Mining Pool

Run your own private solo mining pool with Public Pool (opens in a new tab).

Public Pool home screen

Run your own mining pool

After the MicroBolt runs your own fully validated node, acts as a backend for your hardware signing device with Electrum server, can explore the blockchain on a web browser, the last important puzzle piece to improve privacy and financial sovereignty is your own mining pool. It lets you connect your own nerdminer (opens in a new tab) and/or bitaxe (opens in a new tab) to your MicroBolt and try to "find" a block in Solo Bitcoin Mining Pool. You no longer need to leak information by querying your hashrate to a third-party Mining Pool.

Preparations

Install dependencies

Install Node.js using the apk package manager.

These are make dependencies (safe to remove after installation, if you want)

$SU apk add npm

These are runtime dependencies

$SU apk add nodejs-current

Create the `public-pool` user/group

$SU addgroup -S public-pool

$SU adduser \
    -S \
    -D \
    -H \
    -h /dev/null \
    -s /sbin/nologin \
    -G public-pool \
    -g public-pool \
    public-pool

Add `public-pool` user to the `bitcoin` group

$SU adduser public-pool bitcoin

Add `satoshi` user to the `public-pool` group

$SU adduser satoshi public-pool

Firewall & reverse proxy

In the Security section, we set up NGINX as a reverse proxy. Now we can add the Public Pool configuration.

Enable NGINX reverse proxy to route external encrypted HTTPS traffic internally to the Public Pool

$SU $EDITOR /etc/nginx/sites-available/public-pool-reverse-proxy.conf

/etc/nginx/sites-available/public-pool-reverse-proxy.conf

server {
    listen 4040 ssl;
 
    root /var/www/public-pool-ui;
 
    index index.html;
 
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
 
    location ~* ^/api/ {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:23334;
    }
}

$SU ln \
    -s \
    ../sites-available/public-pool-reverse-proxy.conf \
    /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/public-pool-reverse-proxy.conf

Test and reload NGINX configuration

$SU nginx -t
$SU rc-service nginx restart

Configure the firewall to allow incoming HTTPS requests

$SU ufw allow 4040/tcp comment 'allow Public Pool UI SSL from anywhere'
$SU ufw allow 23333/tcp comment 'allow Public Pool Stratum from anywhere'

Modify node flags

printf "%s\n" \
    "export npm_config_cache=\"./npm-cache\"" \
    "export npm_config_devdir=\"./.gyp\"" \
    | $SU tee -a /etc/profile.d/node.sh

. /etc/profile.d/node.sh

Installation

Public Pool (opens in a new tab) provides a lightweight and easy to use web interface to accomplish just that, a solo mining pool.

Download server source code

We get the latest commit of the Public Pool server source code and install it.

Download the source code for the latest Public Pool server commit. You can check the release page (opens in a new tab) to see if a newer release is available. Other releases might not have been properly tested with the rest of the MicroBolt configuration, though.

cd /tmp

git clone https://github.com/benjamin-wilson/public-pool.git && cd public-pool

Configure and install

Install all dependencies using the Node Package Manager (NPM).

npm install
npm audit fix

Installation can take some time. There might be a lot of confusing output, but if you see something similar to the following, the installation was successful:

⚠️

At 2024-03-18 there is at least 8 moderate vulnerabilities not addressable without breaking changes

npm audit fix --force

output

8 moderate severity vulnerabilities
 
To address issues that do not require attention, run:
  npm audit fix
 
To address all issues possible (including breaking changes), run:
  npm audit fix --force
 
Some issues need review, and may require choosing
a different dependency.

Make it a global permanent installation

mkdir ./bin

printf "%s\n" \
    "#!/bin/sh" \
    "./node_modules/.bin/nest start --config ./nest-cli.json" \
    > ./bin/cli.sh

chmod +x ./bin/cli.sh

$SU install -D -m 0660 -o public-pool -g public-pool ./.env.example /etc/public-pool/.env

$SU mv -f /tmp/public-pool /var/lib/

$SU ln -s /etc/public-pool/.env /var/lib/public-pool/.env
$SU ln -s /var/lib/public-pool /usr/lib/node_modules/public-pool
$SU ln -s ../lib/node_modules/public-pool/bin/cli.sh /usr/bin/public-pool

Download UI source code

We get the latest commit of the Public Pool source code and install it.

