum/server/backends/abe/__init__.py", line 39, in __init__
    print 'Coin chain_id = %d' % self.chain_id
TypeError: %d format: a number is required, not NoneType

Is there a setting that I need to make the new version work?

[Tachikoma]

I think the latest git version has multi-chain support build in. Open up your config file (/etc/electrum.conf) and add the following under the [server] part:

Code:

coin=bitcoin
datadir=/home/myuser/.bitcoin

Replace the datadir with the path to your bitcoind config folder.

[duncant]

I'm still getting the same error after adding those lines to my electrum.conf.

[Tachikoma]

Try to run this query on your electrum database

Code:

update datadir set chain_id=1 where datadir_id =1

Or manually open the datadir table and put chain_id to one for the correct row.

[duncant]

That fixed it! Thanks!