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1.4 Configuration

You are now on the command line of your own Bitcoin node. Let's start with the configuration.

Add the admin user (and log in with it)

We will use the primary user admin instead of temp to make this guide more universal.

  • Create a new user called admin with your password [A]
sudo adduser --gecos "" admin
  • Make this new user a superuser by adding it to the sudo and old temp user groups
sudo usermod -a -G sudo,adm,cdrom,dip,plugdev,lxd admin
  • Logout the existing temp user
logout
  • Repeat Access with Secure Shell but this time login with admin and your password [A]
  • Delete the temp user. Do not worry about the userdel: temp mail spool (/var/mail/temp) not found message
sudo userdel -rf temp

Expected output:

> userdel: temp mail spool (/var/mail/temp) not found

{% hint style="info" %} To change the system configuration and files that don't belong to the user "admin", you have to prefix commands with sudo. You will be prompted to enter your admin password [A] from time to time for increased security {% endhint %}

Login with SSH keys (optional)

{% hint style="info" %} Now, you can start to access it without a password by following the SSH keys bonus guide {% endhint %}

System update

  • Update the operating system and all installed software packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

{% hint style="info" %} Do this regularly every few months for security-related updates. If during the update process, a banner appears asking you, "Which services should be restarted?" you can press ENTER and take note of the services that will be restarted, marked with [*]. Example 🔽 {% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %} It is recommended to keep the default selection and restart all marked items. However, if you want to unmark any of them, select the item and press the spacebar to toggle the mark. Finally, press ENTER to confirm {% endhint %}

  • To be able to use the minibolt hostname instead of the IP address, we must install this necessary software package
sudo apt install avahi-daemon

Check drive performance

Performant unit storage is essential for your node.

Let's check if your drive works well as-is.

  • Your disk should be detected as /dev/sda. Check if this is the case by listing the names of connected block devices
lsblk -pli
  • Measure the speed of your drive
sudo hdparm -t --direct /dev/sda

Example of expected output:

> Timing O_DIRECT disk reads: 932 MB in 3.00 seconds = 310.23 MB/sec

{% hint style="success" %} If the measured speeds are more than 150 MB/s, you're good {% endhint %}

  • If you installed a secondary disk, check and measure the speed with the next command, if not, skip it
sudo hdparm -t --direct /dev/sdb

Example of expected output:

> Timing O_DIRECT disk reads: 932 MB in 3.00 seconds = 310.23 MB/sec

{% hint style="success" %} If the measured speeds are more than 100 MB/s, you're good but is recommended more for a better experience {% endhint %}

Data directory

We'll store all application data in the dedicated directory /data. This allows for better security because it's not inside any user's home directory. Additionally, it's easier to move that directory somewhere else, for instance to a separate drive, as you can just mount any storage option to /data

  • Create the data folder
sudo mkdir /data

{% hint style="info" %} Remember that the before command is not necessary if you previously followed Case 1 of Store data in a secondary disk bonus guide, which involves storing the data in a secondary disk. This is because the ("data") folder has already been created. If the prompt shows you: mkdir: cannot create directory '/data': File exists probably is that. Then ignore it and follow with the next command 🔽 {% endhint %}

  • Assing to the admin user as the owner of the (/data) folder
sudo chown admin:admin /data