How to speed up Lana full node synchronization by importing blocks from bootstrap.dat?

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What happens when you download and run LanaCoin desktop wallet for the first time?

Wallet starts to download the entire Lana blockchain. Current size of the blockchain is aprox 220 MB (MegaBytes).

Blockchain synchronization takes aprox 4 hours on an lowend desktop computer (2core cpu,3GB RAM, regular 5400rpm hdd).

LanaCoin wallet has built in 9 seed nodes. Seed nodes are always on wallets/nodes/clients that run 24/7/365 and their purpose is to keep an updated copy of the Lana ledger and serve the blockchain ledger data to any client that needs a copy of this information or need to synch the entire blockchain database.

When a brand new wallet is powered on, it connects over p2p tcp port 7506 to those 9 seednodes and the initiall synchronization of the blockchain begins. Those 9 seednodes are not alone in this task, since the seednodes have an updated list of client/wallet IPs those are provided to the new connecting clients/nodes/wallets as well thru peer exchange.

With time and increase in transaction volume the blockchain grows in size and running a full node will take up more harddrive space.

To speed up the initiall blockchain synchronization, one can take advantage of a feature called block import.

For block import to start one must first obtain a blockchain bootstrap.dat file. We are commited to take a bootstrap.dat file snapshot at least 4 times per year and the latest snapshot is dated january 1st 2020.

How to import blocks with the use of bootstrap.dat?

Download desktop wallet from LanaCoin Github
  • Unzip the wallet program executable (lanacoin-qt.exe)
Unzip the application using your preferred arhive extraction tool.
  • Start wallet application/program (allow application to connect to network if your windows firewall or other asks)
Lanacoin-qt.exe wallet application
  • Shutdown wallet application
  • Open “yourusername” %appdata% folder and look for folder named “lanacoin” (where is appdata folder?)
Lanacoin appdata folder contains blockchain data and wallet.dat file (wallet.dat contains your privatey key for your coins)
  • Delete all files except “wallet.dat” insider the lanacoin appdata folder (wallet.dat contains your private keys)
  • Download bootstrap.dat from our pCloud public folder (look for folder with latest date) and save it to the above mentioned lanacoin appdata folder
Download bootstrap.data file from pCloud to your lanacoin appdata folder or your downloads folder and move it after download is complete.
Your appdata foder should look like this before you start wallet for the second time.
  • Start wallet application/program
  • You will notice wallet is importing blocks from the bootstrap.dat

Importing blocks from bootstrap.dat file (you can monitor progress help/debug/information).
  • After all the blocks are imported you can delete bootstrap.dat file from the lanacoin appdata folder or simply save it in case you need it in the future.

DONT FORGET TO ENCRYPT YOUR WALLET WITH A STRONG PASSWORD AND PERFORM REGULAR WALLET.DAT FILE BACKUPS. A NON ENCRYPTED WALLET.DAT IS VERY INSECURE. IF AN ATTACKER GAINS ACCESS TO YOUR WALLET.DAT FILE HE/SHE HAS ACCESS TO YOUR COINS. SETTING A PASSWORD IS HIGHLY RECCOMENDED.

Backup your wallet.dat before depozit and update your backup any time you generate a new recieve address (public/private keypair).
Create a strong password. Dont forget it, dont loose it. No one can help you recover a lost, forgoten password.
Keep backups of your backups and store the backup medium in a secure place.

Word of causion. Always download wallet/application from the official LanaCoin github code repository and same goes for the bootstap.dat file. The nature of open source project allows anyone with some programming skills to compile a potencially malicious wallet that is designed to steal your crypto or damage you computer.

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