Bitcoin node setup

Overview

The Bitcoin Indexer requires a fully synced Bitcoin Core node with transaction indexing enabled. This guide walks through setting up a node specifically configured for indexer operation.

Download Bitcoin Core

Download Bitcoin Core version 25.0 or higher. Choose the correct version for your processor architecture.

Create Bitcoin directory

Terminal

$ mkdir -p ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin
$ cd ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin

Download and extract

For x86_64 (Intel/AMD):

Terminal

$ curl -O https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-25.1/bitcoin-25.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
$ tar -xzf bitcoin-25.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

For ARM64:

Terminal

$ curl -O https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-25.1/bitcoin-25.1-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
$ tar -xzf bitcoin-25.1-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Install globally with symlinks

Terminal

$ sudo ln -s ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin-25.1/bin/bitcoind /usr/local/bin/bitcoind
$ sudo ln -s ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin-25.1/bin/bitcoin-cli /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-cli

Verify installation:

Terminal

$ bitcoind --version
Bitcoin Core version v25.1.0

Configure for indexing

Create data directory

Terminal

$ mkdir -p ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

Create configuration file

Terminal

$ nano ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Add the following configuration:

title="~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf"

# Data directory
datadir=/home/$USER/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

# Core settings
server=1
txindex=1
daemon=1

# RPC settings
rpcuser=user
rpcpassword=password
rpcport=8332
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
rpcthreads=16

# ZeroMQ settings (required for indexer)
zmqpubrawblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:18543
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://0.0.0.0:18544
zmqpubhashtx=tcp://0.0.0.0:18545
zmqpubhashblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:18546

# Performance settings
# Set to 16384 (16GB) during initial sync, reduce to 2048 after
dbcache=16384
maxmempool=1000
mempoolexpiry=72

# Network settings
listen=1
maxconnections=125

# Deprecated RPC
deprecatedrpc=warnings

Security note

Always use a strong, unique password for RPC access. The indexer will use these credentials to communicate with your node.

Storage setup

Bitcoin requires significant storage that grows over time:

Terminal

$ sudo mkdir -p /data/bitcoin
$ sudo chown $USER:$USER /data/bitcoin
$ df -h /data
[1mFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on[0m
/dev/nvme0n1    3.9T  12G  3.9T   1% /data

Initial blockchain sync

Start Bitcoin Core with your configuration:

Terminal

$ bitcoind -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Initial sync time

Initial blockchain sync takes 1-3 days depending on hardware and network speed. The node will download ~600GB of data.

Monitor sync progress in another terminal:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getblockchaininfo | jq '{blocks, headers, verificationprogress}'

You can also monitor detailed sync status:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getblockchaininfo | jq '{chain, blocks, headers, bestblockhash, verificationprogress, size_on_disk}'

Verify indexer compatibility

Once synced, verify the node is properly configured:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getindexinfo
$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getzmqnotifications

systemd service setup

Create a systemd service for automatic startup:

title="/etc/systemd/system/bitcoind.service"

[Unit]
Description=Bitcoin Core Daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/bitcoind -conf=/home/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
User=bitcoin-indexer
Group=bitcoin-indexer
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30

# Security hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=/home/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

Terminal

$ sudo systemctl enable bitcoind
$ sudo systemctl start bitcoind
$ sudo systemctl status bitcoind
[32m●[0m bitcoind.service - Bitcoin Core Daemon
    Active: [32mactive (running)[0m

Performance optimization

Memory allocation

For indexer workloads, allocate more memory to the UTXO cache:

# Increase dbcache based on available RAM
# 8GB RAM: dbcache=2048
# 16GB RAM: dbcache=4096  
# 32GB RAM: dbcache=8192
# 64GB+ RAM: dbcache=16384

Disk I/O optimization

Use fast NVMe storage and optimize mount options:

title="/etc/fstab"

# Add noatime to reduce write operations
/dev/nvme0n1 /data ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2

Network peers

Connect to reliable peers for faster sync:

title="bitcoin.conf"

# Add known good peers
addnode=seed.bitcoin.sipa.be
addnode=dnsseed.bluematt.me
addnode=dnsseed.bitcoin.dashjr.org

Monitoring

Set up monitoring to track node health:

Terminal

$ cat > /usr/local/bin/check-bitcoin.sh << 'EOF'
$ chmod +x /usr/local/bin/check-bitcoin.sh

Troubleshooting

Slow initial sync

1Check CPU usage - should be near 100% during validation
2Verify fast storage - NVMe SSD strongly recommended
3Increase dbcache if you have available RAM
4Ensure good network connectivity

High memory usage

Normal during initial sync. Bitcoin Core will use up to dbcache + 1GB for operations.

Connection refused errors

1Verify bitcoind is running: systemctl status bitcoind
2Check RPC credentials match bitcoin.conf
3Ensure firewall allows localhost connections

Next steps

Configure the indexer

Set up the Bitcoin Indexer to connect to your node

Bootstrap from archive

Skip the wait with pre-synced archives