"Everything you do online is intermediated - your actions permissioned, your data custodied.
Opt out by running a private server."
— Start9
A few weeks back my personal server running StartOS crashed so, during the Christmas break, I had the opportunity to install Start9 and Umbrel multiple times until I settled on a more stable setup for my sovereign data.
I'm confident in my setup. Read more if you're interested in owning your own data.
Not your keys and your node, not your coins.
Personal server. Take 1#
My first attempt at running a personal server burst into flames three weeks ago.
My mistake was to use an external SSD hard drive. Soon after getting the server up and running I realized that my setup was not ideal, but I kept myself in denial.
I got an HP EliteDesk 800 G2 with 8G of RAM and 240 GB internal SSD drive for $125 at Amazon. You need more than 240 GB to run a fully indexed Bitcoin node and I had an external 5TB SSD drive that I planned to use instead.
After tinkering a bit with the BIOS and mounting the external drive, I got things up and running.
Unfortunately, Start9 doesn't support external hard drives. I was able to configure things up but whenever I rebooted my server, the external drive configuration got wiped out and I had to manually mount the drive again and re-start the Bitcoin node.
A month ago I updated the StartOS and after shutting down the server it never came back online.
As it turns out, the latest release of StartOS had closed the door to the settings I was using.
Personal server. Take 2#
Knowing that I could not use StartOS anymore, I tried Umbrel.
It was a bit confusing at first. I had to install Debian and then install Umbrel but the system worked well. Just a bit slow. After all, Umbrel runs as a virtual server within Debian.
The setup seemed to work fine except for one thing: I could not connect my iPhone to Vaultwarden, the password manager. And that was a deal breaker.
I use the Bitwarden app on my iPhone. The apps requires a secure https connection to the Vaultwarden server and the Vaultwarden implementation on Umbrel only offers http (it's either a local connection or a Tor connection).
That is when I realized that I really like StartOS and that I needed a bigger internal SSD.
I bought a 2TB internal SSD drive for $95 that is compatible with my server and reinstalled StartOS again.
StartOS runs smoothly if you work within the supported configurations. And I can't complain, after all, Start9 is offering their OS for free, for you to download and run on your own hardware even though they sell hardware as well.
The results#
I now have my server running again with the following software:
- Bitcoin Core: because you should run your own node
- electrs:
- I use it to connect the Sparrow wallet to my Bitcoin node
- It is also needed to run your own mempool instance
- Mempool: I can inspect transactions locally. No one needs to know which transactions I'm interested in
- Vaultwarden: my own password manager. Because LastPass is not an option anymore...
With this setup, I have full control of my own Bitcoin:
- Coldcard signing devices
- Sparrow wallet to send and receive Bitcoin
- Small memory card to maintain the airgap between my laptop running Sparrow and the Coldcards
- Sparrow connected to my own Bitcoin node so that I have full certainty on my transactions
If you trust someone else's Bitcoin node to tell you that you now control an UTXO, do you really control that UTXO?
The next step is to install my own Nostr relay to permanently store my own notes.
I'm not ready yet to run a Lightning node on my server. I use Mutiny on my phone and so I do have my own node, in a way.
Notable notes
Recommendations
Lyn Alden#
We're tremendously lucky that Lyn shares her wisdom and knowledge with all of us. Like for example, the three rules of Bitcoin:
- The first rule of Bitcoin is you do not break Bitcoin.
- The second rule of Bitcoin is you do not break Bitcoin.
- The third rule of Bitcoin is you do not break Bitcoin.
You can follow her here and you should also consider buying her book Broken Money.
What did you think of today's newsletter?#
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See you again next week! — Alejandro
This newsletter is for educational purposes. It does not represent financial advice. Do your own research before buying Bitcoin.
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