What does a node do? | Bitcointalksearch.org

shorena

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Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on January 02, 2016, 03:39:15 AM

-snip-
But if the node receives a lot of request, how does it know which connection to drop, or which one is from attacker?

Its a TCP connection, you know the sender. If the sender fills you with nonsense you end the connection and refuse to accept it again for some time.

Blue_Panda73

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Quote from: achow101 on January 01, 2016, 03:32:59 PM

Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on January 01, 2016, 03:29:40 PM

Quote from: ranochigo on December 31, 2015, 10:02:42 AM

Quote from: Jet Cash on December 31, 2015, 09:50:51 AM

Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 31, 2015, 06:38:20 AM

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

6001 now

I guess people don't want to pay the overhead in running a full node, when they don't get any reward. I only start the core for a while when I want to check for coins reeceived, and to keep the blockchain up to date.

There's currently 5667 reachable nodes*, it has decreased drastically. Unless you're a developers or want extra security, a SPV node would often suffice. The main problem of Bitcoin Core is disk space and bandwidth, that's pretty much all why Bitcoin users do not want to run it. Why run Core when you can run SPV clients right?

*Only nodes that enabled port 8333 and allowed connection from bitnodes.

Is it possible to DDos those 5667 nodes and take down bitcoin network? 5667 nodes is no a large number.

Maybe. Bitcoin Core only allows a maximum of 125 connections to it. It has DoS protection built in so any node that is sending bad messages to it will get blocked and the connection will be dropped, so it may be hard to do.

But if the node receives a lot of request, how does it know which connection to drop, or which one is from attacker?

achow101

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Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on January 01, 2016, 03:29:40 PM

Quote from: ranochigo on December 31, 2015, 10:02:42 AM

Quote from: Jet Cash on December 31, 2015, 09:50:51 AM

Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 31, 2015, 06:38:20 AM

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

6001 now

I guess people don't want to pay the overhead in running a full node, when they don't get any reward. I only start the core for a while when I want to check for coins reeceived, and to keep the blockchain up to date.

There's currently 5667 reachable nodes*, it has decreased drastically. Unless you're a developers or want extra security, a SPV node would often suffice. The main problem of Bitcoin Core is disk space and bandwidth, that's pretty much all why Bitcoin users do not want to run it. Why run Core when you can run SPV clients right?

*Only nodes that enabled port 8333 and allowed connection from bitnodes.

Is it possible to DDos those 5667 nodes and take down bitcoin network? 5667 nodes is no a large number.

Maybe. Bitcoin Core only allows a maximum of 125 connections to it. It has DoS protection built in so any node that is sending bad messages to it will get blocked and the connection will be dropped, so it may be hard to do.

Blue_Panda73

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Quote from: ranochigo on December 31, 2015, 10:02:42 AM

Quote from: Jet Cash on December 31, 2015, 09:50:51 AM

Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 31, 2015, 06:38:20 AM

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

6001 now

I guess people don't want to pay the overhead in running a full node, when they don't get any reward. I only start the core for a while when I want to check for coins reeceived, and to keep the blockchain up to date.

There's currently 5667 reachable nodes*, it has decreased drastically. Unless you're a developers or want extra security, a SPV node would often suffice. The main problem of Bitcoin Core is disk space and bandwidth, that's pretty much all why Bitcoin users do not want to run it. Why run Core when you can run SPV clients right?

*Only nodes that enabled port 8333 and allowed connection from bitnodes.

Is it possible to DDos those 5667 nodes and take down bitcoin network? 5667 nodes is no a large number.

achow101

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Quote from: BlueStackz on December 31, 2015, 12:03:01 PM

So, does it mean, there are only 6000 people are running bitcoin core and doing mining.

No. This means that there are ~6000 people running a full node software. It could be Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin XT, btcd, etc. There are many out there but mostly Bitcoin Core is used. You can see the actual distribution of node software used on https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/

Quote from: BlueStackz on December 31, 2015, 12:03:01 PM

If we assume, 50% are bitcoin core wallets means, only 3000 individual miners?

No. Most miners mine at a mining pool, so they do not need to run any type of node software. The pool runs the software. Some of them run Bitcoin Core others run their own custom implementation so they can customize it as they see fit. Even so, running Bitcoin Core (or any full node) does not mean that you are mining. However you can mine using Bitcoin Core or by pointing a miner at Bitcoin Core which will give all of the necessary data required to mine blocks.

BlueStackz

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So, does it mean, there are only 6000 people are running bitcoin core and doing mining.
If we assume, 50% are bitcoin core wallets means, only 3000 individual miners?

naidray

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Many useful information on running a bitcoin core wallet.
I heard some 3rd party provides incentive for running a node for bitcoin network. Not sure whether still providing or not.

