1 How to run your own Electrum server
2 ===================================
7 This document is an easy to follow guide to installing and running your own
8 Electrum server on Linux. It is structured as a series of steps you need to
9 follow, ordered in the most logical way. The next two sections describe some
10 conventions we use in this document and hardware, software and expertise
13 The most up-to date version of this document is available at:
15 https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum-server/blob/master/HOWTO.md
20 In this document, lines starting with a hash sign (#) or a dollar sign ($)
21 contain commands. Commands starting with a hash should be run as root,
22 commands starting with a dollar should be run as a normal user (in this
23 document, we assume that user is called 'bitcoin'). We also assume the
24 bitcoin user has sudo rights, so we use '$ sudo command' when we need to.
26 Strings that are surrounded by "lower than" and "greater than" ( < and > )
27 should be replaced by the user with something appropriate. For example,
28 <password> should be replaced by a user chosen password. Do not confuse this
29 notation with shell redirection ('command < file' or 'command > file')!
31 Lines that lack hash or dollar signs are pastes from config files. They
32 should be copied verbatim or adapted, without the indentation tab.
37 **Expertise.** You should be familiar with Linux command line and
38 standard Linux commands. You should have basic understanding of git,
39 Python packages. You should have knowledge about how to install and
40 configure software on your Linux distribution. You should be able to
41 add commands to your distribution's startup scripts. If one of the
42 commands included in this document is not available or does not
43 perform the operation described here, you are expected to fix the
44 issue so you can continue following this howto.
46 **Software.** A recent Linux distribution with the following software
47 installed: `python`, `easy_install`, `git`, a SQL server, standard C/C++
48 build chain. You will need root access in order to install other software or
49 Python libraries. You will need access to the SQL server to create users and
52 **Hardware.** Running a Bitcoin node and Electrum server is
53 resource-intensive. At the time of this writing, the Bitcoin blockchain is
54 3.5 GB large. The corresponding SQL database is about 4 time larger, so you
55 should have a minimum of 14 GB free space. You should expect the total size
56 to grow with time. CPU speed is also important, mostly for the initial block
57 chain import, but also if you plan to run a public Electrum server, which
58 could serve tens of concurrent requests. See step 6 below for some initial
64 ### Step 0. Create a user for running bitcoind and Electrum server
66 This step is optional, but for better security and resource separation I
67 suggest you create a separate user just for running `bitcoind` and Electrum.
68 We will also use the `~/bin` directory to keep locally installed files
69 (others might want to use `/usr/local/bin` instead). We will download source
70 code files to the `~/src` directory.
72 # sudo adduser bitcoin
77 If you don't see `/home/bitcoin/bin` in the output, you should add this line
78 to your `.bashrc`, `.profile` or `.bash_profile`, then logout and relogin:
80 PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
82 ### Step 1. Download and install Electrum
84 We will download the latest git snapshot for Electrum and 'install' it in
87 $ mkdir -p ~/src/electrum
89 $ git clone https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum-server.git
90 $ chmod +x ~/src/electrum/server/server.py
91 $ ln -s ~/src/electrum/server/server.py ~/bin/electrum
93 ### Step 2. Configure and start bitcoind
95 In order to allow Electrum to "talk" to `bitcoind`, we need to set up a RPC
96 username and password for `bitcoind`. We will then start `bitcoind` and
97 wait for it to complete downloading the blockchain.
100 $ $EDITOR ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
102 Write this in `bitcoin.conf`:
104 rpcuser=<rpc-username>
105 rpcpassword=<rpc-password>
112 Allow some time to pass, so `bitcoind` connects to the network and starts
113 downloading blocks. You can check its progress by running:
117 You should also set up your system to automatically start bitcoind at boot
118 time, running as the 'bitcoin' user. Check your system documentation to
119 find out the best way to do this.
121 ### Step 3. Install Electrum dependencies
123 Electrum server depends on various standard Python libraries. These will be
124 already installed on your distribution, or can be installed with your
125 package manager. Electrum also depends on two Python libraries which we wil
126 l need to install "by hand": `Abe` and `JSONRPClib`.
