Fulcrum on a RaspiBlitz
This is a rough overview, the guide is a work in progress.
Tested environments:
-
Raspberry Pi4 8GB 64bit RaspberryOS with SSD and ZRAM
First sync took 48h. Can expect 2 - 2.5 days. -
Raspberry Pi4 4GB 64bit RaspberryOS with SSD and 10GB ZRAM
First sync took 3 days. - See RPi-specific settings under heading “Create a config file”.
FAQ
Do I need to stop Electrs?
- Don’t really need to, Electrs (and also Fulcrum) are very light once synched. Chugging through the 450GB transaction history poses the challenge for the RPi. Best is to stop all services you don’t use, but testing is valuable in any circumstance.
Database corrupted
- Received an error like:
FATAL: Caught exception: It appears that Fulcrum was forcefully killed in the middle of committing a block to the db. We cannot figure out where exactly in the update process Fulcrum was killed, so we cannot undo the inconsistent state caused by the unexpected shutdown. Sorry! The database has been corrupted. Please delete the datadir and resynch to bitcoind.
- Delete the database and restart Fulcrum to start the sync from scratch
sudo rm -rf /mnt/hdd/app-storage/fulcrum/db sudo systemctl restart fulcrum
Automated setup
- Issue: https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/issues/2924
- PR: https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/pull/2966
- Install script https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/blob/dev/home.admin/config.scripts/bonus.fulcrum.sh : ```
download
wget -O bonus.fulcrum.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/dev/home.admin/config.scripts/bonus.fulcrum.sh
check
cat bonus.fulcrum.sh
run with debug
bash -x bonus.fulcrum.sh on ```
- Install script https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/blob/dev/home.admin/config.scripts/bonus.fulcrum.sh : ```
- if running RaspiBlitz v1.7.2 and above the script is part of the image:
config.scripts/bonus.fulcrum.sh on
Display the Tor address
-
sudo cat /mnt/hdd/tor/fulcrum/hostname
Connect
- TCP port 50021
- SSL 50022
- the IP address is your Raspiblitz IP
- consider using Zerotier or Tailscale for remote connection though clearnet
Monitor
Edit the config
-
sudo nano /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/fulcrum.conf
Manual setup
Prepare bitcoind
- To avoid errors like
503 (content): Work queue depth exceeded
set in the
/mnt/hdd/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
:txindex=1 whitelist=download@127.0.0.1 rpcworkqueue=512 rpcthreads=128 zmqpubhashblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:8433
- Restart bitcoind
sudo systemctl bitcoind restart
- If the txindex was not built before WAIT until it finishes (takes ~7 hours).
Monitor the bitcoindebug.log
).sudo tail -n 100 -f /mnt/hdd/bitcoin/debug.log | grep txindex
Prepare the system and directories
-
# Create a dedicated user sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" fulcrum cd /home/fulcrum # sudo -u fulcrum git clone https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum # cd fulcrum # Install dependencies # sudo apt install -y libzmq3-dev sudo apt install -y libssl-dev # was needed on Debian Bullseye # Set the platform if [ $(uname -m) = "aarch64" ]; then build="arm64-linux" elif [ $(uname -m) = "x86_64" ]; then build="x86_64-linux-ub16" fi # Download the prebuilt binary sudo -u fulcrum wget https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum/releases/download/v1.7.0/Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz sudo -u fulcrum wget https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum/releases/download/v1.7.0/Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz.asc sudo -u fulcrum wget https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum/releases/download/v1.7.0/Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz.sha256sum # Verify # Get the PGP key curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Electron-Cash/keys-n-hashes/master/pubkeys/calinkey.txt | sudo -u fulcrum gpg --import # Look for 'Good signature' sudo -u fulcrum gpg --verify Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz.asc # Look for 'OK' sudo -u fulcrum sha256sum -c Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz.sha256sum # Decompress sudo -u fulcrum tar -xvf Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}.tar.gz # Create the database directory in /mnt/hdd/app-storage (on the disk) sudo mkdir -p /mnt/hdd/app-storage/fulcrum/db sudo chown -R fulcrum:fulcrum /mnt/hdd/app-storage/fulcrum # Create a symlink to /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum sudo ln -s /mnt/hdd/app-storage/fulcrum /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum sudo chown -R fulcrum:fulcrum /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum
Create a config file
- https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum/blob/master/doc/fulcrum-example-config.conf
- Can paste the this as a block to create the config file, but fill in the PASSWORD_B (Bitcoin Core RPC password):
PASSWORD_B="your-password-here"
echo "\ datadir = /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/db bitcoind = 127.0.0.1:8332 rpcuser = ${RPC_USER} rpcpassword = ${PASSWORD_B} # RPi optimizations # avoid 'bitcoind request timed out' bitcoind_timeout = 300 # reduce load (4 cores only) bitcoind_clients = 1 worker_threads = 1 db_mem=1024 # for 4GB RAM db_max_open_files=200 fast-sync = 1024 # server connections # disable peer discovery and public server options peering = false announce = false tcp = 0.0.0.0:50021 # ssl via nginx " | sudo -u fulcrum tee /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/fulcrum.conf
- The ports 50021 and 50022 are used to not interfere with a possible Electrs or ElectrumX instance.
- Note the different settings for 4 and 8 GB RAM
- Edit afterwards with
sudo nano /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/fulcrum.conf
Create a systemd service
- Can paste this as a block to create the fulcrum.service file:
echo "\ [Unit] Description=Fulcrum After=network.target bitcoind.service [Service] ExecStart=/home/fulcrum/Fulcrum-1.7.0-${build}/Fulcrum /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/fulcrum.conf User=fulcrum LimitNOFILE=8192 TimeoutStopSec=30min Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target " | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/fulcrum.service
Start
- Depending on the available RAM it is a good idea to keep at least 10GB swap: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-space-on-debian-10 can consider ZRAM:
https://haydenjames.io/raspberry-pi-performance-add-zram-kernel-parameters/
https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/issues/2905sudo systemctl enable fulcrum sudo systemctl start fulcrum
Monitor
-
sudo journalctl -fu fulcrum sudo systemctl status fulcrum
Open the firewall
-
sudo ufw allow 50021 comment 'Fulcrum TCP' sudo ufw allow 50022 comment 'Fulcrum SSL'
Set up SSL
- Paste this code as a block to make Fulcrum available on the port 50022 with SSL ncryption through Nginx
cd /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum # Create a self signed SSL certificate sudo -u fulcrum openssl genrsa -out selfsigned.key 2048 echo "\ [req] prompt = no default_bits = 2048 default_keyfile = selfsigned.key distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name req_extensions = req_ext x509_extensions = v3_ca [req_distinguished_name] C = US ST = Texas L = Fulcrum O = RaspiBlitz CN = RaspiBlitz [req_ext] subjectAltName = @alt_names [v3_ca] subjectAltName = @alt_names [alt_names] DNS.1 = localhost DNS.2 = 127.0.0.1 " | sudo -u fulcrum tee localhost.conf sudo -u fulcrum openssl req -new -x509 -sha256 -key selfsigned.key \ -out selfsigned.cert -days 3650 -config localhost.conf # Setting up the nginx.conf isConfigured=$(sudo cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'upstream fulcrum') if [ ${isConfigured} -gt 0 ]; then echo "fulcrum is already configured with Nginx. To edit manually run \`sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf\`" elif [ ${isConfigured} -eq 0 ]; then isStream=$(sudo cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'stream {') if [ ${isStream} -eq 0 ]; then echo " stream { upstream fulcrum { server 127.0.0.1:50021; } server { listen 50022 ssl; proxy_pass fulcrum; ssl_certificate /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/selfsigned.cert; ssl_certificate_key /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/selfsigned.key; ssl_session_cache shared:SSL-fulcrum:1m; ssl_session_timeout 4h; ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3; ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on; } }" | sudo tee -a /etc/nginx/nginx.conf elif [ ${isStream} -eq 1 ]; then sudo truncate -s-2 /etc/nginx/nginx.conf echo " upstream fulcrum { server 127.0.0.1:50021; } server { listen 50022 ssl; proxy_pass fulcrum; ssl_certificate /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/selfsigned.cert; ssl_certificate_key /home/fulcrum/.fulcrum/selfsigned.key; ssl_session_cache shared:SSL-fulcrum:1m; ssl_session_timeout 4h; ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3; ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on; } }" | sudo tee -a /etc/nginx/nginx.conf elif [ ${isStream} -gt 1 ]; then echo " Too many \`stream\` commands in nginx.conf. Please edit manually: \`sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf\` and retry" exit 1 fi fi # Test nginx sudo nginx -t # Restart nginx sudo systemctl restart nginx
Create a Tor .onion service
- On RaspiBlitz v1.7.2 run:
/home/admin/config.scripts/tor.onion-service.sh fulcrum 50021 50021 50022 50022
- Previous versions:
/home/admin/config.scripts/network.hiddenservice.sh fulcrum 50021 50021 50022 50022
- To set up manually see the guide here.
Remove the Fulcrum user and installation (not the database)
sudo systemctl disable fulcrum sudo systemctl stop fulcrum sudo userdel -rf fulcrum # Remove Tor service /home/admin/config.scripts/tor.onion-service.sh off electrs # Close ports on firewall sudo ufw deny 50021 sudo ufw deny 50022 # To remove the database directory # sudo rm -rf /mnt/hdd/app-storage/fulcrum/db
Docker setup
The database persisted and serving on ports tcp: 50025, ssl: 50027.
Will mount the existing database from (can be any directory to sync new in < 10h on an SSD):
/mnt/hdd/hdd-snapshot-clone/app-storage/fulcrum/db
bitcoind is running on the localhost.
Adapted config in the
./fulcrum.conf
bitcoind = 127.0.0.1:8332 rpcuser = RPCUSER rpcpassword = RPCPASSWORD bitcoind_timeout = 600 bitcoind_clients = 1 worker_threads = 1 db_mem=1024 db_max_open_files=200 fast-sync = 1024 peering = false announce = false tcp = 0.0.0.0:50025 ssl = 0.0.0.0:50027
- On RaspiBlitz v1.7.2 run:
Generate TLS credentials
-
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -sha256 -nodes -x509 -days 3650 -subj "/O=Fulcrum" -keyout "tls.key" -out "tls.cert"
Start the image
- adapt the values as needed
docker image pull cculianu/fulcrum:latest docker run \ --network="host" \ -p 50025:50025 \ -p 50027:50027 \ -v "$(pwd)"/fulcrum.conf:/fulcrum.conf \ -v "$(pwd)"/tls.key:/tls.key \ -v "$(pwd)"/tls.cert:/tls.cert \ -v /mnt/hdd/hdd-snapshot-clone/app-storage/fulcrum/db:/db \ -e DATA_DIR=/db \ -e SSL_CERTFILE=/tls.cert \ -e SSL_KEYFILE=/tls.key \ openoms/fulcrum \ Fulcrum /fulcrum.conf
Docker compose snippet
-
fulcrum: image: cculianu/fulcrum:latest depends_on: [bitcoind] volumes: - ${PWD}/fulcrum.conf:/fulcrum.conf - ${PWD}/tls.key:/tls.key - ${PWD}/tls.cert:/tls.cert environment: - DATA_DIR=/db - SSL_CERTFILE=/tls.cert - SSL_KEYFILE=/tls.key command: [ "Fulcrum", "/fulcrum.conf" ]
Sources:
- https://github.com/cculianu/Fulcrum
- https://sparrowwallet.com/docs/server-performance.html