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Since i received a lot of questions WHY i recommend against a Raspberry Pi for Masternodes in my recent article, here is the promised update with some thoughts on that topic.
For those of you that didn’t read that article yet, the public sentiment was quite good and it’s probably not a complete waste of time reading it.
My Masternode fundamentals primer
One of the questions raised for fundamentals research in that article was:
“Does the recommended default setup involve Windows or a Raspberry Pi?”
My short answer:
“Just don’t. It’s only ok for the “controller wallet” part.”
Why i recommend against a Raspberry Pi
First things first — there is no definitive right or wrong.
It’s perfectly fine to use the Raspberry Pi for playing around and testing! Also it’s completely up to you where you install your Masternodes. There are a couple of issues here with different risks associated though.
I hope after reading my thoughts here, you will be able to decide for yourself how the best setup for you looks like.
A short primer on Masternode security
How Masternodes, their security and rewards model work is a quite complex and largely undocumented topic. Let’s keep things simple here. Ultimately, it’s all about protecting network services against DoS attacks. If your Masternode at home is offline, you will not earn rewards.
These kind of attacks happen daily within the $DASH & $PIVX networks. In some of the smaller networks they do also happen, but people don’t even do anything about it because of either:
- 1) Lack of developer capability
- 2) Lack of proper blockchain monitoring
- 3) Laziness
These attacks have in common that an attacker owning one or more Masternodes wants to improve his odds of receiving rewards against the other Masternodes within the network. If this is not addressed through code and other measures, people will simply leave the corresponding Masternode network when their rewards are not good enough.
A home line can not withstand even the simplest attacks, but THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT.
The risk of running a masternode at home
After doing hundreds of Masternode installations in the past two years, i have seen a lot of different setup. It’s an understatement to say that the majority was crap. The worst setups were usually done manually on Raspberry Pi devices.
Don’t get me wrong, i absolutely love the Pi. In fact, it’s one of my favourite devices and i own a couple of them for different other use cases.
What’s wrong with a Pi Masternode?
Nothing per se, but here’s the catch.
Suppose you just bought the collateral for a new Masternode. It is worth 1000 $. You know a controller wallet setup, this means a setup where the Masternode itself doesn’t have access to the funds and is remotely managed, is the most secure way to run these. (Reminder: Make a nice picture to illustrate this setup type asap!).
My favourite way of running these Masternodes is spreading them all over the world on different VPS providers and control them from a semi-cold system that is solely responsible for holding the collateral and managing the masternodes.
Contrary to that, your Pi Masternode will live on your home network and is announcing it’s (your home) IP address all over the internet. It will be listed on exchanges and other sites all over the world, simply because it’s public knowledge.By installing a Masternode in your home network, where most probably also your other private data and the actual controller wallet holding the funds is, you are putting your data at risk. This is a publicly known incentive for the bad guys to try breaking into your network.
Summary
This is mostly not about Pi Masternodes, but security and proper risk management. Run your Masternode on a random VPS on the internet for 5$ a month.
You will still hurt the respective Masternode network more than anything else, but at least you are safe. Take care and have a great one!
BTC donations welcome and never forget:
Have fun, this is crypto after all!
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Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.