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Appendix I: Understanding Bitcoin Standup
§2.1: Setting Up a Bitcoin Core VPS with StackScript explains the process of creating a Bitcoin node using Bitcoin-Standup-Scripts. The following appendix explains what the major sections of the script do. You may wish to following along in Linode Standup in another window.
Step 1: Hostname
Your host's name is stored in /etc/hostname and set with the hostname command. It also appears in /etc/hosts.
Step 2: Timezone
Your host's timezone is stored in /etc/timezone, then an appropriate file from /usr/share/zoneinfo/ is copied to /etc/localtime
Step 3: Updating Debian
The apt-get package manager is used to bring your machine up to date and to install gnupg, the random-number generator haveged, and the uncomplicated firewal ufw.
Your machine is setup to automatically stay up to date with echo "unattended-upgrades unattended-upgrades/enable_auto_updates boolean true" | debconf-set-selections.
Step 4: Setting Up a User
A standup user is created, which will be used for your Bitcoin applications. It also has sudo permissions, allowing you to take privileged actions with this account.
If you supplied an SSH key, it will allow you access to this account (otherwise, you must use the password you created in setup).
If you supplied an IP address, ssh access will be limited to that address, per /etc/hosts.allow.
Step 5: Setting Up Tor
Tor is installed to provide protected (hidden) services to access Bitcoin's RPC commands through your server. See §14.1: Verifying Your Tor Setup for more information on your Tor Setup.
If you supplied an authorized client for the hidden services, access will be limited to that key, per /var/lib/tor/standup/authorized_clients. If you did not, §14.2 explains how to do so at a later date.
Step 6: Installing Bitcoin
Bitcoin is installed in ~standup/.bitcoin. Your configuration is stored in ~standup/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf.
Be sure that the checksums verified per §2.1, otherwise you could be vulnerably to a supply-chain attack.
Step 7: Installing QR Encoder
To keep everything compliant with GordianSystem a QR code is created at /qrcode.png. This can be read from a QuickConnect client such as GordianWallet.
Conclusion — Understanding Bitcoin Standup
Bitcoin Standup uses scripts to try and match much of the functionality of a GordianNode. It should provide you with a secure Bitcoin environment with a foundation of Bitcoin Core and Tor for RPC communications.
What's Next?
If you were in the process of creating a Bitcoin node for using in this course, you should return to §2.1.
If you are reading through the appendices, continue with Appendix II: Compiling Bitcoin from Source.