Taking the decision to become a Node Runner was easy, but what kit should you use to run your node? Whilst you can usually use any old computer laying around, I decided to buy some new kit to do that because it is smaller and would not take up so much space.
The other advantage is that it would hopefully use less power and be better for the environment. This would probably make a Raspberry Pi a good choice for many people.
The appeal of deciding to become a Node Runner obviously helps to secure the network, your transactions and protect your privacy, but also gives you a chance to tinker with some new hardware and software which has gotten me pretty excited.
Whilst Raspberry Pi's are quite popular, I decided to go for a mini computer that is also pretty compact, but maybe a bit more powerful. Probably too much for the task in hand.
The package arrived yesterday and I was keen to unbox it and take a peak at my future Node Runner. It is small and very light in the hand. It comes with WiFi even, so connecting it up and getting it running will be easy and fast enough.
It also has low power consumption, so should be pretty good for the environment and not be wasteful as a bigger more hungry computer. The specs are 16gb RAM and 500gb SSD.
The SSD is too small to hold the whole blockchain, so I will be upgrading to 2TB to make sure it can run for a good while. I will still be able to put the 500gb to good use still though.
Although you can buy pre-made custom solutions, it is not the same as having a go at tinkering with some hardware and software yourself, so also saving some cash, I can play around with the hardware and learn to set things up for myself.
I will probably go for an Umbrel install here as it seems like a really cool solution and it has some great feedback from others and was a cool recommendation to me from another Noderunner. More on the setup to come in another post.
It is equipped with plenty of ports and I think could also make a good media server device. So far I have only plans to run my nodes on it, but lets see how the device performs if I decide to get another one for some other purpose.
Do you run a node? What device do you use?
Thanks for reading.
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Title image created with image from source
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