Monero Daemon Configuration

Introduction and Scope

This page documents the configuration of the Monero XMR Daemon (monerod) as a system service. Configuring monerod as a service ensures that it starts automatically whenever the host computer boots up. The Monero daemon supports interactive commands and to take advantage of this interactive aspect of the daemon I have configured a named pipe or Unix socket that allows for this. With this configuration you can send commands to the Monero daemon by echoing commands into the named pipe.

Pre-Requisites

Linux Operating System

I am running Debian, but these instructions apply to basically any machine running Linux.

Disk Space Requirements

The disk space required to house the full Monero blockchain is significant. As of the writing of this article, September 26, 2024, the full monero blockchain is 206 Gb. It’s recommended that you use a SSD hard-drive, but I’m a traditional magnetic spinning disk. I migrated from an SSD to this spinning disk and didn’t notice any degradation of mining performance.

bzip2

The Monero GUI Wallet maintainers use bzip2 to compress their software. This isn’t part of the default Debian install, but can be easily downloaded and installed using sudo apt install bzip2.

Download and Install the Monero Daemon Software

The Monero GUI Wallet includes the Monero Daemon. It’s very important that you download this software from the official source, the GetMonero.org. You can navigate to their Downloads page and download the software from there. I image you could download the Monero CLI Wallet instead, but since I use the Monero GUI Wallet as my primary Wallet for Monero XMR, that’s the software I chose.

Once you’ve naviaged to the Downloads page, click on the Linux 64-bit link to start the download. When the download finishes you’ll end up with a compressed tarball. As of the writing of this article the actual file was called monero-gui-linux-x64-v0.18.3.4.tar.bz2. As newer versions of the Monero GUI Wallet are released, the version number will change, but I’ll use that filename in this documentation.

I run custom software out of the /opt directory on my computers and I use /opt/prod, /opt/qa, /opt/dev to house production, test and development versions of software. As this is production software, I will install it into /opt/prod. The commands below show me uncompressing and then untarring the software. I use gzip as my preferred compression software and I keep copies of the original software in /opt/src, even if it’s not source code. The commands below assume that the software was downloaded in the sally user’s Downloads directory.

sudo mkdir -p /opt/src/monero-gui-wallet
sudo mv ~sally/Downloads/monero-gui-linux-x64-v0.18.3.4.tar.bz2 /opt/src/monero-gui-wallet
sudo bzip -d /opt/src/monero-gui-wallet/monero-gui-linux-x64-v0.18.3.4.tar.bz2
sudo mkdir /opt/prod
cd /opt/prod
sudo tar xvf /opt/src/monero-gui-wallet/monero-gui-linux-x64-v0.18.3.4.tar
sudo gzip /opt/src/monero-gui-wallet/monero-gui-linux-x64-v0.18.3.4.tar
sudo ln -s monero-gui-v0.18.3.4 monerod

When you untar the software, it creates a directory called monero-gui-v0.18.3.4. The last command, above, creates a symbolic link, or shortcut, to the monero-gui-v0.18.3.4 called monerod. This shortcut is referenced by the system service file definition (described below). By creating and using this shortcut you can easily upgrade your Monero GUI Wallet, delete the shortcut, and then re-create it without needing to update your system service definition file.

The start-monerod.sh Script

The Monero Daemon has a lot of command switches. I’ve created a simple script that stores all the switches and their values. You’ll want to create this script using your favorite editor. As the root user create the script in the /opt/prod/monerod directory. A complete listing is shown below.

A few things to note about this script.

• I run two full monero nodes on my network which are in the same subnet and are behind the same router. The router supports upnp for routing inbound traffic. In order for the router to differentiate between the two nodes each node needs to use unique port numbers. The port numbers I use in the script below are non-standard, the standard port numbers start with 18 (e.g. ZMQ_PUB_PORT=”18083”). This isn’t really relevant, but is worth mentioning in case you encounter documentation that talks about slightly different port numbers. You can alter these ports again, but I don’t recommend it.
• You’ll note that I have p2pmd.xmrvsbeast and nodes.hashvault.pro configured with the --add-priority-hosts switch. I trust both of these machines and the people who run the Monero nodes on these machines. You can safely remove both of these lines if you prefer.
• You may also notice that the DATA_DIR is set to /opt/prod/monero-blockchain, an explanation for this is covered in the next section.

