LOTS of connection problems for everyone!

[cypherdoc]

We connected your virtual machine to your home network as a separate computer. Now the client on Win7 is binded to 8333 port on your router. You can not bind another client to the same port. Although, if you start a client on your OS X and if it connects to the network there is no reason why you can't send coins between them.
In fact you could start your OS X client and specify -addnode=your external IP. This would connect your mac client to your Win7 client.

edit: In order to run multiple clients on one external IP you need to use different ports for each client. I don't have in depth understanding of that so I'll leave you to research it on your own

this is wild.  i now have the 2 clients open and running on each side.  is there something special about the 8333 port that Bitcoin likes?  if so, that would be the reason i might want to -addnode to the win7 client from the macOS client thru a different port to get into full node mode, right?  i can tell ur a networking wizard.

is the wallet.dat interchangeable btwn mac and pc clients?

[1714004550]

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[mewantsbitcoins]

Sorry, it's 4:02am where I am. I will be back to answer the rest of your questions ~12:00pm GMT

[cypherdoc]

Sorry, it's 4:02am where I am. I will be back to answer the rest of your questions ~12:00pm GMT

its ok.  i knew i'd wear u out at some pt
 get some rest.

[Binford 6100]

is the wallet.dat interchangeable btwn mac and pc clients?

yes it is (worked for me at least)

[byronbb]

Hmmm I came here to ask about why my second computer with newly installed client is struggling to get over 5 connections when my main box gets 100+ instantly. 

[Binford 6100]

Hmmm I came here to ask about why my second computer with newly installed client is struggling to get over 5 connections when my main box gets 100+ instantly.  

imho if clients have 8 or less connections it's because they can only accept connections from all nodes because they look like being behind NAT/firewall.

only anecdotal evidence (i never got more than 8 ) but it's probably related to open/close port 8333 on your firewall/proxy and forward it to your box. seems like your first box (the one with 100+ connections) is using the 8333 port and the second looks like behind a firewall/proxy not visible to p2p network.

this thread started as a mac clients having problem connecting.

in your case, opening another port in your firewall may help + configure your second client to start using that second bitcoin port. i'm pretty sure multiple clients in the same network cannot share one and the same (default) open port.

[mewantsbitcoins]

We connected your virtual machine to your home network as a separate computer. Now the client on Win7 is binded to 8333 port on your router. You can not bind another client to the same port. Although, if you start a client on your OS X and if it connects to the network there is no reason why you can't send coins between them.
In fact you could start your OS X client and specify -addnode=your external IP. This would connect your mac client to your Win7 client.

edit: In order to run multiple clients on one external IP you need to use different ports for each client. I don't have in depth understanding of that so I'll leave you to research it on your own

this is wild.  i now have the 2 clients open and running on each side.  is there something special about the 8333 port that Bitcoin likes?  if so, that would be the reason i might want to -addnode to the win7 client from the macOS client thru a different port to get into full node mode, right?  i can tell ur a networking wizard.

is the wallet.dat interchangeable btwn mac and pc clients?

Bitcoin client has several ways to discover nodes. One is - it connects to IRC and queries other nodes in the same channel for their IP addresses. Once it knows the IP addresses, it tries to connect to them on 8333 port. If the port is closed, it cannot connect to that node. It is not a big problem because there are other ways that Bitcoin client can connect to the network. For example, it has inbuild list of reliable nodes and these 8 connections are usually the ones. You can also specify nodes manually with -addnode= switch like we did earlier.
The real problems begin in certain circumstances. For example when port 8333 is closed + reliable nodes are down/have to many connections/exceeded their bandwith. So you can see that in some cases even if you are connected to the network you have to wait a long time before you can update your blockchain.
For more info on how to run multiple clients on a home network using different ports read this: http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=589.0
I personally chose another strategy. I opened 8333 and forwarded to one of my computers, which is on most of the time. Now whenever I want to use a client on another computer, I just start it with -addnode=my external IP. What this does, is connects it to that computer which is on most of the time. Since it has up to date blockchain and my client on the other computer doesn't have to wonder halfway around the globe looking for nodes, download starts immediately.

