MicroBitcoin Nodes Setup Guide

This is a simple and quick guide to setup your own MicroBitcoin node server.

Nodes are a vital part of the protocol’s ecosystem and the more there is, the more stable and secure the MicroBitcoin network is.

About MicroBitcoin

MicroBitcoin is a digital currency forked from Bitcoin that enables micro-payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. MicroBitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: managing transactions and issuing money are carried out collectively by the network. MicroBitcoin is the name of open source software which enables the use of this currency.

For more information, as well as an immediately useable, binary version of the MicroBitcoin software, see the official website, or read the whitepaper.

How to setup your own node

The most common way users like to run their nodes is to run an Amazon Web Service EC2 Instance (AWS EC2). For information on how to setup your own check their website out here.

Minimum requirements

Running a node on lower-end hardware may work, but you may run into more problems. The following are minimum requirements, and may have less issues:

1. Desktop or laptop hardware running recent versions of Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.
2. Internet connection with upload speeds of at least 400 kilobits (50 kilobytes) per second
3. 200 GB of free diskspace
4. CPU Processor of at least 1.5 GHz
5. Memory (RAM) with at least 2 GB

Once Assuming you have the above and Ubuntu 16.04 installed, you will need to copy the daemon and cli (Linux builds can be found here)to the home directory of your server. The install the following dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin/bitcoin
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get install libdb4.8-dev libdb4.8++-dev
sudo apt-get install libevent-pthreads-2.0–5

In case of errors, update the Ubuntu server once again:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Then from home directory create microbitcoin.conf file:

cd ~/
nano microbitcoin.conf

Then add the following to the file (make sure to create your own USERNAME and PASSWORD) and save (ctrl + o):

server=1
gen=1
rpcbind=0.0.0.0
rpcuser=USERNAME
rpcpassword=PASSWORD
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0
listen=1

Create new folder called blockchain and copy microbitcoin.conf file into it:

mkdir blockchain
cp microbitcoin.conf blockchain/

Run microbitcoind with the following flags:

./microbitcoind -maxtipage=$((24*60*60*5000)) -datadir=blockchain -printtoconsole

If there’re no errors, run with -daemon flag:

./microbitcoind -maxtipage=$((24*60*60*5000)) -datadir=blockchain -printtoconsole -daemon

Conclusion

Congratulations! With this you should be able to run your own MicroBitcoin full node. If there are any issues that may come up while setting up your nodes, you should join the Official Discord Community Channel and discuss with other fellow members and developers.