MoneroBox¶
Build your own "DIY" Monero node, and other stuff, on a personal computer. No need to trust anyone else.
Disclaimer
Do not blindly copy and paste commands. Make sure you understand each step before you run it. You are responsible for your system, your keys and your funds.
What is MoneroBox?¶
With this guide you set up a Monero node, a private mining setup and other services on a personal computer, doing everything yourself. Along the way you learn about Linux, Monero, Tor and much more.
There are many reasons to run your own Monero node:
- 👥 Keep Monero decentralized: your node enforces the consensus rules and relays transactions for the rest of the network.
- 🗽 Take back your sovereignty: your node validates every block and transaction. You don't need to ask anyone what is happening on the network.
- 🥷 Improve your privacy: a remote node learns your IP address, which transactions you broadcast and when your wallet is online. Connect your wallets to your own node and that leak goes away.
- ⛏ Mine without a middleman: mine on P2Pool, a decentralized pool with no operator, no fees, and payouts straight to your wallet.
MoneroBox overview¶
This guide explains how to set up a Monero node on a personal computer. It works on most hardware platforms, because it only uses standard Debian-based Linux commands.
Features¶
Your node will offer the following:
- 🟠 Monero: direct, trustless participation in the Monero peer-to-peer network, with full validation of blocks and transactions.
- 🔒 Restricted RPC: a wallet-safe RPC port for connecting your own desktop and mobile wallets.
- 🧅 Tor: broadcast your transactions over Tor, and reach your node through an onion service from anywhere.
- ⛏ P2Pool + XMRig: decentralized, fee-free mining with payouts to your own wallet.
- 🔋 Always on: services stay synced and available 24/7.
Target audience¶
We try to give foolproof instructions, but the goal is also to do everything ourselves. Shortcuts that involve trusting someone else are not allowed. That makes this guide fairly technical, but we try to keep it as straightforward as possible. You'll come away understanding how things work, and why.
If you want to learn about Linux and Monero, this guide is for you.
Structure¶
We aim to keep the core of this guide well maintained and up to date:
| Section | What you do |
|---|---|
| 🖥 1. System | Prepare the hardware and set up the operating system, remote access, the firewall and Tor |
| 🟠 2. Monero | Sync your own full node, route it over Tor, and connect desktop and mobile wallets |
| ⛏ 3. Mining | Run a P2Pool node and point XMRig miners at it |
| ➕ Bonus guides | Optional extras: block explorer, light wallet server, ban list, SSH keys and more |
The bonus section has more specialized guides that build on the main section. They're more fun and teach a lot, but come with fewer maintenance guarantees. Everything there is optional.
Rating¶
Every bonus guide carries labels that tell you how hard it is and whether it was tested against the latest version of the main guide.
- Difficulty: Easy Medium Hard
- Cost: Paid service appears when a guide relies on a service that isn't free.
- Tested: Tested v0.18.5.3 shows the Monero version the guide was last checked against.
Port reference¶
| Port | Protocol | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 🖥 SYSTEM | ||
| 22 | TCP | Default SSH server |
| 9050 | TCP | Default Tor SOCKS proxy |
| 9051 | TCP | Default Tor control port |
| 🟠 MONERO | ||
| 18080 | TCP | Default monerod P2P (localhost only) |
| 18081 | TCP | Default monerod RPC (unrestricted, localhost only) |
| 18082 | TCP | Default monerod ZMQ RPC (localhost only) |
| 18083 | TCP | monerod ZMQ pub, used by P2Pool (localhost only) |
| 18089 | TCP | monerod restricted RPC (for wallets) |
| ⛏ MINING | ||
| 3333 | TCP | Default P2Pool stratum (for XMRig) |
| 37889 | TCP | Default P2Pool main P2P |
| 37888 | TCP | P2Pool mini P2P (localhost only) |
| 37890 | TCP | P2Pool nano P2P |
| ➕ BONUS GUIDES | ||
| 8081 | TCP | Block explorer (onion-monero-blockchain-explorer) |
| 8443 | TCP | Light wallet server, monero-lws (localhost only) |
Community¶
If you see something that can be improved, see How to contribute.
Credits¶
MoneroBox is inspired by MiniBolt and RaspiBolt, the DIY guides for Bitcoin and Lightning nodes. Thanks to the Monero developers and to the authors of P2Pool and XMRig.