Quote from: firedrop on April 15, 2016, 11:36:01 PM

Hi All,

I thought you may be able to help me with the setup of bitcoin full node.

I have downloaded recently Bitcoin full node where it is catching up with the blockchain (I am 19 weeks behind).

I have tried now for few days to sort all the configuration and make sure it is working nicely on my laptop. Below are the issues I noticed:-

1) The download of the blockchain has been VERY slow. It is my forth day. However, I am almost there.

The blockchain is 60+ Gb, it is going to take a while to download. What also matters is your hard drive, CPU, and RAM. It needs to store all of that data to the disk and index the data which is CPU and RAM intensive. It is faster with an SSD, a decent CPU, and at least 4 Gb of RAM.

Quote from: firedrop on April 15, 2016, 11:36:01 PM

2) The number of connection which I have is usually 8 and sometimes it goes to 9 (only 1 in and 8 out). I am not sure why I am not getting more. Sometimes I have zero in.

That is pretty normal, especially for a new node that isn't synced yet. Wait to be synced and then just leave it on for a while and you should get more connections over time.

Quote from: firedrop on April 15, 2016, 11:36:01 PM

3) When I test in bitnodes to check if I am reachable. In most cases it says I am not. however, sometimes it says I am.

That could also be an indicator of a problem with your firewalls, however generally this is hard to diagnose. If you want, you can PM me your IP address and I can attempt to connect with my own node.