1.1 Preparations

Before installing anything, pick the hardware, gather a few tools and set up a way to store the passwords you'll create.

Hardware

Monero's database is read and written constantly, so storage speed matters more than anything else. An SSD is required; on a hard drive the initial sync can take weeks.

Part	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	64-bit x86 (amd64), 2 cores	4+ cores with AES-NI; more cores help if you also mine
RAM	4 GB	8 GB, or 16 GB if you also mine on this machine
Storage	256 GB SSD (pruned node)	1 TB SSD, NVMe preferred (full node with room to grow)
Network	Unmetered connection	Wired Ethernet, not Wi-Fi

How much space does the blockchain need?

A full Monero blockchain is roughly 250+ GB and growing. A pruned node keeps about a third of that (around 100 GB) and still fully validates everything. You choose between the two in 2.1 Monero node.

A small used office PC (for example a Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny, HP EliteDesk Mini or Dell OptiPlex Micro) with an added NVMe SSD is a great, quiet choice that sips power.

Bandwidth

A Monero node moves a lot of data. The initial sync downloads the whole chain once (250+ GB). After that, traffic depends mostly on how many other nodes download from yours: with port 18080 open to the internet, upload can be large. Once your node runs, monerod print_net_stats shows the real numbers.

If your internet plan has a data cap, you can lower the bandwidth monerod uses. See Limit bandwidth in 2.1.

Power and uptime

The node is meant to run 24/7. A mini PC typically uses 5–15 W, so it costs little to keep on. Some practical points:

• Set the BIOS/UEFI option "Restore on AC power loss" (or similar) to Power On, so the node comes back by itself after a power cut.
• A small UPS is nice to have. A sudden power cut while monerod is writing to disk can corrupt its database, which then means a fresh sync.

What else you need

• A USB stick of 4 GB or more, for the installer
• A monitor and keyboard for the install only; after that you work over SSH
• Another computer on the same network (your "regular computer") with an SSH client:
  • Linux / macOS: the built-in ssh command in a terminal
  • Windows: the built-in OpenSSH client in PowerShell, or PuTTY
• A password manager to keep the passwords you create in this guide

Passwords

You'll create a few passwords along the way. Write them into your password manager as you go.

Name	Used for
Password [A]	Your nodeadmin user on the node (login and sudo)
Password [B]	Your Monero wallet file (desktop and mobile wallets)

Use long, random passwords: your password manager can generate them. Avoid characters that are awkward to type on a console keyboard (like ` or ´), because you type Password [A] at least once at the node's own keyboard.

Warning

Your wallet's 25-word seed is not a password, and it never goes near the node. Write it on paper and store it offline. Anyone who has it controls your funds.

Placeholders used in this guide

Commands contain a few values you replace with your own:

Placeholder	Meaning	Example
NODE_IP	Your node's address on your home network (1.3)	192.168.1.50
YOUR_…_ONION	Onion addresses created in 2.2	abcd…xyz.onion