Download the source code for the latest Public Pool commit. You can check the release page (opens in a new tab) to see if a newer release is available. Other releases might not have been properly tested with the rest of the MicroBolt configuration, though.

cd /tmp

git clone https://github.com/benjamin-wilson/public-pool-ui.git && cd public-pool-ui

Configure, patch and install

Install all dependencies using the Node Package Manager (NPM).

npm install
npm audit fix

⚠️

At 2024-03-06 there is at least 8 vulnerabilities (5 moderate, 2 high, 1 critical) not addressable without breaking changes

npm audit fix --force

Installation can take some time. There might be a lot of confusing output, but if you see something similar to the following, the installation was successful:

output

npm WARN deprecated uuid@2.0.3: Please upgrade  to version 7 or higher.  Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic.  See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.
 
added 1040 packages, and audited 1041 packages in 10s
 
144 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details
 
8 vulnerabilities (5 moderate, 2 high, 1 critical)
 
To address all issues, run:
  npm audit fix
 
Run `npm audit` for details.

Make it a global permanent installation

printf "%s\n" \
    "export const environment = {" \
    "    production: true," \
    "    API_URL: 'https://nakamoto01.local:4040'," \
    "    STRATUM_URL: 'nakamoto01.local:23333'" \
    "};" \
    > ./src/environments/environment.prod.ts

npm run build

$SU mv -f ./dist/public-pool-ui /var/www/

Configuration

Activate any setting by removing the # at the beginning of the line.

$EDITOR /etc/public-pool/.env

/etc/public-pool/.env

[...]
BITCOIN_RPC_URL=http://127.0.0.1
[...]
BITCOIN_RPC_USER=microbolt
BITCOIN_RPC_PASSWORD="[ B ] Bitcoin RPC password"
BITCOIN_RPC_PORT=8332
[...]
BITCOIN_ZMQ_HOST="tcp://127.0.0.1:28332"
[...]
API_PORT=23334
STRATUM_PORT=23333
[...]
NETWORK=mainnet
[...]
ENABLE_SOLO=true
ENABLE_PROXY=false
[...]

Remote access UI over Tor

Add the following three lines in the "location-hidden services" section in the torrc file.

$SU $EDITOR /etc/tor/torrc

/etc/tor/torrc

# Hidden Service Public Pool
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/public-pool/
HiddenServiceVersion 3
HiddenServicePoWDefensesEnabled 1
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:4040

Reload Tor configuration and get your connection address.

$SU rc-service tor reload
$SU cat /var/lib/tor/public-pool/hostname

output

abcdefg..............xyz.onion

You should now be able to connect to your Public Pool remotely via Tor using your hostname

Autostart on boot

Now we'll make sure our mining pool starts as a service on the computer so that it's always running.

Create the Public Pool init.d unit and copy/paste the following configuration. Save and exit.

$SU $EDITOR /etc/init.d/public-pool

/etc/init.d/public-pool

#!/sbin/openrc-run
 
: ${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE:=/etc/public-pool/.env}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_WEBUI:=/var/www/public-pool-ui}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_DATADIR:=/var/lib/public-pool}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_LOGDIR:=/var/log/public-pool}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_USER:=public-pool}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_GROUP:=public-pool}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_BIN:=/usr/bin/public-pool}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_OPTS=${PUBLICPOOL_OPTS}}
: ${PUBLICPOOL_SIGTERM_TIMEOUT:=600}
 
