Full node - network upload status

Question

To support Ethereum, I would like to run a Full node. My Geth seems to be running correctly :

• I see it on ethernodes.org

• net.listening returns TRUE

• net.peerCount returns a positive number

What's bothering me is that I haven't opened the 30303/30304 firewall ports... so I'm wondering if I'm really contributing to the network. I know I have to open the ports, but my question is: When I'll open them, how can I make sure that my full node is correctly configured and contributes to the network? What feedback can I have in the console that it's working?

To compare with Bitcoin, I'm running a full Bitcoin core node too, and I know I'm contributing because I have a debug info showing me "Number of connections In / Out". If "In" is 0, this means my firewall is not configured correctly.

Any other comments on how to check the Full Ethereum node is running and contributing correctly?

If you help me, you will have a new 7/7 24/24 node in the network :)

Answer 1

I can only speak about geth, so with that in mind:

When I'll open them, how can I make sure that my full node is correctly configured and contributes to the network?

Not a whole lot, AFAIK. net.peerCount could give you somewhat of an idea, but you can't really be sure if you're uploading or downloading. For me, the best visibility is iftop or some network bandwidth monitoring tool like that.

What feedback can I have in the console that it's working?

You can set the verbisity of geth to debug. You will get some connection information that way. For instance: geth --verbosity 4. But by default geth will not log connections.

Also, there's a chance it might already be running around your firewall using UPNP or PMP. So you might already be a fully fledged node. Though a raw open port should usually be more reliable.

Answer 2

I know this doesn't directly answer your question because it's not a console-based solution, but geth allows you create a list of nodes that you want to connect to. If your ports are open, you can start a test instance of geth on another machine and add the node you want to test as the only static peer. You might have to wait awhile for your tested node to have room for a new peer (that is, you might have to wait for other nodes to disconnect), but if your test instance of geth starts syncing, you'll know your tested node is serving peers.