How to setup a dedicated Mintcoin node

What are Mintcoin nodes?

Mintcoin consists of a Peer 2 Peer network, where each client downloads portions of the blockchain from other nodes. If you have some spare bandwidth, setting up a dedicated node running 7/24 would speed up initial blockchain sync time of new users, promoting a healthy network for the whole community.

How Do I Create a Dedicated Mintcoin Node?

The easiest is to use an Ubuntu distribution, although any unix or a windows would do.

Requirements
A dedicated node would consume around 300mb of RAM and some CPU. A VPS (such as digitalocean.com’s 5$/month plans) would be sufficient.

Installation

1. Set up an Ubuntu VPS.

If you’re in doubt, you can choose Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS for this tutorial. If you don’t use Ubuntu, you will have to compile mintcoin manually.

If you’re using Digital Ocean’s minimum priced plan, the 512mb ram would be risky. Create an additional swap file of 512mb using the following tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-on-ubuntu-12-04 (In the tutorial use “count=512k” instead of “count=256k” for a 512mb swap file)

2. Install mintcoind from repositories:

root@ubuntu-vps:~# add-apt-repository ppa:keremhd/mintcoin-unofficial
root@ubuntu-vps:~# apt-get update
root@ubuntu-vps:~# apt-get install mintcoind

3. Create a user to run the wallet with.

You don’t have to provide a password (If not using a password, you can always connect to your server as root and use step#3 to switch to the new account)

root@ubuntu-vps:~# adduser wallet

4. Switch to wallet user:

root@ubuntu-vps:~# su wallet
wallet@ubuntu-vps:/root# cd
wallet@ubuntu-vps:~#

5. Create Mintcoin directory and config file.

Use a password consisting of random letters, you will never have to remember it again.

Max connections is the maximum number of simultaneous connections your node would serve if required. If you have CPU or bandwidth issues, you can use a lower number.

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mkdir .MintCoin
wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# echo “rpcuser=bitcoinrpc” >> .MintCoin/MintCoin.conf
wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# echo “rpcpassword=XXXXXX” >> .MintCoin/MintCoin.conf
wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# echo “maxconnections=512″ >> .MintCoin/MintCoin.conf

6. Run the daemon:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind -daemon

7. It will take a while to sync, watch the block count :

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind getinfo
{
(removed)
“blocks” : 625598,
“connections” : 114,
(removed)
}

8. If you want to see list of connected nodes, you can use getpeerinfo command:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind getpeerinfo

9. If you want to stop the daemon, you can use stop command:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind stop

That’s it!

Checking node’s health

You should connect to your server once in a while to see if everything’s ok.

1. Connect to your server as root (Or connect as wallet user if you gave it a password)

2. Switch to wallet user:

root@ubuntu-vps:~# su wallet
wallet@ubuntu-vps:/root# cd
wallet@ubuntu-vps:~#

3. Check if node is running:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# ps x
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
5369 ? Ds 0:14 mintcoind -daemon

4. Check node health:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind getinfo

5. Check connected peers:

wallet@ubuntu-vps:~# mintcoind getpeerinfo

The community appreciates your commitment!