Help with bitocin.conf - how to configure a testnet full node in a safe way?

1

The general purpose here is just to have a close interaction with the bitcoin network for exploring reasons and apply some knowledge I have gained through reading here and there.

I am not expert! So, I am afraid to mess up and enable something in the bitcoin.conf, I am not fully aware of it consequences. Especially that my personal laptop (running Ubuntu) is the only resources I have right now for a full-node setup.

My initial goals are to: - run a testnet full node to experiment with the avaliable limited resources (4 RAM, 50 gigs free storage and metered internet connection) - secure my fullnode in the network (I setup the ufw firewall and created a
new separate account no idea though if I must do more in terms of the account permissions. It is a standard one)

The only examples, I found are: 1) a very general file in github: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/contrib/debian/examples/bitcoin.conf

2) This one I found in the bitcore.io documentation: https://bitcore.io/guides/wallet-service

I tried to edit it a little bit to serve my goal, I hope you can have a look into and I am more than happy to hear your recommendations. Maybe, I have to put it in another format, since it is meant to be a conf file for the bitcore implementation. I embedded some comments and questions in the file

Here it is:

{   
      "network": "testnet", 
      "port": 18333,   
      "https": true,
# must I create my keys myself? Is it the pathway important here? 
  "httpsOptions": {
     "key": "some-place-safe/key.nopass.pem",
     "cert": "some-place-safe/cert.pem"   },   
  "servicesConfig": {
     "bitcore-wallet-service": {
 # is it ok to use this port?
       "bwsPort": 3232
     },
     "bitcoind": {
       "datadir": "/home/user/.bitcore/data"
       "exec": "/home/user/bitcoin/src/bitcoind"
     }  
 },  
      "services": [
         "bitcoind",
         "bitcore-wallet-service",
        "insight-api",
        "web"   ] 
}

Probably, other stuff must be added, at the moment I am still lost and trying to navigate through the first conf file

Thanks a lot in advance!

Moe

Posted 2018-01-15T18:01:23.473

Reputation: 11

Because you say that you have limited storage, you should enable prune={number >= 551 in MB} in your config. – Willtech – 2018-03-21T12:40:18.843

Answers

1

You should use the one provided in the Bitcoin Core repository which you have linked above. That one has everything disabled by default (so only defaults are used and it will run fine out of the box and use the mainnet). All of the options that you are going to ever use are listed in that conf file with instructions on what they do and how to use them. They're all commented out.

Maybe, I have to put it in another format, since it is meant to be a conf file for the bitcore implementation

You will need to do that because that format of conf file (JSON format) is not supported by Bitcoin Core.

The questions you asked regarding the bitcore conf are completely irrelevant to Bitcoin Core as it does not support those options.

Alternatively you can use this Bitcoin Core configuration file generator which lets you choose the options you want to enable and it will generate the file for you.

Andrew Chow

Posted 2018-01-15T18:01:23.473

Reputation: 40 910

This was my problem that I was lost how to use the bitcoin.conf of the reference bitcoin client: what is the minimum I need to uncomment, so I get securely running bitcoin full node of the testnet. However, I apologize for everyone bothered reading my post, since I threw many questions and it might end up unclear what I wanted. So, I only enabled the following settings and hopefully they are enough for a healthy and secure full node: testnet=1 , rpcuser= *** , rpcpassword= , server = 1 # since I might try out other implementations as bitcore, listen=0

thanks again! – Moe – 2018-01-19T14:18:50.137

Asked: 2018-01-15T18:01:23.473

Viewed: 825 times

Active: 2018-03-21T03:30:37.170