Oddbean new post about login | logout start9 / umbrel / mynode / etc vs your own Linux server? I've always avoided the prebuilt solutions and set up my own node from the ground up starting with the OS. What are the pros / cons of the two approaches? #bitcoin #asknostr
I think it's very important to make sure the node runner is in charge of the code they're running. No point in running a node if it's whatever version of Bitcoin the devs like the most. They already run their own node. Has to be flexible throughout it's lifespan. Something to keep in mind.
I agree 100%. I like being able to run whichever version / flavor I want when I want to. Unfortunately I see big names in the Bitcoin space pushing people towards the all-in-one solutions, and in some cases actively discouraging the do-it-yourself approach..
Do it yourself can be hard, so if you only care about privacy and non custodial lightning that could be fine I guess. But it doesn't decentralize the network or increase your sovereignty imo.
I am not a Linux guy. But I am in the process of running my own node. I do like to do all from the source and though they’re more plug and play, I just want to start maybe with a mini pc (don’t like the raspberry pi with the ssd cable connected outside), the bitcoin.org core for a start. Could you advise the essential plus tools I should consider to install so I can confirm my btc transactions and privacy. Basically I am just a hodler. Thanks #asknostr
After playing around with several tools, I settled on the following: Bitcoin Core - https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin Fulcrum - https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum Mempool.space - https://github.com/mempool/mempool Alby Hub - https://github.com/getAlby/hub This gives me the bare minimum (node, electrum server, blockchain explorer, and lightning node). I had a full LND node running for a while but managing it became a pain, so I shut it down and went with Alby Hub instead.
Thanks for sharing. And what about hardware. What do you use as hardware?
Raspberry Pi 4 with a usb3 ssd attached. The new Pi 5s have better support for NVME drives, so you don’t need the external drive anymore. I haven’t felt the need to update the hardware though - the 4 is powerful enough for personal use (I wouldn’t try running a public electrum server on it, but for private use it works fine)
How many gb ram and ssd disk?
8G ram and 480G SSD. I use a second 3T spinning drive to store the blocks since they don’t need to be on a fast drive - only the indexes and chainstate. The blocks folder is a symlink to the slower (and larger) drive. This works because core doesn’t do random I/O on the blocks - they are written and read sequentially, so a regular hard drive works fine.