[cypherdoc]

We connected your virtual machine to your home network as a separate computer. Now the client on Win7 is binded to 8333 port on your router. You can not bind another client to the same port. Although, if you start a client on your OS X and if it connects to the network there is no reason why you can't send coins between them.
In fact you could start your OS X client and specify -addnode=your external IP. This would connect your mac client to your Win7 client.

edit: In order to run multiple clients on one external IP you need to use different ports for each client. I don't have in depth understanding of that so I'll leave you to research it on your own

this is wild.  i now have the 2 clients open and running on each side.  is there something special about the 8333 port that Bitcoin likes?  if so, that would be the reason i might want to -addnode to the win7 client from the macOS client thru a different port to get into full node mode, right?  i can tell ur a networking wizard.

is the wallet.dat interchangeable btwn mac and pc clients?

Bitcoin client has several ways to discover nodes. One is - it connects to IRC and queries other nodes in the same channel for their IP addresses. Once it knows the IP addresses, it tries to connect to them on 8333 port. If the port is closed, it cannot connect to that node. It is not a big problem because there are other ways that Bitcoin client can connect to the network. For example, it has inbuild list of reliable nodes and these 8 connections are usually the ones. You can also specify nodes manually with -addnode= switch like we did earlier.
The real problems begin in certain circumstances. For example when port 8333 is closed + reliable nodes are down/have to many connections/exceeded their bandwith. So you can see that in some cases even if you are connected to the network you have to wait a long time before you can update your blockchain.
For more info on how to run multiple clients on a home network using different ports read this: http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=589.0
I personally chose another strategy. I opened 8333 and forwarded to one of my computers, which is on most of the time. Now whenever I want to use a client on another computer, I just start it with -addnode=my external IP. What this does, is connects it to that computer which is on most of the time. Since it has up to date blockchain and my client on the other computer doesn't have to wonder halfway around the globe looking for nodes, download starts immediately.

Good Morning mewants:
1.is the wallet.dat interchangeable btwn mac and pc clients?
2.when my desktop sleeps does it disconnect from internet?
3.what am i doing wrong with the bitcoin.conf file?  using Wordpad in plain text mode to addnode=*** IP addresses but doesn't seem to be working.  the .conf method is simpler than opening terminal commands since it should automatically run when opening client.

[mewantsbitcoins]

Good morning
1. Yes, you can use walllet.dat on Linux, OS X and Windows
2. Depends on OS and "what kind of sleep" but generally yes.
3. That is a good question. What OS are you on at the moment? If it's mac, did you put it in

Code:

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/bitcoin.conf 

I copied the whole sample code from https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin . Alter settings to your needs. It worked well for me.

[cypherdoc]

Good morning
1. Yes, you can use walllet.dat on Linux, OS X and Windows
2. Depends on OS and "what kind of sleep" but generally yes.
3. That is a good question. What OS are you on at the moment? If it's mac, did you put it in

Code:

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/bitcoin.conf 

I copied the whole sample code from https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin . Alter settings to your needs. It worked well for me.

so what i've done is tunneled my mac desktop at home to port 8333 and getting decent 12 connections while keeping empty client open and always connected with updated blockchain.  i'm using macbook pro with both macOS and win7 clients which have coins addnoding to this home external IP address.  am trying to get .conf to work since it should connect on client startup w/o laborious terminal commands however only getting 3 connections.  questions below
from the wiki regarding .conf file that i haven't seen mentioned on the thread:

 1.# Connect via a socks4 proxy
 #proxy=127.0.0.1:9050

 2.# Do not use Internet Relay Chat (irc.lfnet.org #bitcoin channel) to
 # find other peers.
 #noirc=1

3. # Listen for RPC connections on this TCP port:
 rpcport=8332

are these suggestions still applicable?

this is whats in my .conf which is in the right place:
addnode=70.177.29.71
addnode=69.164.218.197
addnode=178.79.147.99
addnode=64.22.103.150
addnode=109.75.176.226
addnode=99.27.237.13
noirc=1

[mewantsbitcoins]

I think that's it. You won't be getting more than 8 connections if you can't bind your clients to 8333 port. If you have your external IP in .conf file this will allow your clients on Macbook and Win7 to instantly download the blockchain from your Mac desktop even if that's the only connection.
I would remove noirc=1 from .conf. If you leave it there it disables IRC peer discovery method. When you take your macbook with you to another network where you have access to port 8333, you'll benefit from being able to use this method.

