How to run a Monero node on a VPS

Running your own Monero node means you broadcast your transactions through hardware you control, rather than trusting a remote node with your IP and transaction timing. A VPS is an ideal home for one — always on, well-connected, and (here) offshore. This guide covers the essentials.

What you need

• A VPS with roughly 100 GB+ of NVMe for the blockchain and growth
• 2 GB+ RAM (more is comfortable)
• Unmetered bandwidth — a node is chatty
• Debian or Ubuntu, which the steps below assume

Setup outline

1. 01Deploy a VPSA VPS-8 or larger gives you the NVMe and RAM headroom to sync and serve comfortably.
2. 02Install monerodDownload the official Monero CLI, verify the hash, and extract it to your server.
3. 03Configure the daemonCreate a monerod.conf with a data directory on your NVMe volume and sensible peer limits.
4. 04Sync and serveStart monerod and let it sync. Once synced, point your wallet at localhost and optionally serve peers.

Staying private

Because your VPS here is funded with crypto and tied to no identity, your node is not linked to you. For extra privacy you can run monerod behind Tor, so peers see an onion address rather than your server's clearnet IP. Paying for the VPS with Monero closes the loop nicely. If you want to give bandwidth back to that network rather than only use it, the same kind of box can also run a Tor relay or bridge.