A full node accepts the transactions and blocks after validating. The full node relays the accepted transactions to other full nodes in the network. Full nodes are light weighted and allow the transmitting of the transactions to the network and notify when there is an effect (change ) on the wallet.
The minimum resource requirements for ubuntu:
For Live Net :
Hard disk: 500 Gigabytes,
Ram: 8 Gigabytes (Preferable),
Platform: Ubuntu latest (18.04 is preferable )
For Test Net :
Hard disk: 50 Gigabytes,
Ram: 8 Gigabytes (Preferable),
Platform: Ubuntu latest (18.04 is preferable )
Note: The node should run continuously so that the transactions & blocks get updated from day to day and time.
You have to add Bitcoin personal Package Archive (PPA)
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:bitcoin/bitcoin
Note: Personal Package Archive (PPA) are software repositories designed for Ubuntu users. PPA is like a play store for Android users. All the software that are verified and allowed to install is available in PPA.
Adding the repository needs user authentication, so you might be asked to provide a password to authenticate the request. You will be prompted on the terminal to press enter, just press enter.
Use the below command to get the updates to the Bitcoin repository just added.
sudo apt-get update
You can install BTC full node with the combination of GUl ( Graphical user interface ) or terminal or both.
sudo apt-get install bitcoin-qt → Use this for the full node with only GUI
sudo apt-get install bitcoind → Use this for the full node with only Terminal
sudo apt-get install bitcoin-qt bitcoind → Use this for the full node with both GUI & Terminal Please use the installation with the terminal option to follow the rest of the article as I have used terminal commands for illustration throughout this article.
After the successful installation, you will see all the bitcoin files on the lib directory.
bitcoind to run the Bitcoin node.
To check available options type bitcoind --help on the terminal.
It is advised to add the config file in the path ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
Testnet sample code for the config file is
#server=1 // enable this for main net and commant testnet
testnet=1 // un commant this to run the node on test net and commant server
deamon=1 // this is used to run the node in background
#rpcbind=0.0.0.0:18332
rpcuser=username
rpcpassword=Password
rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0
rpcallowip=custom ip address
#rpcport=54543
walletnotify=/home/transaction.sh %s
You should specify configuration params in a config file, like the node is a test/main net, setting the password and username, IP to access the wallet, etc
walletnotify option is used to receive the information when there is a change in the wallet, like a new deposit to the wallet. It returns the transaction in key %s.
transaction.sh file is a custom file which written to save the Id’s, as below
#!/bin/sh
echo $1 >> ~/tran.txt
tran.txt will have the transaction Id’s affected the wallet.
You have to synchronize your node with all the transactions and blocks before starting to use it. This might take days depending on the size of data to be synchronized.
After the full synchronization, you are ready for the actual process of node wallet i.e validating the blocks, depositing and withdrawal process.
You can access the wallet within the server itself using the bitcoin-cli. You can use this option for quick verification of successful node installation.
For example, to get the balance type bitcoin-cli getbalance it returns the balance of the wallet.
You can use bitcoin-cli commands to get a list of transactions, transaction etc on the Bitcoin node.
Links to testnet faucet and explorers for BTC.
Link to blockchain main net explorer
Below command is for what?
apt-get install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config libssl-dev libevent-dev bsdmainutils
You might be prompted for the confirmation to install the packages, enter Y to continue.
Use the below commands to install LTC and dependency packages.
apt-get install libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-chrono-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-thread-dev
apt-get install libminiupnpc-dev
To run the Litecoin node: Use litecoind
To check available options type litecoind --help on the terminal.
It is advised to add the config file in the path ~/.litecoin/litecoin.conf
Testnet sample code for the config file
#server=1
testnet=1
deamon=1
#rpcbind=0.0.0.0:18332
rpcuser=usernam
rpcpassword=Password
rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0
rpcallowip=custom ip address
#rpcport=54543
walletnotify=/home/transaction.sh %s
Follow the same instructions as you did for the BTC set up in this article for the configuration after locating the litecoin.conf
litecoind will initiate the transactions and blocks synchronization similar to BTC, it will take days similar to BTC. After the full synchronization, you are ready node wallet validating the blocks, depositing and withdrawals.
You can access the wallet within the server itself using the litecoin-cli
For example, to get the balance type litecoin-cli getbalance it returns the balance of the wallet.
Read my previous article to learn more about the nodejs implementation for wallet connections.
Links to testnet faucet and explorers for BTC.