#!/bin/bash

### User defined variables

# Bind to all available network interfaces
IP_ALL="0.0.0.0"

# Port numbers
ZMQ_PUB_PORT="20083"
ZMQ_RPC_PORT="20082"
P2P_BIND_PORT="20080"
RPC_BIND_PORT="20081"
PRIORITY_NODE_PORT="18080"

# Peer limits
OUT_PEERS="20"
IN_PEERS="20"

# Log settings
LOG_LEVEL="0"
MAX_LOG_FILES="5"
MAX_LOG_SIZE="100000"
LOG_NAME="monerod.log"

# Not sure
SHOW_TIME_STATS="1"

# Where the blockchain (lmdb directory) is stored
DATA_DIR="/opt/prod/monero-blockchain"

# Trusted Monero nodes to sync off
PRIORITY_NODE_1="p2pmd.xmrvsbeast.com"
PRIORITY_NODE_2="nodes.hashvault.pro"

### End of user defined variables

MONEROD_DIR=/opt/prod/monerod

# Set the log name for monerod
LOG_NAME="${MONERO_DIR}/${LOG_NAME}"

# Make sure the daemon is being run as root
USER=$(whoami)
if [ "$USER" != "root" ]; then
	echo "ERROR: You must run the monerod daemon as root, exiting.."
	exit 1
fi

# Launch the monerod daemon
$MONERO_DIR/monerod \
	--zmq-pub tcp://${IP_ALL}:${ZMQ_PUB_PORT} \
	--zmq-rpc-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --zmq-rpc-bind-port ${ZMQ_RPC_PORT} \
	--p2p-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --p2p-bind-port ${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
	--add-priority-node=${PRIORITY_NODE_1}:${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
	--add-priority-node=${PRIORITY_NODE_2}:${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
	--rpc-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --rpc-bind-port ${RPC_BIND_PORT} --restricted-rpc \
	--confirm-external-bind \
	--data-dir ${DATA_DIR} \
	--out-peers ${OUT_PEERS} --in-peers ${IN_PEERS} \
	--disable-dns-checkpoints --enable-dns-blocklist \
	--log-file ${MONERO_DIR}/monerod.txt \
	--log-level ${LOG_LEVEL} --max-log-files ${MAX_LOG_FILES} \
	--max-log-file-size ${MAX_LOG_SIZE} \
	--show-time-stats ${SHOW_TIME_STATS} \
	--igd enabled \
	--max-connections-per-ip 1 \
	--db-sync-mode safe 

Once you’ve created this shell script you’ll need to make it executible:

sudo chmod a+x /opt/prod/monerod/start-monerod.sh

The Actual Blockchain

I keep the actual blockchain in a different directory than the Monero Daemon. This is referenced by the --data-dir switch and the DATA_DIR definition in the start-monerod.sh script described in the previous section. By keeping the blockchain in a different directory I can download and install a newer version of the Monero GUI Wallet, copy in the start-monerod.sh script and fire it up without needing to move the 202 Gb file. It also allows you to store that file on another disk mounted on another directory in case you’re using a dedicated SSD drive to house the blockchain.

You’ll need to create this directory:

sudo mkdir /opt/prod/monero-blockchain

Configuring the Monero Daemon to Run as a Service

As mentioned in the introduction of this page, the Monero Daemon is an interactive process that accepts commands. In order to take advantage of this feature while still running it as a service this implementation uses two distinct services. The primary service is the actual Monero Daemon. The secondary service sets up a named pipe which allows the user to send commands to the Monero Daemon by echoing commands into the named pipe.

Configuring the Monero Daemon Service

The Monero Daemon Service is configured as a standard systemd service. To do this you need to create a systemd service description file in the /etc/systemd/system directory. Name this file monerod.service and create it as the root user. A complete listing of this file is shown below.

[Unit]
Description=Monero Daemon Full Blockchain Node
After=network.target monerod.socket
BindsTo=monerod.socket

[Service]
StandardInput=socket
Sockets=monerod.socket
WorkingDirectory=/opt/prod/monerod/
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStart=/opt/prod/monerod/start-monerod.sh
TimeoutStopSec=60
StandardOutput=file:/opt/prod/monerod/monerod.log
StandardError=file:/opt/prod/monerod/monerod.err

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

A few things to note about the systemd service definition file, above, are:

• The systemd service runs a shell script called start-monerod.sh. A complete listing of this file’s contents is shown in a previous section of this page.
• The service definition relies on a monerod.socket service. A description of this monerod.socket service and a complete service definition is shown in the next section.

