Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Node Setup for Mining Pools (BCHN)

Every BCH mining pool relies on at least one healthy Bitcoin Cash node. Your pool software uses the node’s JSON‑RPC interface to build block templates, track chain state, and confirm blocks and payouts. This guide explains what we deploy for a production bitcoincash/BCH node and how it integrates with mining pool software such as Yiimp, Miningcore, or NOMP. This guide is written for pool operators—covering installation, setting up, and configuring BCHN RPC securely, with practical notes a developer or engineer cares about.

What a bitcoincash/BCH node does for a mining pool

The node is the pool’s “source of truth” for chain state. A pool asks the node for a block template, assembles work for miners over Stratum, and submits found blocks back to the node. If the node is behind, overloaded, or misconfigured, you’ll see stale jobs, rejected blocks, or delayed confirmations.

• Block templates: build work for miners (what the Stratum server distributes).
• Chain status: verify current height, difficulty, and peer health.
• Payments: confirm block maturity and drive payout automation safely.

Hardware, storage & network requirements

For production pools we prefer a dedicated VPS or bare‑metal server for nodes. Exact sizing depends on traffic and whether you run multiple nodes. A practical baseline is fast SSD storage, adequate RAM, and stable bandwidth.

• Storage: SSD/NVMe strongly recommended for sync and database performance.
• Memory: enough RAM to avoid swapping during heavy validation bursts.
• Network: low packet loss and predictable latency to your Stratum/core services.

Install basics (production approach)

Operators often ask for a “one‑click” install script, but the safe approach is repeatable automation (IaC) with pinned versions and a rollback plan. In practice, we:

1. Provision a hardened Linux host (Ubuntu/Debian is common).
2. Install the node binary from a trusted source and pin the version.
3. Configure startup as a managed service with safe restarts and log rotation.
4. Verify full sync and keep upgrade notes (especially around hardfork activation windows).

RPC hardening & safe access patterns

RPC should never be “wide open.” We recommend binding RPC to localhost or a private network segment and allowing only the pool backend. If you have multiple pool servers, use a private VPN or internal network, not public internet exposure.

• Bind RPC to private interfaces only and firewall aggressively.
• Use strong auth (cookie auth or precomputed credentials) and store secrets outside of code repos.
• Rate-limit and monitor failed auth attempts and unexpected method calls.

Wallet and payout strategy

Many pool incidents are payout incidents. Keep wallet permissions minimal and design for “human‑reviewable” flows. Typical patterns include:

• Hot wallet limits: minimal float for daily payouts; larger reserves in warm/cold storage.
• Separation of concerns: node, payout, and web services run as different users/services.
• Audit trail: logs for payouts, address changes, and admin actions.

Integrating the node with mining pool software

Whether you’re using Yiimp, Miningcore, or a custom Stratum backend, the integration usually comes down to stable RPC, proper chain params, and monitoring:

• RPC endpoint configuration: host, port, auth, and safe timeouts.
• Template/build-work logic: make sure your Stratum job pipeline uses the right chain settings.
• Health checks: block height, peer count, and latency alerts (so you catch drift early).

Monitoring & maintenance

For stable pool operations, node monitoring is non‑negotiable. We typically alert on:

• Node falling behind tip (height drift).
• RPC latency spikes/timeouts.
• Disk usage (blocks + indexes can grow over time).
• Service restarts/crashes and peer connectivity drops.