Topic: Bitnodes cannot find my Bitcoin node (Read 272 times)

The current situation of BTC does not seem to be better this year, I hope the next year will be much better inshallah

I've sent my server's sponsor a message, just to be sure If it's allowed, it will be my first adventure running anything else than just the Tor browser, so I may come back with some questions.

Well, if you run a Bitcoin node behind Tor, you're not running a Tor exit node. Just sending and receiving data from the Tor network. Technically no different than spinning up a VM with VNC and opening Tor browser on that, right?
Unless that's also forbidden, I don't see why a Bitcoin node with Tor connectivity should be.

As far as I know, it's easy to tell a Tor exit node from a mere Tor 'network participant'.

I meant the Tor data. I've often seen terms that don't allow to run an exit node. I'm not sure how Tor data qualifies.
My (sponsored) server is allowed 50 TB per month, and I'd like to use that for good for Bitcoin.

You mean VPS providers? I guess it depends; some of them have either traffic caps or you pay for the traffic at some rate, so I don't think they're going to have a problem with that.
If you're 'leveraging' one with unlimited upload / download that doesn't foresee such heavy use, I guess they could get irritated when they find a Tor + clearnet routing node on their platform..

My node "only" uploads 40 GB per day (I set the target to 500). Also when downloading Bitcoin Core, I never got the idea available bandwidth from other nodes was one of the bottlenecks. But when I compare uploads to downloads, the node uploads 50 times more! If that means there are about 50 downloading nodes for every uploading node, the ratio isn't very good.

My guess is most webhosts won't appreciate that, right?

Good job, solving that issue and sharing the solution with us! I saw this thread just now.

Keep in mind even without 'inbound' connections (i.e. other node initiated the connection), you're still seeding the blockchain and 'helping the network'.
Though I agree that also being findable is desirable.

It's good to know that Spain has so much CGNAT going on; I'll keep this in mind.

Tor is one solution, but we also need clearnet nodes as well as clearnet + Tor nodes that 'join' the two networks.

I found the reason it is not working. My ISP is using an IP sharing method that, it looks like, is very common in Spain (where I live). It is called CGNAT or Carrier Grade Network Address Translation. I found that my public ID in pages as https://canyouseeme.org/ is different from the IPv4 my router shows in my connection status information. This is because my router does not connect directly to Internet.

It connects to an ISP hub. If I open and forward ports, or enable DMZ, or UPnP, I’m doing it on my own router and not in the ISP hub, where all ports are still blocked. I checked thoroughly my ISP contract and finally found that there is one term where it says I can request to my ISP a direct connection with my own IP address instead of the hub shared connection, which is the default connection by the ISP. So, this is my next step.

This also explains why Bitnodes shows 340 nodes in Spain, but only 66 are reachable, as I said before, it is very common for ISPs in Spain to uses CGNAT connections. People who do not need port forwarding don’t even know they are sharing their public IP with other ISP clients. I have read that IPv6 is only 3 % of all Internet connections in Spain (retarded state of technology… and I’m using “retarded” consciously and on purpose). Having a node which is not reachable does not provide any service to the bitcoin network.

So, this should resolve the whole issue.

Nevertheless, this issue has helped me to find a way to create a Tor Win32 Service, that would allow my node to create inbound connections. I set up my node in January this year, and although Bitnodes could reach it, I never checked if it was getting inbound connections. Probably not. And if it was doing it, those connections where not hidden under an onion service. I’ll check again once I have my own not-shared public IP address.

Thanks, anyway.

Thanks guys.

Nothing has worked.

Yes, I have tried Map port using UPnP (it is also enabled in my router, and I have made sure that Windows service UPnP host device is running). ). I tried this and allowing connections (not other checkmarks enabled). Bitnodes does not reach my node.

I have found this link https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Setting_up_a_Tor_hidden_service#Windows and I have created a Tor Win32 Service in Windows. It says at the beginning of this article that “If you use a Bitcoin full node over Tor, then usually it will only be able to make outgoing connections. Therefore, you will only get a maximum of 10 total connections. This is fine, and is not something you usually need to worry about, but if your computer is often online and you want to be a big help to the network, you can run a Tor hidden service in order to accept incoming connections over Tor.”

I have followed the instructions in the link and I had some trouble with the Windows permissions but, finally I managed to have the service running (Windows permissions management is just a complete disaster, but… I manage with it).

I have done all and tested it following the link, and it shows ports listening.

I have even tested my port 8333 and this is the test result:
 
C:\>netstat -aon | findstr ":8333"
  TCP    0.0.0.0:8333           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       17076
  

It shows also IP addresses are outbound connections to my node.  

Bitnodes still cannot reach my node and my node does not show any inbound connections.

I guess I give up. I’ll try sometime in the future a Raspberry PI 4 with MyNode.

