Start9 Docs Service Guides Bitcoin Blockchain Migration

Blockchain Migration¶

Warning

This is an advanced feature and should be used with caution. Start9 is not responsible for any damage you might cause through SSH access.

If you have already synced the Bitcoin blockchain to the tip on one server, and would like to skip IBD on another server, follow this guide.

Note

The following guide requires that you have already setup SSH on both Start9 servers. In this guide, we will refer to your synced server as example-aaa.local and the server with no Bitcoin synced as example-bbb.local. Of course, please replace example-aaa and example-bbb with your corresponding Start9 servers’ unique adjective-noun names.

Install but don’t start Bitcoin Core on the blockchain-less server

Log into https://example-bbb.local and install Bitcoin Core (Marketplace > Bitcoin > Bitcoin Core > Install). Do NOT yet CONFIGURE or START Bitcoin Core.

Prep your server with the synced blockchain

Stop the Bitcoin Core service on https://example-aaa.local (Services > Bitcoin Core > Stop)
Open an ssh session to example-aaa.local

Once at the shell, perform the following commands

sudo -i
mkdir -m 0700 -p .ssh
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f .ssh/example-bbb.key
chmod 600 .ssh/example-bbb.key*
cat .ssh/example-bbb.key.pub

Copy the output from the cat command into example-bbb’s System > SSH > Add New Key text field:

Back on the shell of example-aaa.local, do the following (don’t forget to replace example-bbb in the rsync command below before you perform it):

cd /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/bitcoind/data/main/
rsync -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/example-bbb.key" -povgr --append-verify --rsync-path="sudo mkdir -p /embassy-data/package-data/volumes/bitcoind/data/main ; sudo rsync" ./{blocks,chainstate} start9@example-bbb.local:/embassy-data/package-data/volumes/bitcoind/data/main/

Wait some hours until the copy is complete. On a gigabit network, the limiting factor will be the write speed of your SSD on the receiving server. When it is complete, clean up a bit:
rm .ssh/example-bbb.key* exit
Switch back to https://example-bbb.local, selecting Services > Bitcoin Core, CONFIGURE, configure it as desired, SAVE and then START your Bitcoin Core service. You should see it begin at 99%+ pre-synced.
You can now restart your Bitcoin Core service on https://example-aaa.local via Services > Bitcoin Core > Start.