I am thinking of running my own lightning node in testnet. Going through the tutorials it seems the lightning node needs to be connected to bitcoin node inorder to get connected to bitcoin network. But running a full bitcoin node like bitcoind seems out of my scope as I don't want invest and maintain it. Are there any such services available which I can connect to my lightning node.
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1There are several implementations of a bitcoin full node (bitcoind, btcd, etc). Generally you do not want to trust a third party to provide you with the info that your node would, as they could easily defraud you. Note that product/service recommendations are off topic here.– chytrikSep 17, 2021 at 4:36
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2 Answers
I am thinking of running my own lightning node in testnet. Going through the tutorials it seems the lightning node needs to be connected to bitcoin node inorder to get connected to bitcoin network. But running a full bitcoin node like bitcoind seems out of my scope as I don't want invest and maintain it.
A Bitcoin testnet node block chain occupies less than 40Gb, is that really out of your scope and why?
Are there any such services available which I can connect to my lightning node.
This defeats the p2p trust-less nature of Bitcoin. Don't do that unless you trust the people providing it to you as much as you trust yourself.
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Regarding running bitcoin node being out of scope, is that I just want node to assist me lightning node, as the primary focus of mine is to build something on lightning, and having bitcoin node about mining and stuff is what I am not interested in. Sep 20, 2021 at 4:56
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Your Lightning node needs a way to know what Bitcoin transactions happened. The best way to get that information having access to a trusted Bitcoin node. Bitcoin nodes (yours, or someone else's) are necessary for pretty much all interaction with the network, not just for mining. Sep 20, 2021 at 12:59
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If I am running a bitcoin node do I need to set any static IP and export port for the peers in network to communicate to my node ? Sep 23, 2021 at 9:28
You can run a C-lightning instance on top of a pruned bitcoind.
You can also opt in to a different Bitcoin backend than bitcoind by using a plugin. For instance the Sauron plugin connects to an Esplora instance, this is a more lightweight way to get started albeit you are trusting whoever operates the API.
A lightweight solution seems appropriate for testnet but if you get to use your node with real funds you should really consider you threat model, as again this method involves a direct trust relationship.
answered Sep 20, 2021 at 10:08
