FAQ

What is the default username and password for the BCubium administration website?

User: pi

Key: pythagoras

Why another one full node Bitcoin more?

The more full nodes there are, the more secure the Bitcoin network will be and it will demonstrate that the Bitcoin project has more user support, and the larger offer there is in the full nodes market, the more people will be interested in them. BCubium is a full Bitcoin node aimed at the enthusiastic public of the Bitcoin world but without the need of having a technical profile, unlike the rest of the full nodes that are currently sold and which are aimed at expert people.

Design, design and design. BCubium takes special care of the design. The box is made from exotic wengé or ebony woods, making it a decorative piece in the home or office, and no longer has to be hidden behind the TV or in a closet.

What is a Bitcoin full node?

A full node has a program that completely validates transactions and blocks. All the full nodes also help the Bitcoin network by accepting transactions and blocks from other full nodes, validating these transactions and blocks, and then passing them on to other full nodes.

Most full nodes also serve as wallets, or light clients, by allowing them to stream their transactions to the network and notifying them when a transaction affects their wallet. If there were not enough nodes to perform this function, clients would not be able to connect through the peer-to-peer network and would instead have to use centralized services.

On the page https://bitnodes.io/ all the current Bitcoin full nodes are shown.

Video explaining how a full node works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVeolsQ3cvU

What are the advantages of having a full node Bitcoin?

Security

If we have our own node when we do a bitcoin transaction, we will not have to connect to any other external node because we will do it with ours. Therefore, we only enter the Bitcoin network through our own node, which in turn is already loaded to connect to the following nodes. We do not trust another node.

Financial sovereignty

A full node is the only way to be completely independent without having to trust a third party in Bitcoin. The full node verifies that Bitcoin’s consensus rules are followed correctly, that no one is cheating the system by spending coins that are no longer in their possession, that no false money is being generated, or that the difficulty of the Proof of Work is correct.

Privacy

When a wallet or even a light node communicates with a full node, the IP addresses involved in the transactions are revealed, so a malicious node could end up identifying all the IP addresses stored in the wallet or in the light node. This information could be used in many ways, such as for tax or marketing purposes.

Software Control

The owner of a full node can decide which Bitcoin updates he wants to participate in, for example Segwit and Lightning Network, as well as which hard forks he wants to support. Light nodes, on the other hand, will always be at the mercy of what most full nodes in their environment decide.

Is BCubium only a full Bitcoin node?

 No. BCubium also incorporates a Lightning Network Daemon (LND) which is a complete implementation of a Lightning Network node which in turn is a peer-to-peer network conceived as a second layer system for Bitcoin (BTC) that allows micropayments almost instantaneously. It also has the Wireguard VPN client that allows you to create encrypted tunnels to increase your security, so that you can connect your mobile to your BCubium anywhere in the world, whenever you have an Internet connection, creating an encrypted connection even through  an insecure connection, for example a hotel wifi. BCubium has installed the TOR software to anonymize the connections, the BTC-RCP-Explorer client, a very comfortable graphical interface to know what state your node is in and the Bitcoin network, and the Ride-The-Lightning (RTL) interface graph to operate with LND. It also has a configuration website to manage your BCubium node and even from the BCubium administration website it allows you to write your own personalized message on the Bitcoin Blockchain so that it lasts until the end of time.

What infrastructure do we propose to work with Bitcoin from BCubium?

We prefer to have our bitcoins in cold wallets and not in exchanges. Exchanges are convenient to operate, but the key that gives you access to your bitcoins is not kept by you but by another organization, which may be dangerous.

As cold wallets we like Coldcard paper and hardware wallet https://coldcardwallet.com/ which is more secure than other cold wallets like Trezor  https://trezor.io/  which has a published vulnerability, so to avoid being affected by it you have to add an additional key or Ledger https://www.ledger.com/. The source code has not been published, so it is not known what it does and therefore we are not sure that everything is correct.

The lightweight wallet we like best to connect the cold wallet is Wasabi

 The page explaining how to connect the wallet to a full node

 https: // docs. wasabiwallet.io/using-wasabi/BitcoinFullNode.html

In our case you have to connect it to bcubium.home: 8333

And finally BCubium connected to the Bitcoin full node network.

ColdCard <-> Wasabi <-> BCubium <-> Bitcoin 

What does it mean that BCubium allows you to write a message on the Bitcoin blockchain?

Bitcoin allows text to be included in monetary transactions. At BCubium, we have enabled the option to write a custom message to be saved along with a transaction so that you can log in without the ability to delete or modify it until the end of time.

Can I make a backup of important files?

Yes, at the administration website http: //bcubium.home: 3000 / there is an option to make a backup that includes the key files and the seed so that you can save them in case you need them in the future.

Can the node be accessed by ssh?

Yes, with the same user and password that the rest of the services have, you can access the console of the node bcubium.home port 22 and have full control of the node. It is important to understand that from there you have absolute control over the node, which means that if you change or delete files or directories indiscriminately, the node may stop working. User pi has sudo permissions. 

