How to Accelerate bitcoind Sync using second Peer on local LAN

General
1

Hi

Have installed Start9OS on an x86 NUC. (Latest Bitcoin Core ver 25.0.0~3). Its fully sync’d, accessible over Tor, and also over SSH on local LAN. Very happy with how that went. Thank you Start9 team.

Am now trying to repeat the process using a Raspberry Pi connected to the same LAN. Everything installed OK. I have SSH access and bintcoin Core in going though the initial sync,… but Oooof …is it slow vs NUC!

Not sure where the delay is but have rebooted several times to try and get some faster Tor peer connections,… with no luck.

Am thinking that RPi node might sync faster if I specifically set the fully synced NUC as a peer.

Assuming this idea should work, I have tried to point the RPi at the NUC using the following service config… (Services → Bitcoin Core → Config → Advanced → Peers → Add Node → Add+ → Hostname = IP4 address & Port = 8333 ).

The RPi Bitcoin Core log files are reporting that the connection is refused. (…failed after wait: Connection refused (111))

Would welcome some feedback .

  • Q: Should I be able to connect and sync one node from another on the same LAN like this?

  • Q: If yes, what do I need to change on the NUC & RPi to have get the peer connection established?

Thanks for help/pointers.

2

I am not sure if this would speed up things, but you can check out our guide for blockchain migration, and perhaps it will be helpful.

3

At this time, IP and port are not available for services. Following v040 of StartOS, they will be exposed for these types of operations. As @h0mer pointed out, the fastest way to get the fresh device synced would be via a blockchain migration. Let us know if you have any more questions.

4

Thanks @h0mer & @start9dave for your answers. Looking forward to ability to do this is v040.

Just an FYI that I am 76.79% after ~ 5 days 13 hrs .

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5

Is this a 4G or 8G Pi? The former have some known issues on sync speed and are very, very slow. We recommend an 8G if you want to use a Pi.

6

Hi Dave

Its a 4G Pi connected to a DL:200/UL:20 Mbps broadband connection.

As an FYI, current stats below.

Thanks

  • Memory % Used : 39% - 46%

  • CPU: User Space 47% - 55% Kernal Space 31% - 43% Usage : 76% - 96%

  • Bitcoind Sync Status = 80.87%

  • Time since started sync : 7 days 17 hours 24 mins

7

It is likely that the last 20% will take an excruciating amount of time. We have an update that is expected to improve the 4G Pi sync times, but you would have to install it fresh and lose your current progress. In general we are moving away from the Raspberry Pi platform at this time.

8

Thanks Dave for comments. To help share what excruciating looks like…

Bitcoind Sync Status : 89.43%

Time since started sync : 13 Days 2 Hrs 49 Mins

Q: What does “Improve” look like? Less than 2 Days, 5 Days, 10 Days to sync?

If the update enables sync in less than 7days it might be worth doing vs waiting another week to sync the final 10%. Thanks

9

We’re still testing (so not less than a week). Honestly my advice is to abandon that platform and use that raspi for something else. If you really don’t want to do that, then I would either do a blockchain migration locally as mentioned above, or else just wait for another week or two for that to complete on its own. We are moving away from the Pi entirely. It was a good starting point, but they were just not built to be servers. Even the best Pi setup is going to be prone to power delivery issues, data bandwidth throttling, and potential i/o errors.

I understand excruciating - I’ve had multiple 4G Pis take months to sync.

10

OK Thanks. Will abandon 4G Pi for Bitcoind and try to pick up a small x86 mini PC.

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