128 $ sudo easy_install jsonrpclib
130 $ git clone git://github.com/jtobey/bitcoin-abe.git
132 $ sudo python setup.py install
134 Please note that the path below might be slightly different on your system,
135 for example python2.6 or 2.8.
137 $ sudo chmod +x /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/Abe/abe.py
138 $ ln -s /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/Abe/abe.py ~/bin/abe
140 ### Step 4. Configure the database
142 Electrum server uses a SQL database to store the blockchain data. In theory,
143 it supports all databases supported by Abe. At the time of this writing,
144 MySQL and PostgreSQL are tested and work ok, SQLite was tested and *does not
145 work* with Electrum server.
150 mysql> create user 'electrum'@'localhost' identified by '<db-password>';
151 mysql> create database electrum;
152 mysql> grant all on electrum.* to 'electrum'@'localhost';
159 ### Step 5. Configure Abe and import blockchain into the database
161 When you run Electrum server for the first time, it will automatically
162 import the blockchain into the database, so it is safe to skip this step.
163 However, our tests showed that, at the time of this writing, importing the
164 blockchain via Abe is much faster (about 20-30 times faster) than
165 allowing Electrum to do it.
167 $ cp ~/src/bitcoin-abe/abe.conf ~/abe.conf
170 For MySQL, you need these lines:
173 connect-args = { "db" : "electrum", "user" : "electrum" , "passwd" : "<database-password>" }
175 For PostgreSQL, you need these lines:
181 $ abe --config ~/abe.conf
183 Abe will now start to import blocks. You will see a lot of lines like this:
185 'block_tx <block-number> <tx-number>'
187 You should wait until you see this message on the screen:
189 Listening on http://localhost:2750
191 It means the blockchain is imported and you can exit Abe by pressing CTRL-C.
192 You will not need to run Abe again after this step, Electrum server will
193 update the blockchain by itself. We only used Abe because it is much faster
194 for the initial import.
196 Important notice: This is a *very* long process. Even on fast machines,
197 expect it to take hours. Here are some benchmarks for importing
198 ~196K blocks (size of the Bitcoin blockchain at the time of this writing):
200 * System 1: ~9 hours.
201 * CPU: Intel Core i7 Q740 @ 1.73GHz
203 * System 2: ~55 hours.
204 * CPU: Intel Xeon X3430 @ 2.40GHz
205 * HDD: 2 x SATA in a RAID1.
207 ### Step 6. Configure Electrum server
209 Electrum reads a config file (/etc/electrum.conf) when starting up. This
210 file includes the database setup, bitcoind RPC setup, and a few other
213 $ sudo cp ~/src/electrum/server/electrum.conf.sample /etc/electrum.conf
214 $ sudo $EDITOR /etc/electrum.conf
216 Write this in `electrum.conf`:
218 # sample config for a public Electrum server
222 stratum_tcp_port:50001
223 stratum_http_port:8081
224 password = <electrum-server-password>
225 banner = Welcome to Electrum server!
229 # sample config for a private server (does not advertise on IRC)
233 stratum_tcp_port:50001
234 stratum_http_port:8081
235 password = <electrum-server-password>
236 banner = Welcome to my private Electrum server!
240 # database setup - MySQL
245 password = <database-password>
247 # database setup - PostgreSQL
254 user = <rpc-username>
255 password = <rpc-password>
257 ### Step 7. (Finally!) Run Electrum server
259 The magic moment has come: you can now start your Electrum server:
263 You should see this on the screen:
265 starting Electrum server
268 If you want to stop Electrum server, open another shell and run:
270 $ electrum-server stop
272 You should also take a look at the 'start' and 'stop' scripts in
273 `~/src/electrum/server`. You can use them as a starting point to create a
274 init script for your system.
276 ### 8. Test the Electrum server
278 We will assume you have a working Electrum client, a wallet and some
279 transactions history. You should start the client and click on the green
280 checkmark (last button on the right of the status bar) to open the Server
281 selection window. If your server is public, you should see it in the list
282 and you can select it. If you server is private, you need to enter its IP
283 or hostname and the port. Press Ok, the client will disconnect from the
284 current server and connect to your new Electrum server. You should see your
285 addresses and transactions history. You can see the number of blocks and
286 response time in the Server selection window. You should send/receive some
287 bitcoins to confirm that everything is working properly.