These are the commands I used to migrate my Bitcoin Lightning node Cold Sats from a pi4 running myNode to a new bare metal machine. I’ve included commands for Umbrel as well.
I built the new machine and installed Ubuntu Server, then followed the RaspiBolt guide to setup the file structure, users, install Bitcoin / LND, etc. Then I copied the LND directory from the pi4 to the new machine.
Ensure you have your seed and channel.backup and an understanding of how to recover from them before migrating. Either a second machine already synced and ready or Blixt Wallet are good solutions for recovery.
NEVER run the same node on two different machines at the same time. Once you start LND on the new node, NEVER start LND on your old node again.
High Level Process
Preparation
- Follow RaspiBolt guide until LND wallet creation, but don’t create a wallet
- Set up a password.txt and new LND config in a temp directory
- Backup channel.backup and export channels in RTL (just for reference)
Migration
On old machine:
- Stop forwards and wait until there are no pending HTLCs
On both machines:
- Stop LND
On new machine:
- Move LND directory to a temp directory (or delete it)
- Copy LND directory from old machine to new machine
On old machine:
- Rename channel.db / LND config then turn machine off
On new machine:
- Check / update permissions for LND directory
- Remove tls.cert, tls.key, macaroons and macaroons.db
- Move password.txt and LND config from temp to LND directory
- Start LND to ensure it works, then stop
- Finish RaspiBolt step of “Allow user “admin” to work with LND”
- Enable the LND service
Migration Commands
Old node (logged in as admin)
I did not do this, but it would be wise to stop forwards and wait until there are no pending HTLCs. Or at least ensure that none will expire soon.
Stop forwards:bos limit-forwarding --disable-forwards
New node (logged in as admin)
Start LND to ensure it works, then stop:lndctrl+c
Ensure LND is stopped in systemd:systemctl status lndor check logs to see it is stopped:sudo journalctl -f -u lnd
If not stopped stop with:systemctl disable lnd
Instead of deleting files I move them to a temp directory just in case I need. Create a temp directory and move current LND directory there:mkdir /temp
mv /data/lnd lnd-old
mv /data/lnd-old /temp
Add a password.txt file and LND config file:nano /temp/password.txtAdd your LND password and planned LND config to those files.
nano /temp/lnd.conf
LND password can be found in:
myNode: sudo nano /mnt/hdd/mynode/settings/.lndpwUmbrel: your GUI password (or may be default: moneyprintergobrrr)
Old node (logged in as admin)
Check that LND version is the same as new node (v0.14.2-beta for me).
Take snapshot of current channels with RTL (just for reference).
Save channel.backup with bos TG bot.
Open a second SSH session as admin and tail LND logs to ensure it stops:
myNode: sudo tail -f /home/bitcoin/.lnd/logs/bitcoin/mainnet/lnd.logUmbrel: tail -f ~/umbrel/lnd/logs/bitcoin/mainnet/lnd.log
Stop LND in first session:
myNode: sudo mynode-stop-servicesUmbrel: sudo ./umbrel/scripts/stop
Check LND is stopped in the second SSH session.
Give admin rights to LND directory so you can copy it from new node:
myNode: sudo chmod -R 755 /mnt/hdd/mynode/lndUmbrel: sudo chmod -R 755 /mnt/data/umbrel/lnd
New node (logged in as admin)
Copy LND from old node to new node (insert your old node IP):
myNode: sudo rsync -rhvP --append-verify admin@<ip>:/mnt/hdd/mynode/lnd /data/lndUmbrel: sudo rsync -rhvP --append-verify umbrel@<ip>:/mnt/data/umbrel/lnd /data/lnd
Wait for copying to finish.
Old node (logged in as admin)
Destroy the heart of old node (rename channel.db / lnd.conf):
myNode: sudo -u bitcoin mv /mnt/hdd/mynode/lnd/data/graph/mainnet/channel.db /mnt/hdd/mynode/lnd/data/graph/mainnet/channel.bakUmbrel:
sudo -u bitcoin mv /mnt/hdd/mynode/lnd/lnd.conf /mnt/hdd/mynode/lnd/lnd.baksudo -u bitcoin mv /mnt/data/umbrel/lnd/data/graph/mainnet/channel.db /mnt/data/umbrel/lnd/data/graph/mainnet/channel.bak
sudo -u bitcoin mv /mnt/data/umbrel/lnd/lnd.conf /mnt/data/umbrel/lnd/lnd.bak
Say a final farewell and unplug old node.
NEW NODE (logged in as admin)
Check that everything is owned by LND (except “..”):ls -la /data/lndIf the directory is owned by root (it was for me), make LND the owner:sudo chown -R lnd:lnd /data/lnd
Remove TOR v3 certificate:sudo mv /data/lnd/v3_onion_private_key /temp
Remove myNode config files (only on myNode):sudo mv /data/lnd/lnd.conf /temp
sudo mv /data/lnd/lnd.conf.save /temp
sudo mv /data/lnd/lnd.conf.save.1 /temp
Remove tls.cert and tls.key:sudo mv /data/lnd/tls.key /temp
sudo mv /data/lnd/tls.cert /temp
Remove macaroons + macaroons.db:sudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/macaroons.db /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/chainnotifier.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/charge-lnd.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/invoice.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/invoices.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/readonly.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/router.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/signer.macaroon /tempsudo mv /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/walletkit.macaroon /temp
Move password.txt & lnd.conf from temp to LND directory:sudo mv /temp/lnd.conf /data/lnd && mv /temp/password.txt /data/lnd
Log into LND user and give password LND rights:sudo su lnd
chmod 600 /data/lnd/password.txt
Double check everything is correctly removed and LND directory looks good.
⚡ MOMENT OF TRUTH ⚡
Start LND:lnd
🚨 NEVER START LND ON OLD NODE AGAIN 🚨
Monitor that it works. You may see errors like I did (I had wrong password, then an issue in tor config). Read the error and try to figure out the issue. Reach out to node friends on Plebnet, myNode or other TG channels.
If your wallet unlocks and LND starts up then you have successfully migrated.
Exit LND:ctrl + c
Exit LND user session (i.e. go back to admin user):exit
Remove the temp directory:rm -rf /temp
Allow admin user to work with LND:ln -s /data/lnd /home/admin/.lnd
sudo chmod -R g+X /data/lnd/data/
sudo chmod g+r /data/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon
Check that lncli works:lncli getinfo
Start LND in systemd:sudo systemctl enable lnd
sudo systemctl start lnd
systemctl status lnd
Congrats! You have leveled up.
