This guide is written for professional market makers & traders to build an always-on xud node with a powerful Mini PC.
Two options are available:
- Light setup using Neutrino and a random open eth provider or optionally Infura. This keeps the setup light-weight & cheap, but requires to trust these full nodes delivering correct chain data to a certain extent.
- Full setup using bitcoind, litecoind and geth. Requires more resources and an SSD, but keeps the setup trustless.
- GIGABYTE GB-BLCE-4105 BRIX: 138 €
- 4 GB RAM: 15 €
- 120GB M.2 SSD: 20 €
- USB stick for backups: 3,99 €
- Any >1GB USB stick will do.
- A NAS/Samba share works too.
- GIGABYTE GB-BLCE-4105 BRIX: 138 €
- Alternative: ODROID H2+ - same platform, features NVME, needs separate case, power supply and wifi dongle, out of stock at times
- 32 GB RAM: 127 €
- Alternative: List of compatible RAM
- 2TB SSD: 193 €
- Alternative: 1 TB M.2 SSD NVME - for Odroid H2+
- Alternative: 240GB M.2 SSD + 2TB HDD
- USB stick for backups: 3,99 €
- Any >1GB USB stick will do.
- A NAS/Samba share works too.
- Download Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS onto your computer. Any other linux distribution supporting docker is also fine. This guide was written assuming
Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS. - Insert a USB Stick into your computer and create the a bootable USB Stick with the ubuntu image you just downloaded.
- Open your Mini PC, plug in RAM & drives, close it, connect it to your router via ethernet cable and to a power supply. Connect a screen via HDMI, a USB keyboard, the created bootable USB Stick, fire the Mini PC up and follow the the inital setup instructions.
- Update ubuntu via
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade - If you are using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, install docker by running
sudo apt install docker.io. Otherwise if you are using any version besides Ubuntu 20.04, follow the official instructions to install docker. - Add new user
xud:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo adduser xud
Adding user `xud' ...
Adding new group `xud' (1001) ...
Adding new user `xud' (1001) with group `xud' ...
Creating home directory `/home/xud' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for xud
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
Full Name []:
Room Number []:
Work Phone []:
Home Phone []:
Other []:
Is the information correct? [Y/n] ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ Y- Add the
xuduser to the sudo group (advanced users can skip this and use another user to run sudo commands), the docker group and test if docker is working:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo usermod -aG sudo xud
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo usermod -aG docker xud
# switch to user xud
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su - xud
xud@ubuntu:~$ docker run hello-world
Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.- Looking good! Optionally, add an alias to enter your xud environment by simply typing "xud":
xud@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano ~/.bash_aliases
# add the line
alias xud='bash ~/xud.sh'
# CTRL+S, CTRL+X. Then run
xud@ubuntu:~$ source ~/.bashrc- Connect the USB stick to your machine and set it up. It is very important to do this for a mainnet setup (given you do not want to loose money)!
# check the USB stick's path with
xud@ubuntu:~$ ls -la /dev/ | grep sd
crw------- 1 root root 2, 61 Dec 3 16:27 ptysd
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Dec 3 16:27 sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Dec 3 16:27 sda1 #this is your USB Stick
crw------- 1 root root 3, 61 Dec 3 16:27 ttysd
# set it to automount via fstab
xud@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
# add the line
/dev/sda1 /media/USB ext4 defaults 0 2
# CTRL+S, CTRL+X. Then mount it
xud@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/USB
xud@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -a
# check if mounting worked
xud@ubuntu:~$ df -h
# make sure xud can use it
xud@ubuntu:~$ sudo chown xud:xud /media/USBDONE! Continue here.