Configuring the Monero Socket Service

This service creates a named pipe which allows you to send commands to the Monero Daemon service. Like the Monero Daemon service definition, this service definition file should also be created in the /etc/systemd/system directory. A complete listing of the service definition file is shown below. Create this file as the root user and name it monerod.socket.

[Unit]
Description=Monerod Stdin Socket

[Socket]
ListenFIFO=/opt/prod/monerod/monerod.stdin
RemoveOnStop=true

[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target

Note that the named pipe is called /opt/prod/monerod/monerod.stdin. To send commands to the Monero Daemon simply echo the command and direct the output into this named pipe. The shell command below shows an example:

echo status > /opt/prod/monerod/monerod.stdin

If you look at the previous section where we defined the Monero Daemon service, you will see that it includes a StandardOutput directive. The results of the command (e.g. status) will show up in this file.

Refreshing systemd and Configuring systemd to run the Monero Daemon at Boot Time

In order to let systemd know about these newly created services i.e. monerod.service and monerod.socket you need to issue the command below:

sudo systemd daemon-reload

To have systemd automatically start the Monero Daemon whenever your system boots, simply execute the command below:

sudo systemd enable monerod.service

That’s it! You’re done!

art P2Pool, but I found the solution to using a named pipe and P2Pool service definition in this Reddit post by Krewlar. Kudos to Krewlar for doing the heavy lifting for this solution.

Systemd Service Definitions to run P2Pool as a service

This solution uses two distinct systemd files to start P2Pool.

A socket service that creates a named pipe that connects the the P2Pool daemon’s standard input. This pipe is used to interact with the daemon once it’s running. By using this architecture, you can run processes (e.g. a cron script) to send commands to the P2Pool daemon while still running it as a service. The actual P2Pool service definition. This definition does not start P2Pool directly, instead it calls a shell script (shown below) that passes in all the options used to start the P2Pool daemon.

The systemd p2pool.socket definition

This file is installed in /etc/systemd/system and is called p2pool.socket. A full listing of the file is shown below:

[Unit]
Description=P2Pool Socket

[Socket]
ListenFIFO=/opt/prod/p2pool/p2pool.stdin
RemoveOnStop=true

[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target

The systemd p2pool.service Definition

This file is installed in /etc/systemd/system and is called p2pool.service. A full listing of the file is shown below:

[Unit]
Description=P2Pool Full Node
After=network.target p2pool.socket
#Requires=monerod.service
BindsTo=p2pool.socket

[Service]
StandardInput=socket
Sockets=p2pool.socket
WorkingDirectory=/opt/prod/p2pool/
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStartPre=sysctl vm.nr_hugepages=3072
ExecStart=/opt/prod/p2pool/start-p2pool-mini.sh
TimeoutStopSec=60
StandardOutput=file:/opt/prod/p2pool/p2pool.log
StandardError=file:/opt/prod/p2pool/p2pool.err
[Unit]
Description=P2Pool Full Node
After=network.target p2pool.socket
#Requires=monerod.service
BindsTo=p2pool.socket

[Service]
StandardInput=socket
Sockets=p2pool.socket
WorkingDirectory=/opt/prod/p2pool/
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStartPre=sysctl vm.nr_hugepages=3072
ExecStart=/opt/prod/p2pool/start-p2pool-mini.sh
TimeoutStopSec=60
StandardOutput=file:/opt/prod/p2pool/p2pool.log
StandardError=file:/opt/prod/p2pool/p2pool.err

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Activing and Enabling the P2Pool Service

To refresh systemd’s configuration after creating the service and socket definitions use the command below:

sudo systemd daemon-reload

To have the P2Pool daemon automatically start at boot time use the command below:

sudo systemd enable p2pool.service

To actually start the service without rebooting use the command below:

sudo systemd start p2pool.service

The P2Pool Daemon Startup Script

I use a shell script to start the P2Pool Daemon. A few points about the startup script:

• The script is not run directly, it’s used by a systemd service
• P2Pool is configured to mine on the mini sidechain (the --mini switch)
• Be sure to substitute your own Monero wallet address for the WALLET variable
• The MONERO_NODE is the IP of a machine that hosts the Monero Blockchain i.e. runs the monerod daemon
• The ZMQ_PORT and RPC_PORT need to match what the monerod daemon’s configuration
• The P2P_DIR is the directory where you have the P2Pool software installed

This section shows the start script used to launch P2Pool daemon.

