Hi everyone, I recently made my first bitcoin node and now I’m synchronizing the blockchain, and I noticed that as time went on it continued more and more slowly and that I went from having 10/11 peers to having 0 by passing a few time to have 1/2. Being new to the topic, I was wondering if you could help me understand better how it works and if there are ways to make it faster.
I have the same problem.
I was researching, and I saw that in the bitcoin core configuration file (bitcoin.conf) you can add a configuration to add one or several additional peers, with “addnode=0.0.0.0” and the node ip (which you can find in bitnodes.io). I did that by adding 100 different nodes and it didn’t work, it kept connecting to ~10 nodes and sometimes 0 nodes.
I have heard that in some cases, using a VPN can help if your ISP is blocking Bitcoin traffic or if there are regional restrictions.
You can also check, if your firewall is blocking the necessary ports. Ensure that port 8333 is open for both inbound and outbound traffic.
I have been trying to install MullvadVPN on UmbrelOS itself by accessing root from SSH but I have not been able and have not seen any page or tutorial that helps to do so, so to save myself problems I did not. Besides, I can’t install MullvadVPN to my router as it’s from my ISP, it’s not one I can install apps.
Also I live in spain so there shouldn’t be such blocks here (i think)
Sure that the necessary ports are forwarded on your router?
By default, the port 8333. You need to forward this port to your Umbrel device’s local IP address.
I don’t know much about that, but I think so. For now I have already downloaded ~53% of the blockchain in 2 weeks, I don’t know if you can download anything without other nodes being able to connect to mine with that port.
You can log in to your router’s web interface. Find the port forwarding section. Add a new port forwarding rule:
- Port: 8333
- Protocol: TCP
- Destination IP: Your Umbrel device’s local IP address
Save the changes.
okay, i will, when i solve another problem i have, i can’t even turn on the raspberry
If my router doesn’t allow me to manage the ports, are there other ways to solve the peers problem?
Sorry, unfortunately you didn’t give any details about your system etc…
It’s best to take a look at the Bitcoin Node protocol to see if there are any errors or warnings. This file contains detailed information about what your node is doing and can give you insights into why you might be losing peers.
How can I look at the Bitcoin Node protocol?
Instead for the system I’m using it’s a Raspberry Pi 5 8Gb with 4Tb of external HDD
In the Umbrel Dashboard, right-click the Bitcoin Node icon. Then go to troubleshooting (yellow dot).
Ok I’ve done it now how should I proceed?
Can you post the results here?
Here you go
umbrel_bitcoin_2024-08-30_21-37.log (274.7 KB)
Have you installed Electrs? If so, uninstall it and restart your Umbrel. Also try disabling remote Tor access.
Yes I have it installed, but I don’t have remote access with Tor activated, now I’ll try.
Nothing to do, I’ve been checking the node for more than a day now and the situation hasn’t improved. 
I always have 0 or 1/2 peers.
Have you contacted Umbrel Support directly?
No but maybe I’ll do it now, I’ll see what they tell me. Anyway, thanks so much for your help 