Hi. I’m not highly technical. I’m running StartOS Knots, signalling for BIP-110. Matthew Kratter just appealed to node runners to forward port 8333 on our home routers, so our signalling for BIP-110 will be more visible on the network. Is this advisable? Any input would be much appreciated.
Which version of StartOS are you on? 0.3.5.1 or 0.4.0?
Call me a conspiracy kind a guy but seem kind of crazy to tell plebs to expose a port so willy nilly like that consider 60% wouldn’t know how to, or understand the implications, all just for a more accurate stat count?? Huge attack vector.
Would be much safer to do it with your own router inline. At least with OS 0.3.5-1.No?
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I don’t think it is actually possible to do with 0.3.5.1 (unless I am looking at it wrong). It looks like bitcoin.conf is regenerated from a template on every start and -externalip is hard-wired to the Tor onion address.
With 0.4.0 (and Umbrel or native bitcoind/bitcoin-qt) the safest way to do this is with a VPS. On 0.4.0, Start Tunnel is the best candidate, and something like wireguard for Umbrel and native.
I’ll look at adding a helper tool to HashGG for this. I agree that simply opening a port in your router and broadcasting your IP on the bitcoin network is kind of an advertisement to $5 wrench attackers.
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I’m on 0.4.0. Thanks to you and Greg for the responses. I don’t think I’ll be doing it. Strange suggestion from Matt.
Yes, I don’t recommend port forwarding your router either, although it is free. Start Tunnel is the secure way to go on 0.4.0, but it costs money (~$6 /mo for the BTCVPS option if privacy is a concern). Although, I suppose just running it for a month to make sure your node is counted ahead of mandatory signaling might be worth a few sats.
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I’ve got setting up Start Tunnel down to clicking through a wizard and copy/pasting a couple of commands in the next release of HashGG. I’ll post a video with a tutorial (after my Pickhash Part 2 video) but I suspect most folks will be able to follow the instructions in HashGG without any problem.
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Hey. i am setting up knots right now, im wondering about a couple of things.
- under peer settings, shall i have ipv4, ipv6, tor and i2p enabled ? i just have tor right now and its very slow.
- is it possible to send DMs on this forum ?
I2P is a good option to enable. As for IPv4 and IPv6, it depends on your desired level of privacy. Probably the best balance of speed and privacy is to allow outgoing connections over clearnet (IPv4 and/or IPv6) and use a VPS for your broadcast address (I’ll post a video tutorial on how to do this). In this configuration, only the peers you connect to have your residential IP, but since your node can’t receive connections over that IP, it doesn’t propagate around the network (only the VPS IP does). This is better privacy than forwarding port 8333 (where your residential IP address is propagated around the network), though it comes with the cost of the VPS, so there is a trade-off (port forwarding is free).
Yes, there are a couple of ways to send DMs. The fastest interaction method is with the chat bubble at the top of the page (click on the DMs page, hit the “+”, and search for the user you want to DM). This one allows you to live chat if the person you are DM’ing is online. The other method is the Personal Messages interface (click on the user’s avatar and click the “Message” button). This option is less real time (more like email) but works well if the user is not online to chat live.
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thanks, im just gonna run l2p and tor. i had opened that 8333 port for a little bit before i read this post, then disabled it. is there any way i can check if my ip was sent to the network ?
It will have been sent out, but it will naturally drop off after some time since nobody will be able to connect to it anymore and they will prune it from their list and stop relaying it to their peers (who will do the same, and so-on).
ok, but as long as i dont have port 8333 open on my router, it is safe to have ipv4 and ipv6 enabled aswell ? sorry im a total noob , i just dont want my private ip all around the btc network
Yes, that is much better, but technically one level less private than using a VPS. Your node will still broadcast your residential IP address, and I think your peers will propagate it to their peers since they are connected (this is an assumption, though, I’d need to look at the code to confirm). It shouldn’t propagate too far though, because nobody will be able to connect and will prune it from their list. Your node continually broadcasting it will keep it from fully dropping off, though, so it does still cast a wider shadow.
StartOS 0.3.5.1 shores this up by setting the externalip to your node’s onion address. Thus, your node only broadcasts its onion address even when connecting outbound to clearnet peers is enabled. You could copy this strategy in your node’s configuration since you are not on 0.3.5.1. If you want to go with this configuration rather than the VPS/Start Tunnel route, I’ll check how to configure this on 0.4.0 when I have a chance and let you know.
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that would be much apreciated. i will just keep TOR and ip2 enabled for now then.