Hey everyone
Just wanted to share something small but meanigful
I recently finished setting up my first Bitcoin node pruned running on a VPS with ubuntu and honestly it feels great to finally be doing my part to support the network
I know it's not a full-blown Raspberry Pi setup with blinking lights or some massive archive node but I'm working with limited disk space on a VPS and still wanted to contribute
Why I Did ItFor a while now I've been learing about how Bitcoin really works not just from a price angle but from the actual infrastructure side I realized I've been trusting explorers and other people's node for everything
that is not what Bitcoin is supposed to be about
I don't have a powerful PC or spare gear lying around but i do have access to a cheap VPS so I thought
why not run a pruned node? It won't store the full chain but it still fully validates everything and helps decentralize the network
And it turns out that it was way easier than I expected
My SetupUbuntu VPS (2 core 4GB ram 60GB ssd)
Bitcoin Core Pruned
Pruned size I set it around 10gb
installed from source vie the official Github
The sync took a bit of time around 2-3 days but the VPS handled it fine
Now it is up and running 24/7 quietly doing its job verifying blocks and transactions No GUI just logs and terminal magic
What I Learned- you do not need full disk space to run a node a pruned node works just fine for verifying your own transactions and helping the network
- you can run a Bitcoin core on a VPS with very modest specs
- you don't need to be a dev or hardcore Linux wizard just follow some well writen guides and you'll be fine
- Most importantly you don't have to wait until everything is perfect to contribute
I followed a Cherry Servers guide and used prune in my bitcoin.conf which keeps the disk use down to 6-7 GB while still fully validating
anyway just wanted to share
it's a small step but it feels good to finally be part of the infrastructure not just a passive user
wanted to add a pic but I dont know why its not working for me
bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo
{
"chain": "main",
"blocks": 908717,
"headers": 908717,
"bestblockhash": "000000000000000000017d5fe2e70c15f3320b43fa0ba0ec89931923f48221b6",
"difficulty": 127620086886391.8,
"mediantime": 1754389740,
"verificationprogress": 0.9999964267354117,
"initialblockdownload": false,
"chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000d7caf4fad84a5fd10af33cfc",
"size_on_disk": 655106454,
"pruned": true,
"pruneheight": 908375,
"automatic_pruning": true,
"prune_target_size": 576716800,
"softforks": {
Anyone else running a pruned Node ?
Curious how others are doing it are you using pruning too or did you go with full storage?Very helpful thread, especially for me and maybe some fellow beginners who want to run it, I'm also still unsure about the connection with the device I'm using, but with the considerations that OP conveyed, maybe it could be my way to start it