Ethereum: Why isn’t my bitcoind daemon listening on RPC port 8332?

Ethereum: Why your Bitcoind daemon isn’t listening on RPC port 8332

As an Ethereum developer, you’re likely familiar with the complexities of running multiple instances of the Ethereum node daemon behind a reverse proxy. However, when you try 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 Bitcoind handles RPC (remote procedure call). In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into why your Bitcoind daemon might not be listening on RPC port 8332 and explore possible solutions.

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

The default configuration for the Ethereum node daemon allows it to listen on one of three RPC ports: 8332, 8541 (default), or 7890. The problem here lies in how you access your local instance from outside the network.

When using Bitcoin-cli from a different host than where Bitcoind is running, you must 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 Methods

If you have problems with the default configuration, here are some alternative methods to get your bitcoind daemon to listen 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 are 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 is this happening?

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

• Host firewall rules: If you are running Bitcoind behind a host firewall, it may have blocked 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 may interfere with each other.

• RPC server issues

  

  : The official Bitcoinrpc server may not be configured correctly or may not be available for remote access.

Conclusion

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

• Use the -rpcport option with an 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 to listen on RPC port 8332 when using Bitcoin-cli from outside your local network.