PUBLICPOOL_PIDDIR="/run/public-pool"
 
directory="${PUBLICPOOL_DATADIR}"
required_files="${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE}"
pidfile="${PUBLICPOOL_PIDDIR}/${SVCNAME}.pid"
 
name="Public Pool"
description="Fully Open Source Solo Bitcoin Mining Pool"
 
command="${PUBLICPOOL_BIN}"
command_args="${PUBLICPOOL_OPTS}"
command_user="${PUBLICPOOL_USER}:${PUBLICPOOL_GROUP}"
command_background="true"
 
start_stop_daemon_args="--stdout ${PUBLICPOOL_LOGDIR}/debug.log
                        --stderr ${PUBLICPOOL_LOGDIR}/debug.log"
 
depend() {
    need bitcoind
}
 
start_pre() {
    checkpath --file      --mode 0660 --owner "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE}"
    checkpath --directory --mode 0750 --owner "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_DATADIR}"
    checkpath --directory --mode 0755 --owner "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_LOGDIR}"
    checkpath --directory --mode 0755 --owner "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_PIDDIR}"
    checkpath --directory --mode 0755 --owner "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_WEBUI}"
    checkconfig
}
 
start_post() {
    checkpath --file --owner "${command_user}" "${pidfile}"
    chown -R "${command_user}" "${PUBLICPOOL_WEBUI}"
}
 
checkconfig() {
    if ! grep -qs '^BITCOIN_RPC_USER='     "${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE}" &&
       ! grep -qs '^BITCOIN_RPC_PASSWORD=' "${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE}"
    then
        eerror ""
        eerror "ERROR: You must set a BITCOIN_RPC_USER and"
        eerror "BITCOIN_RPC_PASSWORD path to run Public pool."
        eerror "The setting must appear in ${PUBLICPOOL_CONFIGFILE}"
        eerror ""
        return 1
    fi
}
 
stop() {
    ebegin "Stopping ${SVCNAME}"
    pkill -TERM -P "$(pgrep -P $(cat ${pidfile}))"
    start-stop-daemon \
        --stop \
        --pidfile="${pidfile}" \
        --retry="${PUBLICPOOL_SIGTERM_TIMEOUT}" \
        --exec="${PUBLICPOOL_BIN}"
    eend $?
}

Enable execution permission

$SU chmod +x /etc/init.d/public-pool

Enable logrotate

Enter the complete next configuration. Save and exit

$SU $EDITOR /etc/logrotate.d/public-pool

/etc/logrotate.d/public-pool

/var/log/public-pool/*.log {
    weekly
    missingok
    rotate 104
    compress
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    create 0640 public-pool public-pool
    sharedscripts
    postrotate
        killall -HUP `cat /run/public-pool/public-pool.pid`
    endscript
}

Test

$SU logrotate /etc/logrotate.d/public-pool --debug

Enable and start Public Pool

$SU rc-update add public-pool
$SU rc-service public-pool start

🎉

Congratulations! You now have Public Pool up and running

Check the log to see Public Pool output. Exit with Ctrl-C

tail -f /var/log/public-pool/debug.log

You can now access your own Public Pool from within your local network by browsing to https://nakamoto01:4040 (opens in a new tab), https://nakamoto01.local:4040 (opens in a new tab) (or your equivalent IP address).

For the future: Public Pool update

⚠️

There is no existing version in the public-pool yet, so please update it when enough time has passed or follow the project to see if there is anything interesting

Follow again Mining Pool page replacing the environment variable VERSION=x.xx value for the latest if it has not been already changed in this guide.

Update the Public Pool configuration if necessary (see release notes (opens in a new tab))

$SU $EDITOR /etc/public-pool/.env

Restart the service to apply the changes

$SU rc-service public-pool restart

Blockchain explorer Lightning

Mining Pool

Run your own mining pool

Preparations

Install dependencies

Create the public-pool user/group

Add public-pool user to the bitcoin group

Add satoshi user to the public-pool group

Firewall & reverse proxy

Modify node flags

Installation

Download server source code

Configure and install

Download UI source code

Configure, patch and install

Configuration

Autostart on boot

Enable logrotate

Enable and start Public Pool

For the future: Public Pool update

Create the `public-pool` user/group

Add `public-pool` user to the `bitcoin` group

Add `satoshi` user to the `public-pool` group