Project Roma : Installing & Configuring Bitcoin Core

Prerequisite

• A dedicated computer
• Ubuntu Server

1- Installing Bitcoin Core

This section will be done remotely from another computer by connecting to your Node using SSH. Please follow previous Chapter to make sure your hardware is adequate, and you have followed Ubuntu Server installation.

***First of all, we will validate that the installation was done properly and that the Ubuntu installation was NOT setup as a virtual machine **

df -h

Looking for updates

sudo apt update

Updating

sudo apt upgrade

Lets start by creating a “downloads” folder

mkdir downloads

***Go in the downloads folder

cd downloads

It is now important to understand what you are about to do. There are different ways to install Bitcoin Core. My preferred way is to download the release from Bitcoin Core here https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/
and do the GPG Key verification with the key list here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/contrib/verify-commits/trusted-keys on Github.

Download the files from the Bitcoin Core website

wget https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-24.0.1/bitcoin-24.0.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

wget https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-24.0.1/SHA256SUMS

wget https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-24.0.1/SHA256SUMS.asc

Validate that the release file is listed in the checksums file

sha256sum --ignore-missing --check SHA256SUMS

Use GPG to load keys locally from individuals found on the Github site
Ignore any warning and failures, but you must be sure that the lists “OK” after the name of the release file downloaded

Use GPG to load keys locally from individuals found on the Github site

gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org --recv-keys E777299FC265DD04793070EB944D35F9AC3DB76A

gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org --recv-keys D1DBF2C4B96F2DEBF4C16654410108112E7EA81F

Verify that the checksum file is verified

gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc

You should receive a “Good signature” beside the name associated to the key

Extract the tar file. It will create a folder called bitcoin-24.0.1 so it is important that you call it in the next command line.

tar xzf bitcoin-24.0.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Install the content in the following directory. It is IMPORTANT that you write the correct folder name based on your release number. If you have installed the release 25.0, the folder name has to be bitcoin-25.0

sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-24.0.1/bin/*

Cross your fingers and launch Bitcoin Core

bitcoind -daemon

***Get blockchain info to see which block your node is at

bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo

Validate your node is connected to how many peers

bitcoin-cli getconnectioncount

***If you want to follow the log of your node synchronization, you should open secondary Terminal window and write the following command

tail -f .bitcoin/debug.log

2. Configuring Bitcoin Core

While the blockchain is synchronizing, you can start the configuration. In order to be fully synchronized, it will take approximately 18 hours. I found a great tutorial on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_mLXISrfM

Open a new therminal window and go to the /.bitcoin folder

cd /.bitcoin

*** We need to create a new configuration file***

nano bitcoin.conf

Paste de following text in the bitcoin.conf file

server=1
txindex=1
daemon=1
rpcport=8332
rpcbind=0.0.0.0
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
rpcallowip=10.0.0.0/8
rpcallowip=172.0.0.0/8
rpcallowip=192.0.0.0/8
zmqpubrawblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:28332
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://0.0.0.0:28333
zmqpubhashblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:28334
whitelist=127.0.0.1
rpcauth="username":[output of rpcauth.py]

Keep this terminal window open and go back to the main window

We will create a username and password for the RPC Authentification of the bitcoin.conf file we have created in the other terminal window and modify it

In the original terminal window, be sure you are in your “downloads” folder

cd downloads

*** In order to add a "username" and "password" to access to your node, go to Github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin and search for rpcauth.py. Go to the raw file and copy the link***

wget https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/share/rpcauth/rpcauth.py

Make the file executable
chmod +x rpcauth.py

Execute the file with a "username" & "password" at the end of the command line
./rpcauth.py "username" "password"

Copy the string and paste it in the configuration file of the auxiliary termina window

Modify the "username" and "password" in the bitcon.conf file

#Output for your username and password
rpcauth="username":[output of rpcauth.py]

CTRL+X and save Yes

Restart your node
Bitcoin-cli stop
Bitcoind

3.Creating the service file for automatic boot on start-up

*** Go back to Github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin and search for .service file. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/663f6cd9ddadeec30b27ec12f0f5ed49f3146cc9/contrib/init/bitcoind.service***

Important note: The new service file does not work properly. The link above is for the service file from 2021

Download the .service file in your systemd folder
cd /etc/systemd/system

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/663f6cd9ddadeec30b27ec12f0f5ed49f3146cc9/contrib/init/bitcoind.service

sudo nano bitcoind.service

Change the file

In the [service] section, make the following changes:

• Make sure that the “ExecStart” has the right path for the folder “bitcoind” on the same line as “daemonwait” (you can verify the path in another terminal with the command “whereis bitcoind”)
• you need to remove the “wait” in -daemonwait to have only -daemon
• Make sure that the bitcoin.conf file has the right path. 
• Change also the path for the datadir.
• Put a # in front of ExecStartPre=
• Change “user” and “group” for the actual user of the server instead of Bitcoin and Bitcoin
• Put a # in front of ProtectHome

Press CTRL + X to save it, Y, enter

Shutdown Bitcoin
bitcoin-cli stop

Activate the new service file
sudo systemctl enable bitcoind
sudo systemctl start bitcoind

Validate the status
sudo systemctl status bitcoind

4. Enable TOR

Go back to home directory
sudo apt install tor

Validate that TOR has been activated
sudo systemctl status tor

Edit TOR rc file
sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Go all the way to bottom and enter 3 lines
ControlPort 9051
CookieAuthentication 1
CookieAuthFileGroupReadable 1

CTRL-X, Save

Restart Tor
sudo systemctl restart tor

sudo usermod -a -G debian-tor "username"

Modify bitcoin.conf to add TOR lines
nano .bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
listen=1 b
bind=127.0.0.1
onlynet=onion
addnode=ty5nq4ua4v47jmebyib7wtk6b25exd735twap6g3rckbfhvlzvrkdhid.onion:8333

CTRL+X, Y

Reboot your node
sudo reboot

Et voila!