• Tuesday

  Jan 18, 2022

  • Overall unimpressed with the new features of windows 11, since windows 10 came out in 2015. The OS works great, it just hasn’t changed much. No substantial novelties.
  • Bitcoin node.
    • Remember WSL runs a virtual NIC that is NAT-ed behind the host windows network (instead of a bridge). WSL does some automatic local port forwarding but you need to set it up manually (port forwarding and firewall) to reach WSL from other devices on the network (example https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4150#issuecomment-504209723).
    • Can reserve a static IP in fios’ DHCP to allow incoming connections on the full node (rather than just wallet and outbound) but then I’d have to set up port forwarding and firewall exceptions for the WSL2 instance. I’d rather just go proper with docker (albeit Docker Desktop) and a volume to store the blockchain.
    • There are a few options for bitcoind Dockerfiles. I’ll write my own.
    • ExpressVPN, of course, masks another IP replacement. But downstream of my own (ISP -> router DHCP -> winHost -> linGuest)? Nope, express doesn’t support port forwarding. Have to go directly through your own router.
    • Docker runs a bridge network driver by default. Containers on the same bridge can communicate, others can’t. You can also just use the host’s network directly (host) or set up your own addressing (ipvlan).
    • Enabled private/public ICMPv4/6-in on windows defender for testing.
    • Added task scheduler action (on login) to detect the IP of the WSL2 dist (changes on host reboot), add a netsh interface portproxy at that IP and custom port, and add a firewall rule to open that port on the host. Confirmed with telnet: (remote -> host), and (host -> wsl). Windows telnet = Test-NetConnection <ip> -p <port>.
    • Ended up doing the static router config, reservation and single port forwarding (btc main and test nets).
    • Why do I always forget 192.168.X.X = private IPs.
    • Still no luck, tried a packet capture netsh -> etl -> tracerpt.
    • Tweaked the fios firewall a bit.
    • Finally got my public IP recognized on bitnode. All clear.
    • Confirmed in final state that VPN is a true negative.
    • Played with the cli a bit more, now that the node is fully set up. Added bitcoin.conf to keep settings in sync, I switch between GUI and CLI often.
    • SatStack connects ledger to your node: https://github.com/LedgerHQ/satstack.
  • Android does sound/notification management better than ios.
  • Windows Hello facial recognition requires a camera with IR capability.
  • Onion tor ip masks.
  • Set up git/gitlab on wsl.
  • Eth node.
    • Many options for node clients. All wrap the formal spec in the eth yellowpaper. 90% of nodes use geth (go). https://etherscan.io/nodetracker.
    • Set up a test node, light sync on gorli.