$ chmod +x ~/src/electrum/server/server.py
$ ln -s ~/src/electrum/server/server.py ~/bin/electrum-server
-### Step 3. Download Bitcoind stable from git & patch it
+### Step 3. Download Bitcoind stable & patch it
In order for the latest versions of Electrum to work properly we currently recommend bitcoind 0.8.5 stable.
0.8.5 can be downloaded from github or sourceforge and it needs to be patched with an electrum specific patch.
faster database by pruning spent transactions. It's a lot quicker to get up
and running and requires less maintenance and diskspace than abe.
-The section in the configuration file looks like this:
+The section in the electrum server configuration file (see step 10) looks like this:
[leveldb]
path = /path/to/your/database
### Step 8. Import blockchain into the database or download it
+It's recommended to fetch a pre-processed leveldb from the net
+
+You can fetch recent copies of electrum leveldb databases and further instructions
+from the Electrum full archival server foundry at:
+http://foundry.electrum.org/
+
+Alternatively if you have the time and nerve you can import the blockchain yourself.
+
As of April 2013 it takes between 6-24 hours to import 230k of blocks, depending
on CPU speed, I/O speed and selected pruning limit.
-It's considerably faster to index in memory. You can use /dev/shm or indexing in RAM
+It's considerably faster to index in memory. You can use /dev/shm or
or create a tmpfs which will also use swap if you run out of memory:
$ sudo mount -t tmpfs -o rw,nodev,nosuid,noatime,size=6000M,mode=0777 none /tmpfs
+Figures from April 2013:
At limit 100 the database comes to 2,6 GB with 230k blocks and takes roughly 6h to import in /dev/shm.
At limit 1000 the database comes to 3,0 GB with 230k blocks and takes roughly 10h to import in /dev/shm.
At limit 10000 the database comes to 3,5 GB with 230k blocks and takes roughly 24h to import in /dev/shm.
-Alternatively you can fetch a pre-processed leveldb from the net
+As of November 2013 expect at least double the time for indexing the blockchain. Databases have grown to
+roughly 4 GB, give or take a few hundred MB between pruning limits 100 and 10000.
-You can fetch recent copies of electrum leveldb databases and further instructions
-from the Electrum full archival server foundry at:
-http://foundry.electrum.org/
-### Step 9. Configure Electrum server
+### Step 9. Create a self-signed SSL cert
+
+To run SSL / HTTPS you need to generate a self-signed certificate
+using openssl. You could just comment out the SSL / HTTPS ports in the config and run
+without, but this is not recommended.
+
+Use the sample code below to create a self-signed cert with a recommended validity
+of 5 years. You may supply any information for your sign request to identify your server.
+They are not currently checked by the client except for the validity date.
+When asked for a challenge password just leave it empty and press enter.
+
+ $ openssl genrsa -des3 -passout pass:x -out server.pass.key 2048
+ $ openssl rsa -passin pass:x -in server.pass.key -out server.key
+ writing RSA key
+ $ rm server.pass.key
+ $ openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
+ ...
+ Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:US
+ State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:California
+ Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []: electrum-server.tld
+ ...
+ A challenge password []:
+ ...
+
+ $ openssl x509 -req -days 730 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
+
+The server.crt file is your certificate suitable for the ssl_certfile= parameter and
+server.key corresponds to ssl_keyfile= in your electrum server config
+
+Starting with Electrum 1.9 the client will learn and locally cache the SSL certificate
+for your server upon the first request to prevent man-in-the middle attacks for all
+further connections.
+
+If your certificate is lost or expires on the server side you currently need to run
+your server with a different server name along with a new certificate for this server.
+Therefore it's a good idea to make an offline backup copy of your certificate and key
+in case you need to restore it.
+
+### Step 10. Configure Electrum server
Electrum reads a config file (/etc/electrum.conf) when starting up. This
file includes the database setup, bitcoind RPC setup, and a few other
Go through the sample config options and set them to your liking.
If you intend to run the server publicly have a look at README-IRC.md
-If you're looking to run SSL / HTTPS you need to generate a self-signed certificate
-using openssl. Otherwise you can just comment out the SSL / HTTPS ports and run
-without.
-
-### Step 10. Tweak your system for running electrum
+### Step 11. Tweak your system for running electrum
Electrum server currently needs quite a few file handles to use leveldb. It also requires
file handles for each connection made to the server. It's good practice to increase the
more often.
Two more things for you to consider:
+
1. To increase security you may want to close bitcoind for incoming connections and connect outbound only
2. Consider restarting bitcoind (together with electrum-server) on a weekly basis to clear out unconfirmed
transactions from the local the memory pool which did not propagate over the network
-### Step 11. (Finally!) Run Electrum server
+### Step 12. (Finally!) Run Electrum server
The magic moment has come: you can now start your Electrum server:
`~/src/electrum/server`. You can use them as a starting point to create a
init script for your system.
-### Step 12. Test the Electrum server
+### Step 13. Test the Electrum server
We will assume you have a working Electrum client, a wallet and some
transactions history. You should start the client and click on the green
git://git.novaco.in / electrum-server.git / blobdiff