Thanks, anyway.

With UPnP enabled in both router and Bitcoin Core's network setting, it should be able to map the port if the ISP allows it;
but since it didn't worked, it must the ISP's fault.

Anyways, how did you test it? Have you enabled all those settings at once?
Because it wont work if all mentioned settings are ticked all at the same time without the required services.
If so, only leave "Map port using UPnP" and "Allow incoming connections" checked, close Bitcoin Core, then enable UPnP in your router and restart it.

For the "peers", I think you got 10 outbound connections instead of inbound.

A reachable node is a node that listens to incoming connections. Have you configured the listen=1? I remember I couldn't find mine either, but once I ran it through Tor and enabled incoming connections (as I had problems with port forwarding, as always) it showed fine. If you don't like waiting (as Tor's slow), use a VPN. Just don't bother with port forward, because it's usually a waste of time.

Inform us for any updates.

If the ISP is low on IPs, they could put you behind NAT. If that's the case, you'll have a local IP instead of your external IP in your router. Just Google "What is my IP".

I've got former Windows Security Essentials that now, with Windows 10, it is just call Windows Security, and manages all together (antivirus, firewall, etc.). I can just shut it down completely and my node is not reachable on Bitnodes either.

I just listened to a video of a guy explaining how to open and forward ports in HUAWEI routers, and he says that although he did it everything ok the very first time, it did not work. He had to call his internet service provider (ISP) and he found that his public IP was shared by another user. I think he means that his IP was not static and was a dynamic IP, because I do not think an ISP can give two users same IP at the same time (but I don’t really know it).

If the IP is dynamic, I just don’t understand why port forwarding should not work either, as the router would connect using the public IP, that Bitnodes would read and show as my public IP as it does with a static one. The port forwarding inside the router only affects the local computer IP where the node is installed, it’s MAC address, etc. Port forwarding is a LAN configuration. It does not care about the WLAN public IP address which the ISP is providing. Am I right?

If I am, the only difference would be that every time my ISP changes my IP, Bitnodes would show a different public IP to check if my node is reachable. But sharing same IP with two clients? I don't know if that can be really done... anybody knows it this could be done?

In any case, I have rebooted my router many times and I always get the same public IP. If I had a dynamic IP, my IP would change every time I reboot (chances to get the same IP after rebooting are extremely low). So, I do not think this is either the case.

What it is really amazing is finding so many nodes in Spain which are not reachable on the Bitnodes test. It's just driving me nuts!

I'll check the chat for more answers. Thanks anyway!

Perhaps also check that your ISP isn't silently blocking port 8333, because that seems to be a trend among them these days (whether it is some kind of anti-bitcoin agenda or they are just preventing their network from getting congested is up for debate).

Do you also have some antivirus/security app installed/running? Some come with their own firewall, maybe you've missed that?

I have disconected all options in the firewall. Still not working.

I just checked mine: it sees it just fine (I've only been running a non-pruned full node for 5 days, and it uploaded 200 GB so far).

I don't know much from Windows, but from what I've seen, it's often the firewall that's the problem.

The web page https://bitnodes.io/ cannot reach my node. I have opened port 8333 and forwarded the transit to that port in my router, and I have opened the port in Windows Firewall (created an entrance permit rule). I'm running the node in a Windows 10. If I write “netstat -ab” in the command prompt, port 0.0.0.0:8333 shows as “listening”. The output in this test also shows my local LAN IP listed in local addresses with one or some random ports for the bitcoin-qt.exe file; and in remote address it shows one or some IP addresses on port 8333. These are peers connected to my node (outbound peers). I have a HUAWEI Home Gateway HG65, which is much easier to set up than other routers I had before (this one I've gotten it for one week as I have just changed ISP). I have tried to enable DMZ option instead of port forwarding, or enabling UPnP in the router and my Bitcoin Core, and does not work either.
 
So, whatever configuration I choose, when I click my public IP in Bitnodes it says node is not reachable. Also, if I test my port 8333 with https://canyouseeme.org/ it says “Error:  I could not see your service on my public IP and port 8333”. It adds “Reason: Connection timed out”. If I check in muy Bitcoin Core node window, in Information, in Network, I see 10 incoming pears connected, and cero outbound peers.

I have also tried all Network configurations in my Bitcoin Core and it does not work (Map port using UPnP, Map port using NAT-PMP, Allow incoming connections, connect through SOCKS5 PROXY (default proxy) 127.0.0.1:9150, and so on). I have disconnected Windows Firewall and still does not work.

I have checked in https://bitnodes.io/ reachable nodes in Spain, where I live, and from 340 nodes, only 66 are reachable. This is weird. Do all these 274 node owners know their node is not reachable? I guess they don’t.

Anybody knows how to resolve it?

Thanks.