In the administration website, in the settings option, you can activate portforwarding from port 22 to port 22222 on the router to be able to access the BCubium shell from the Internet.

What is the BCubium built-in VPN for?

BCubium incorporates the Wireguard VPN (Virtual Private Network) to allow access to the node from any point on the Internet in encrypted form. A VPN (virtual private network) is a network technology that is used to connect one or more computers to an encrypted private network over the Internet. This enables secure communications in insecure environments; for example, if you connect your mobile phone to a hotel or airport wifi, someone could hear the communications because they are not encrypted by SSL. However, if you connect to the same wifi but activate Wireguard VPN and connect to your BCubium node in encrypted form, no one will listen to your communications.

Can the node be connected through the wifi?

Yes, the BCubium node allows connection by RJ45 cable or by Wi-Fi. We prefer to connect the BCubium to the router via Wi-Fi instead of cable so that the node only has the power cable.

This is configured on the administration website in the Wi-Fi option:

Or click on the Wi-Fi link to configure the network:

On the Wi-Fi configuration screen, click on the Scan button to list all available Wi-Fi networks:

Enter the parameters of the wifi to connect to:

Unplug the network cable

Restart the router and node BCubium so that the routes are re-made.

Why does the node come with the Bitcoin Blockchain history preloaded?

Currently, the entire history of Blockchain in Bitcoin occupies more than 300 GB. If it doesn’t come preloaded, it will take several days to download and process. That is why we prefer to have most of the history preloaded on the SSD card, leaving the last few weeks, so that we can have the functional node in less than a day.

Is it safe for a full node to have a wooden box?

Yes, the board that incorporates the node is a NanoPI Neo Plus2 http://wiki.friendlyarm.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_NEO_Plus2 It has an operating temperature range between 30 and 90º C (194º F). The node has a software control that if for any reason the temperature exceeds 90º C (194 ºF) it automatically turns off. Wood burns at 300 ºC (572 ºF) if it is in direct contact with a fire flame or only by heat if the temperature is higher than 400ºC (752 ºF). Comparatively,  the polyethylene and polypropylene plastics, of which other boxes are made, burn at 350 °C (662 ºF) but begin to melt earlier. The BCubium woods are one of the densest in the world, wenge or ebony that burn at a temperature even higher than 300ºC. With the software temperature control that BCubium has, the node will not reach more than 80 ºC, which is a value much lower than the minimum 300 ºC that it would need in the worst case to start burning and also lower than the maximum 90ºC board working temperature. We have been testing the plate in continuous operation in our laboratory for several months and the temperature ranges from 35ºC minimum to 60ºC maximum, far from 300ºC and 90ºC.

Can you have Bitcoin wallets on the node?

Yes, you can have all the BTC wallets you want. We recommend having BTC in paper wallets or cold hardware such as ColdCard, Trezor … see the Infrastructure FAQ. At BCubium, wallets are mainly used for transactions with very little money and to be able to write messages on the Blockchain, but nothing prevents them from being used as normal wallets. If this is going to be your case, it is important that you make a copy of the wallet or wallets with the Backup option on the BCubium administration website. See FAQ: Can I make a backup of important files?

The administration website does not have authentication, that is, it does not request a user or password to access?

By default, to access the administration website you do not need to authenticate, but if you want to activate it, go to the settings option and click on the “Activate authentication” button.

Is BCubium  just a full node Bitcoin?

As discussed in the FAQ ,Why another one full node Bitcoin?

BCubium is not just a complete Bitcoin node. It also incorporates a Lightning Network Daemon (LND), which is a complete implementation of a Lightning Network node, which in turn is a point-to-point network conceived as a second layer system for Bitcoin (BTC) that allows micropayments to be made almost instantly . It also has the Wireguard VPN client that allows you to create encrypted tunnels to increase your security; for example, you can connect your mobile phone to your BCubium anywhere in the world, as long as you have an Internet connection, which makes that an unsecured wifi connection, like hotel wifi, becomes a secure and encrypted network. BCubium has installed the TOR software to anonymize the connections, the BTC-RCP-Explorer client which is a very comfortable graphical interface to know the status of your node and the Bitcoin network, the Ride-The-Lightning (RTL) interface which is a graphical interface to operate with LND, and a configuration website to manage your BCubium node that even from the BCubium administration website allows you to write your own personalized message on Bitcoin Blockchain to last until the end of time.

What happens if you change the public IP of your router and therefore the public IP of the node?

The services of bitcoin core, lnd, Tor … will continue to work perfectly. The only service that will be affected is the VPN since the public access IP will have changed, to correct it you must enter the BCubium administration website http: //bcubium.home: 3000 / go to the VPN option and re-capture the QR code with the mobile or with the VPN client you are using.

Can I access my node from the Internet?

