Ethereum: Why is my bitcoind daemon not listening on RPC port at 8332?

Ethereum: Why Your Bitcoind Daemon is Not Listening on RPC Port at 8332

As an Ethereum developer, you’re likely no stranger to the intricacies of running multiple instances of the Ethereum node daemon behind a reverse proxy. However, when trying to use Bitcoin-cli (the official command-line tool for interacting with the Bitcoin network) from outside your local network, issues arise due to the way RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is handled by Bitcoind. In this article, we’ll delve into why your bitcoind daemon might not be listening on RPC port 8332 and explore potential solutions.

Why doesn’t my bitcoind daemon listen on RPC port 8332?

The default settings for the Ethereum node daemon allow it to listen on one of three RPC ports: 8332, 8541 (default), or 7890. The issue here lies in how you’re accessing your local instance from outside the network.

When using Bitcoin-cli from a host different from where Bitcoind is running, you need to specify the port number explicitly, like this:

bitcoin-cli -rpcport 8332

The -rpcport option tells Bitcoin-cli to listen on the specified port. This command allows you to access your local instance using the bitcoin-cli tool.

Alternative approaches

If you’re having trouble with the default settings, here are a few alternative methods to get your bitcoind daemon listening on RPC port 8332:

• Use the -rpcuser and -rpty options: You can pass these options to specify a non-standard username and password for the remote procedure call server. For example:

bitcoin-cli -rpcport 8332 -rpcuser myuser -rpty

This will allow you to access your local instance using bitcoin-cli with a different username.

• Use a custom RPC port: If you’re running multiple instances of Bitcoind, you can specify a custom port number for each instance. For example:

bitcoind -rpcport 8333

This will allow all instances to use the same rpcport but with different usernames and passwords.

Why does this happen?

The reason your bitcoind daemon might not be listening on RPC port 8332 is likely due to a misconfiguration or compatibility issue. Here are a few possible reasons:

• Host firewall rules

  : If you’re running Bitcoind behind a host firewall, it may have blocked the incoming connections on the default port (8331).

• Port conflicts

  : If multiple instances of Bitcoind are running on the same machine with different RPC ports, they might be interfering with each other.

• RPC server issues: The official Bitcoinrpc server might not be configured correctly or might not be available for remote access.

Conclusion

To resolve the issue and get your bitcoind daemon listening on RPC port 8332 when using Bitcoin-cli from a host different from where Bitcoind is running, try one of the following approaches:

• Use the -rpcport option with explicit port number

• Pass the -rpcuser and -rpty options to specify a custom username and password

• Use a custom RPC port for each instance

By addressing these potential issues, you should be able to get your bitcoind daemon listening on RPC port 8332 when using Bitcoin-cli from outside your local network.

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