So I have a server with a ton of space and great bandwidth. I'd like to set up a full Bitcoin node on it. I'm wondering a few things before I do though:
1. How much storage space and bandwidth does a full node use on average per month?
A full node currently uses about 26 GB of disk space. Unless the protocol changes in the future, it should grow by no more than 144 MB per day (and typically much less). That works out to no more than 4.46 GB per month. More typically, in the past the growth in disk space usage has been about 1.125 GB per month.
2. Are private people like me even allowed to run nodes?
Certainly. Who's going to stop you?
3. How do you get your node trusted by the network?
There are no trusted nodes on the network. All nodes verify everything that they receive from their peers.
(Note, the
Bitcoin Core wallet and the
Armory wallet both have a full node built into the wallet. Therefore, everyone that is running either one of those wallets is running a full node on their own computer whether they realize it or not).