Yes, if you want to access the administration website from the Internet. The best way is to connect via VPN with the node and then put in the browser http: //bcubium.home: 3000/

If what you want is to access the console by ssh you can connect via VPN and then with an ssh client access the ip bcubium.home and port 22. Another option is to activate the portforwarding that is in the settings of the administration website and then access the public IP of the node through the port 22222.

How to change the plug in the Raspberry Pi international power supply?

Inside the pack that comes with the node is a 5V 2.5A 4-pin power supply so it can be used in almost all parts of the world. If you need to change the plug, press the tab it has to unlock it and move the plug until it is removed, then choose the appropriate one and move it to the correct position.

Why is Docker container technology not used?

We really like the Docker containerization technology and the orchestration of these with Kubernetes but in an environment with such reduced hardware we prefer to optimize resources and save on CPU, RAM and disk space and install everything without containerizing that work the same but consume less.

The great advantages of containerization is dynamic autoscaling for systems with highly variable load, this is achieved by increasing or decreasing the containers depending on the system load, in a full node with a minimum load and very limited hardware this functionality does not make sense.

More information in Why don’t we use docker in Bcubium full node

How do I know if my node is connected to the Bitcoin network?

The first way is to access the administration website and see if the Bitcoin network check is green.

Clicking on the text “Bitcoin network” will open the page for https://bitnodes.io/nodes/▲Public IP] -8333 / and you will see your node as registered by bitnodes.io.

You can also open the pagein the browser https://bitnodes.io/ and click on the CHECK NODE button

Enter the BCubium administration website http: //bcubium.home:3000/ in the menu click on the Bitcoin Explorer option

And once in the Bitcoin explorer click on the Node Status option in Tools

What happens if the configuration page is not seen in the browser?

If when putting the address http://bcubium.home:3000/ in the browser the page does not load, make sure:

That the node is powered, that is to say that it is connected to the power supply and is plugged in, and also the node it has to be connected with the cable to the router.

That the computer from which we are running the browser is on the same network as the node, that is, the node and the computer are connected to the same router.

If the node had not finished starting, wait a few minutes for the node to finish booting.

If it still does not connect it could be because the router is resolving the name bcubium.home. Restart the router, if once started it still does not resolve it, you have to connect by putting the IP address in the browser instead of the name bcubium.home.

To know the IP address of the node there are two options:

1- Access the router’s configuration website and there see the IP that has been assigned to the node and that IP.

For example, if the IP were: 192.168.1.101, it would be accessed as: http://192.168.1.101:3000

2- Use a program to find out the IP of the node in the network, for example https://angryip.org/

What to do if the node indicates that it has no connection to the Bitcoin network ?

Wait, the node will not have the green check for connection to the Bitcoin network until it has synchronized all the Blockchain history and that can take a few hours.

Where can I ask questions about my router?

A good place to ask questions about routers is superuser.

Can you use another DC power adapter?

Yes, as long as it is 5V and minimum 2A and the plug is microUSB.

What hardware do you use?

  • CPU: Allwinner H5，Quad-core 64-bit high-performance Cortex A53
  • DDR3 RAM:1GB
  • Storage: 8GB eMMC
  • Network: Gbps Ethernet
  • WiFi: 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth: 4.0 dual mode
  • USB Host: 2 x Independent USB Host
  • MicroSD Slot: 1 x Slot. It supports system booting or is used to hold a storage card
  • Audio Input/Output: 4-Pin, 2.54mm pitch pin-header
  • MicroUSB: power input
  • Debug Serial: 4Pin, 2.54mm pitch pin-header
  • GPIO1:24Pin, 2.54mm pitch double-row pin-header containing UART, SPI, I2C and IO
  • GPIO2:12Pin, 2.54mm pitch pin-header containing USB, IR receiver,I2S and IO
  • Power Supply: DC 5V/2A
  • PCB Dimension: 40 x 52mm
  • PCB Layer: 6-Layer

And

  • BCubium Box 
  • Motherboard NanoPi NEO Plus2
  • 500GB microSSD
  • Power supply (with worldwide connectors)
  • Network Cable

BCubium hardware

What software is running?

Where is the Blockchain stored?

In a 512 GB MicroSD, we work with two cards:

Samsung Memory MB-MC512GAEU cards – Micro SD 512 GB Evo plus

Lexar High-Performance 512GB 633x microSDXC UHS-I

These two cards carry a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.

The blockchain comes preloaded from our laboratory so when starting the node it will synchronize with the Bitcoin network to complete the rest.

In BCubium the operating system and tools are stored in the eMMC memory of the NanoPi and the blockchain is in the microSD card, the normal operation of the node implies an average reading ratio of about 743 kB/s due to the work of the Blockchain and a very low 53 kB/s write ratio where the block that is generated every 10 minutes is mainly written, which means very little work for the card.

For more information see Are MicroSD cards worth to store the Blockchain of Bitcoin?