Jet Cash

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I understood that you could improve security by running a full node, but I haven't had a chance to investigate that yet. I need to understand more about the operation of Bitcoin and the blockchain first. Disk space isn't a problem these days, but bandwidth is if you are running Windows 10 (it's probably a massive security risk as well).

ranochigo

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Quote from: Jet Cash on December 31, 2015, 09:50:51 AM

Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 31, 2015, 06:38:20 AM

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

6001 now

I guess people don't want to pay the overhead in running a full node, when they don't get any reward. I only start the core for a while when I want to check for coins reeceived, and to keep the blockchain up to date.

There's currently 5667 reachable nodes*, it has decreased drastically. Unless you're a developers or want extra security, a SPV node would often suffice. The main problem of Bitcoin Core is disk space and bandwidth, that's pretty much all why Bitcoin users do not want to run it. Why run Core when you can run SPV clients right?

*Only nodes that enabled port 8333 and allowed connection from bitnodes.

Jet Cash

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Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 31, 2015, 06:38:20 AM

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

6001 now

I guess people don't want to pay the overhead in running a full node, when they don't get any reward. I only start the core for a while when I want to check for coins reeceived, and to keep the blockchain up to date.

Blue_Panda73

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Quote from: RealBitcoin on December 27, 2015, 11:51:49 PM

A node is an online bitcoin core client. It downloads and uploads the blockchain to the other nodes. (like a torrent client would do)

It's esentially 1 unit of the network. Every miner is a node, but not every node is a miner.

If it is such a simple configuration, why are there so fewer nodes in the network? I remember there are only 6000 full nodes.

RealBitcoin

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A node is an online bitcoin core client. It downloads and uploads the blockchain to the other nodes. (like a torrent client would do)

It's esentially 1 unit of the network. Every miner is a node, but not every node is a miner.

achow101

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Quote from: number2 on December 24, 2015, 05:43:07 PM

I understand what this all means, but are there risks of running a node in which someone could use a false code in order to get into your system so that they could steal your information or even your Bitcoin? I was thinking of this when I seen an opportunity to test out as a node, but I was concerned about these things.

No. Unless there is a 0-day in the way that Bitcoin Core handles messages, this is not possible.

number2

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I understand what this all means, but are there risks of running a node in which someone could use a false code in order to get into your system so that they could steal your information or even your Bitcoin? I was thinking of this when I seen an opportunity to test out as a node, but I was concerned about these things.

legendster

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Quote from: Jet Cash on December 21, 2015, 01:39:21 AM

I gather that once I have downloaded the blockchain, I will be running as a node every time I start Bitcoin core. So what will my computer be doing? As I will be using public WiFi until I finish my project (and maybe for some time afterwards), I won't be contributing a lot to the community, so what can my computer do?

Will it be supplying blocks to other users downloading the blockchain?
Will I be part of the transaction verification process?
What other services will I be able to contribute?

Whenever you run a node or download the BTC core data you are basically downloading the complete registry of bitcoin and yes you will become a part of the Bitcoin network, think of it much like the Skynet from the terminator movies.

ranochigo

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Quote from: Blue_Panda73 on December 22, 2015, 08:51:45 AM

What is the main difference between a full node miner and a SPV miner? If the verification uses little CPU power, so little time, why does not the SPV miner verify the block?

A normal miner would verify the block completely to ensure that it follows the rules that the miner knows it should. SPV miners looks at the coinbase for conflicting transactions and use the hash for the next block.

In mining, every second of latency is important. The faster you mine a block and proporgate it, the lesser chance it have to be orphaned. SPV pool mining software should allow users to mine on unverified block while it verifies. If it doesn't follow the rule, the pool should ask the miners to abandon it.*

*CMIIW.

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What is the main difference between a full node miner and a SPV miner? If the verification uses little CPU power, so little time, why does not the SPV miner verify the block?

shorena

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Quote from: Jet Cash on December 22, 2015, 08:40:23 AM

This seems to be a vulnerability. If the Fed wanted to undermine the stability of the blockchain, then it seems there are techniques that they could use. Even if it just increases the difficulty in registering new blocks, it could discourage miners, and thus weaken the community.

If you would buy mining hardware to find blocks they would increase bitcoins strength. Bitcoins security comes from the fact that its hard to find a block. If its easy to find a block its also easy to find a replacement for a block. If you can find a replacement for a block you have a chance to rewrite bitcoin history. That is commonly called a 51% attack, even though >50% would be more accurate.

Jet Cash

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This seems to be a vulnerability. If the Fed wanted to undermine the stability of the blockchain, then it seems there are techniques that they could use. Even if it just increases the difficulty in registering new blocks, it could discourage miners, and thus weaken the community.

shorena

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Quote from: ranochigo on December 22, 2015, 08:26:22 AM

-snip-
SPV mining can reduce the chances of getting the block orphaned.

While its true, the main problem is bad pool software AFAIK. SPV mining is meant for the time while the pool software verifies the last block and builds a new block with possible transactions to include. This takes time and during that time miners have no work to do. Since miners that have nothing to do are a waste of money, they mine on an unverified and empty block. The main issue for orphans is the time it takes for a block you found to reach other miners. If two pools find a block at the same time, the block that reaches 50% of the networks hashrate first will win the race.

Topic: What does a node do? (Read 2663 times)