#!/bin/bash

# kermit
MONERO_NODE="192.168.0.176"

ANY_IP="0.0.0.0"
STRATUM_PORT=3333
P2P_PORT=38889
ZMQ_PORT=20083
RPC_PORT=20081
P2P_DIR="/opt/prod/p2pool"
WALLET="******************************************************************"
LOG_LEVEL=0
IN_PEERS=10
OUT_PEERS=10
DATA_API_DIR="${P2P_DIR}/json"
P2P_LOG="${P2P_DIR}/p2pool.log"

USER=$(whoami)
if [ "$USER" != "root" ]; then
        echo "ERROR: Run the p2pool daemon as root, exiting.."
        exit 1
fi

./p2pool \
        --host ${MONERO_NODE} \
        --wallet ${WALLET} \
        --mini \
        --stratum ${ANY_IP}:${STRATUM_PORT} \
        --p2p ${ANY_IP}:${P2P_PORT} \
        --rpc-port ${RPC_PORT} \
        --zmq-port ${ZMQ_PORT} \
        --loglevel ${LOG_LEVEL} \
        --in-peers ${IN_PEERS} \
        --out-peers ${OUT_PEERS} \
         | tee -a ${P2P_LOG}

Monero Daemon Startup Script on Kermit

This section documents the startup script used to launch the Monero daemon on Kermit.

#!/bin/bash

### User defined variables

# Bind to all available network interfaces
IP_ALL="0.0.0.0"

# Port numbers
ZMQ_PUB_PORT="20083"
ZMQ_RPC_PORT="20082"
P2P_BIND_PORT="20080"
RPC_BIND_PORT="20081"
PRIORITY_NODE_PORT="18080"

# Peer limits
OUT_PEERS="10"
IN_PEERS="10"

# Log settings
LOG_LEVEL="0"
MAX_LOG_FILES="5"
MAX_LOG_SIZE="100000"
LOG_NAME="monerod.log"

# Not sure
SHOW_TIME_STATS="1"

# Where the blockchain (lmdb directory) is stored
DATA_DIR="/opt/prod/monero-blockchain"

# Trusted Monero nodes to sync off
PRIORITY_NODE_1="p2pmd.xmrvsbeast.com"
PRIORITY_NODE_2="nodes.hashvault.pro"

### End of user defined variables

MONEROD_DIR=/opt/prod/monerod
MONERO_GUI_DIR=/opt/prod/monero-gui
MONERO_CLI_DIR=/opt/prod/monero-cli

# Find the monerod daemon
if [ -d $MONEROD_DIR ]; then
        MONERO_DIR=$MONEROD_DIR
elif [ -d $MONERO_GUI_DIR ]; then
        MONERO_DIR=$MONERO_GUI_DIR
elif [ -d $MONERO_CLI_DIR ]; then
        MONERO_DIR=$MONERO_CLI_DIR
else
        echo "ERROR: Unable to locate the monerod daemon, exiting..."
        exit 1
fi

# Set the log name for monerod
LOG_NAME="${MONERO_DIR}/${LOG_NAME}"

# Make sure the daemon is being run as root
USER=$(whoami)
if [ "$USER" != "root" ]; then
        echo "ERROR: Run the monerod daemon as root, exiting.."
        exit 1
fi

# Launch the monerod daemon
$MONERO_DIR/monerod \
        --zmq-pub tcp://${IP_ALL}:${ZMQ_PUB_PORT} \
        --zmq-rpc-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --zmq-rpc-bind-port ${ZMQ_RPC_PORT} \
        --p2p-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --p2p-bind-port ${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
        --add-priority-node=${PRIORITY_NODE_1}:${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
        --add-priority-node=${PRIORITY_NODE_2}:${P2P_BIND_PORT} \
        --rpc-bind-ip ${IP_ALL} --rpc-bind-port ${RPC_BIND_PORT} --restricted-rpc \
        --confirm-external-bind \
        --data-dir ${DATA_DIR} \
        --out-peers ${OUT_PEERS} --in-peers ${IN_PEERS} \
        --disable-dns-checkpoints --enable-dns-blocklist \
        --log-file ${MONERO_DIR}/monerod.txt \
        --log-level ${LOG_LEVEL} --max-log-files ${MAX_LOG_FILES} \
        --max-log-file-size ${MAX_LOG_SIZE} \
        --show-time-stats ${SHOW_TIME_STATS} \
        --igd enabled \
        --max-connections-per-ip 1 \
        --db-sync-mode safe