kaspad on Linux

Download kaspad

Get the official build from the Rusty Kaspa releases page.

On the releases page, copy the link to the newest linux-amd64.zip, then on the machine (install unzip first if it is missing):

cd /tmp
curl -L -o rusty-kaspa.zip PASTE_THE_LINK_HERE
unzip rusty-kaspa.zip -d rusty-kaspa
find rusty-kaspa -name kaspad -type f

The last command prints where kaspad is inside the archive. You can also download it in a browser and copy it to the server with scp. There is no ARM build; on a Raspberry Pi or other ARM board, use Docker.

Install it

Put kaspad in /usr/local/bin, so it runs from anywhere, and make its data folder.

Replace the path with the one find printed:

sudo install -m 755 /tmp/rusty-kaspa/PATH/TO/kaspad /usr/local/bin/kaspad
mkdir -p ~/.kaspad/logs
which kaspad
kaspad --version

Run it once

Start it by hand first. Problems are much easier to see here than once it runs in the background.

kaspad --utxoindex --appdir=~/.kaspad

--utxoindex

Keeps an index for balance lookups (recommended)

--appdir

Keeps the chain in ~/.kaspad

Ctrl+C stops it. Next time it carries on syncing where it stopped.

Run it as a service

systemd starts kaspad at boot, restarts it if it stops, and keeps its log.

Save this, replacing YOUR_USERNAME everywhere with yours (whoami prints it):

[Unit]
Description=Kaspa node (kaspad)
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=YOUR_USERNAME
Group=YOUR_USERNAME
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/kaspad --utxoindex --appdir=/home/YOUR_USERNAME/.kaspad --rpclisten=127.0.0.1:16110
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
LimitNOFILE=65536
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
SyslogIdentifier=kaspad

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable kaspad
sudo systemctl start kaspad
sudo systemctl status kaspad

Day-to-day commands

Everything you'll need once it is running.

Follow the log

Copy

sudo journalctl -u kaspad -f

Errors only

Copy

sudo journalctl -u kaspad -p err -n 50

Is it synced?

Copy

sudo journalctl -u kaspad -n 200 | grep -i "sync\|height"

Stop, start, restart

Copy

sudo systemctl stop kaspad
sudo systemctl start kaspad
sudo systemctl restart kaspad

Disk used, and free

Copy

du -sh ~/.kaspad
df -h ~

Memory and processor

Copy

top -p $(pgrep kaspad)

Make it public

Optional, and the most useful thing you can do: a public node helps new nodes join and sync. On a hosted server, opening the firewall is usually enough.

Open the port in the firewall. UFW (Ubuntu, Debian):

sudo ufw allow 16111/tcp
sudo ufw status

firewalld (Fedora, RHEL, CentOS):

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=16111/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
sudo firewall-cmd --list-ports

Check kaspad is listening on all addresses, 0.0.0.0:16111 or [::]:16111:

sudo ss -tulpn | grep 16111

At home, kaspad asks your router to open the port by itself (UPnP), which many routers allow. If it doesn't become public, forward the port by hand:

1. Find this machine's local address: hostname -I.
2. Open your router's admin page, usually at 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.
3. Forward external TCP port 16111 to that address, port 16111.

Router menus differ. portforward.com has steps for most models.

Troubleshooting

The usual problems and what fixes them.