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Frequently Asked Questions

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Table of contents

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  1. TOC {:toc}

Can I get rich by routing Lightning payments?

Nobody knows. Probably not. You will get minimal fees. I don't care. Enjoy the ride!

Can I attach the Ext4 formatted hard disk to my Windows computer?

The Ext4 file system is not compatible with standard Windows, but with additional software like Linux File Systems{:target="_blank"} by Paragon Software (they offer a 10 days free trial) it is possible.

Can I update my RaspiBolt 2 to the new version?

Unfortunately, a seamless update is not possible because RaspiBolt 3 uses an entirely different 64-bit operating system. The general structure of the setup stays the same, however. We recommend setting up the RaspiBolt from scratch, but you can then copy over essential data.

Your LND node data is the most important. Copy it to a USB thumbdrive, so that you can restore it later.

  • Find the thumbdrive (check for the correct size and that its TYPE is listed as "part") and mount it

    $ sudo mkdir /mnt/thumbdrive
$ lsblk -pli
$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/thumbdrive/

  • Check that it's mounted correctly

    $ df -h
> Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> ...
> /dev/sdb1        15G   24K   15G   1% /mnt/thumbdrive

Backup & Restore LND data

  • Copy the whole LND data directory to the thumbdrive

    $ sudo rsync -rhvPog --append-verify /mnt/ext/lnd /mnt/thumbdrive/

  • Also make sure to create a Static Channel Backup file and copy it to the thumbdrive

🚨 WARNING: Your old LND node must not ever start again. That could result in you losing all your funds.

  • Move your LND directory to prevent the node starting again by accident.

    $ sudo mv /mnt/ext/lnd /mnt/ext/lnd-do-never-start-again

Once you set up your new RaspiBolt 3, restore your old LND node setup.

  • Quickly start the new LND instance without creating a wallet. Stop LND again.

  • Mount the thumbdrive and restore your backup

    $ sudo mkdir /mnt/thumbdrive
$ lsblk -pli
$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/thumbdrive/
$ sudo rsync -rhvPog --append-verify /mnt/thumbdrive/lnd /data
$ sudo chown -R lnd:lnd /data/lnd

Backup & Restore Bitcoin data

Bitcoin Core is easy to set up again, no backup is needed. If you're ok with downloading the blockchain again, which may take a few days, there's nothing you need to do.

Otherwise, you can of course copy the whole bitcoin data directory directly to your new node.

When Reusing the old drive for your new node, you must first copy the data to a different drive or computer, either by connecting the drive, or over the network. When you use a new drive, you can set the RaspiBolt up first and then copy the data directly from drive to drive.

  • Example for network copy

    $ rsync -rhvPog --append-verify [email protected]:/mnt/ext/bitcoin /your-local-directory

  • Example for local drive-to-drive copy with both drives mounted

    $ rsync -rhvPog --append-verify /mnt/old-raspibolt-drive/bitcoin /mnt/raspibolt-v3-drive/data

What do all the Linux commands do?

This is a (very) short list of common Linux commands for your reference. For a specific command, you can enter man [command] to display the manual page (type q to exit).

command description example
cd change to directory cd /home/bitcoin
ls list directory content ls -la /data
cp copy cp file.txt newfile.txt
mv move mv file.txt moved_file.txt
rm remove rm temporaryfile.txt
mkdir make directory mkdir /home/bitcoin/newdirectory
ln make link ln -s /target_directory /link
sudo run command as superuser sudo nano textfile.txt
su switch to different user account sudo su bitcoin
chown change file owner chown bitcoin:bitcoin myfile.txt
chmod change file permissions chmod +x executable.script
nano text file editor nano textfile.txt
tar archive tool tar -cvf archive.tar file1.txt file2.txt
exit exit current user session exit
systemctl control systemd service sudo systemctl start bitcoind
journalctl query systemd journal sudo journalctl -u bitcoind
htop monitor processes & resource usage htop
shutdown shutdown or restart Pi sudo shutdown -r now

Where can I get more information?

If you want to learn more about Bitcoin and are curious about the inner workings of the Lightning Network, the following articles in Bitcoin Magazine offer a very good introduction:

Setting a fixed address on the Raspberry Pi

If your router does not support setting a static ip address for a single device, you can also do this directly on the Raspberry Pi.

This can be done by configuring the DHCP-Client (on the Pi) to advertise a static IP address to the DHCP-Server (often the router) before it automatically assigns a different one to the Raspberry Pi.

  1. Get ip address of default gateway (router). Run netstat -r -n and choose the IP address from the gateway column which is not 0.0.0.0. In my occasion it's 192.168.178.1.

  2. Configure the static IP address for the Pi, the gateway path and a DNS server. The configuration for the DHCP client (Pi) is located in the /etc/dhcpcd.conf file:

    sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

    The following snippet is an example of a sample configuration. Change the value of static routers and static domain_name_servers to the IP of your router (default gateway) from step 1. Be aware of giving the Raspberry Pi an address which is OUTSIDE the range of addresses which are assigned by the DHCP server. You can get this range by looking under the router configurations page and checking for the range of the DHCP addresses. This means, that if the DHCP range goes from 192.168.178.1 to 192.168.2.99 you're good to go with the IP 192.168.178.100 for your Raspberry Pi.

    Add the following to the /etc/dhcpcd.conf file:

    # Configuration static IP address (CHANGE THE VALUES TO FIT FOR YOUR NETWORK)
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.178.100/24
static routers=192.168.178.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.178.1

  3. Restart networking system sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

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