1. This setting is for people who use proxies. The example "proxy=127.0.0.1:9050" is the way bitcoin can be used on Tor. Localhost acts like router/proxy.
2. Already mentioned - IRC peer discovery method
3. Is for controlling Bitcoin via Jason-RPC

[opticbit]

Seems to take a long time to get connections, when starting up the app on a mac.  but if I turn on generate I get a connection a little quicker

[cypherdoc]

I think that's it. You won't be getting more than 8 connections if you can't bind your clients to 8333 port. If you have your external IP in .conf file this will allow your clients on Macbook and Win7 to instantly download the blockchain from your Mac desktop even if that's the only connection.
I would remove noirc=1 from .conf. If you leave it there it disables IRC peer discovery method. When you take your macbook with you to another network where you have access to port 8333, you'll benefit from being able to use this method.

1. This setting is for people who use proxies. The example "proxy=127.0.0.1:9050" is the way bitcoin can be used on Tor. Localhost acts like router/proxy.
2. Already mentioned - IRC peer discovery method
3. Is for controlling Bitcoin via Jason-RPC

is there a program or easy way to tell that my home client is porting to 8333 as desired and more importantly is there a way to tell if my macbook client is detecting my home external IP via the .conf file?

[mewantsbitcoins]

Matt Corallo had a Windows binary to probe ports. You should ask him - he may have one for OS X too. But if you are getting more than 8 connections, that means it's working.
To see if your clients on macbook on Win7 are connecting to your desktop you can look in debug.log file. Simpler way is to just leave these clients off for a while. Once you launch it again, it should start downloading the blockchain immediately. If so, everything's working

[cypherdoc]

i think i might finally be able to contribute something to this conversation after mewantsbitcoins helped me greatly understand whats going on.

for those of you wishing to use the bitcoin.conf file to addnodes instead of terminal -addnode commands i think the trouble we're having is with the TextEdit on the mac and possibly Notepad on Windows.  In TextEdit, the default settings are Rich Text Format and changing to plain text is not as simple as it sounds.  check out this link and follow the instructions carefully before creating addnode commands.  http://support.apple.com/kb/TA20406

after changing the preferences settings you need to close and reopen TextEdit before the changes are recorded.  only then can you save a file as Unicode (UTF plain text.  this has improved my connections markedly.  the 8333 port connection has helped tremendously per mewantsbitcoins.  i am a much happier person now 

[mewantsbitcoins]

We learned a very important difference between word processor and text editor 

[cypherdoc]

We learned a very important difference between word processor and text editor 

however i must say that i get an immediate 124 connections when i open the client with terminal addnode commands from my dedicated 8333 port mac desktop at home vs. 24 connections when i open with the bitcoin.conf file.

[mewantsbitcoins]

Could you open terminal and change directory(cd) to where you put your bitcoin.conf. Then type:

Code:

ls -la

Code:

pwd

Post the output of both commands

[cypherdoc]

Could you open terminal and change directory(cd) to where you put your bitcoin.conf. Then type:

Code:

ls -la

Code:

pwd

Post the output of both commands

where do i cd to?  bitcoin.conf is where it usually is:  Library/Application Support/Bitcoin

[mewantsbitcoins]

Could you open terminal and change directory(cd) to where you put your bitcoin.conf. Then type:

Code:

ls -la

Code:

pwd

Post the output of both commands

where do i cd to?  bitcoin.conf is where it usually is:  Library/Application Support/Bitcoin

That's probably the problem. It should be in /Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/