counterweight
d26dc78b3c
892-line playbook becomes 40 lines plus a role with install/build/configure/
service/healthcheck phases, five templates and one handler. bitcoin_knots_vars.yml
is deleted; its content is the role's defaults.
Verified after a real run: bitcoind still active since 2026-08-19 (NO restart),
chain at 966844 blocks / 875 GB, DATUM config intact, dbcache still 200, health
check timer firing again. changed=3, all health-check. vipy changed=0.
⚠ THE BIG ONE: the playbook would have deleted the mining integration.
bitcoin.conf on the node carries a section that was hand-added and was missing
from the template entirely:
blockmaxsize=3985000
blockmaxweight=3985000
blocknotify=killall -USR1 datum_gateway
maxmempool=1000
blockreconstructionextratxn=1000000
blocknotify is how datum_gateway learns a new block landed. Running the old
playbook would have stripped all of it and solo mining would have carried on
against a stale template - a silent failure that costs money rather than raising
an error. Also dbcache 200 -> 3528 (hand-tuned down; the calculation wants 90% of
RAM) and logging moved off the file. All now reconciled, dbcache behind
bitcoin_dbcache_mb_override.
bitcoin-knots and datum-gateway are ONE SYSTEM. Noted in the README.
AND MY OWN FIX MADE IT MORE DANGEROUS. The `Restart bitcoind` handler was guarded
by uptime_kuma_enabled, so it had been inert: bitcoin.conf and the systemd unit
both notify it and neither could restart anything - a config change applied to
disk, reported success, and never took effect. Ungating that is right, but it
converts "wrong config sitting inertly on disk" into "node restarted onto a
config that breaks mining". The ungating had to land WITH the template
reconciliation, not before it.
It also raises the bar permanently: any residual template/live difference now
restarts a Bitcoin node on every run. Four rounds of --check --diff to reach
changed=0 - the DATUM section, an explanatory comment that was rendering into the
deployed config (now a {# #} Jinja comment), a "# Pruning (optional)" comment the
live file had, and one trailing blank line.
The build path is 32 tasks all guarded by `not bitcoind_binary_exists.stat.exists`,
so a converged host skips the 30-60 minute compile and both `state: absent`
deletions. Those target /opt/bitcoin-knots/{source,bitcoin-<version>}; the chain
is in /mnt/knots_data and is never touched. Signature-verification tasks copied
verbatim.
The health check timer had last fired 2026-08-09 while reporting active/enabled -
same OnBootSec + OnUnitActiveSec dead chain as fulcrum. The role runs the check
once after enabling to supply the reference the timer schedules from.
Ownership parity checked mechanically against `git show HEAD:`, keyed by TASK
NAME rather than path - keying by path gave a false positive, because
bitcoin_knots_source_dir is created with ownership and later removed with
state: absent, so whichever task comes last wins and that differs between one
file and five. 13/13 match.
bitcoin_p2p_port and the tailscale hostname moved to services_config.yml for the
socket-proxy play on the edge host.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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| .. | ||
| defaults | ||
| handlers | ||
| tasks | ||
| templates | ||
| README.md | ||
bitcoin_knots
Builds Bitcoin Knots from source with PGP + SHA256 verification of the release
tarball, runs it as a full node on knots-box, and keeps a health check on a
systemd timer. The second play in the calling playbook publishes the P2P port
from the edge host via socket_proxy.
Converted from deploy_bitcoin_knots_playbook.yml (892 lines) under Plan 6. The
playbook is now 40 lines.
The build is guarded; the chain is never touched
build.yml is 32 tasks, every one carrying
when: not bitcoind_binary_exists.stat.exists. On a host that already has the
binary the whole download / verify / 30-60 minute compile skips — including the
two state: absent deletions, which target /opt/bitcoin-knots/source and the
extracted build directory.
The chain lives elsewhere and nothing here touches it:
bitcoin_knots_dir |
/opt/bitcoin-knots — build tree, safe to delete |
bitcoin_data_dir |
/var/lib/bitcoin — config, logs, wallets |
bitcoin_large_data_dir |
/mnt/knots_data — ~875 GB of blockchain |
The signature-verification tasks are the security control of this role. They are copied verbatim; do not "simplify" them.
⚠ This node is half of the mining setup
bitcoin.conf carries a DATUM Gateway section that was hand-added on the node
and was missing from the playbook's template:
blockmaxsize=3985000
blockmaxweight=3985000
blocknotify=killall -USR1 datum_gateway
maxmempool=1000
blockreconstructionextratxn=1000000
blocknotify is how datum_gateway learns a new block landed. Running the old
playbook would have deleted all of it, and solo mining would have carried on
grinding against a stale template — a silent failure that costs money rather
than raising an error. The template now carries it behind
bitcoin_datum_gateway_enabled.
bitcoin-knots and datum-gateway are one system, not two services. Changing either config means thinking about both.
The restart handler, and why exactness matters now
The hand-written Restart bitcoind handler carried
when: uptime_kuma_enabled | default(false), so it had been inert since the
decommissioning: bitcoin.conf and the systemd unit both notify it and neither
could restart anything. A config change applied to disk, reported success, and
never took effect.
It is ungated here — which raises the bar for the template. Any residual
difference between the template and the live file, down to a trailing newline,
means the task reports changed and restarts a Bitcoin node on every run. It
took four rounds of --check --diff to reach changed=0: the DATUM section, an
explanatory comment that was rendering into the deployed file (now a {# #}
Jinja comment), a # Pruning (optional) comment the live file had, and one
trailing blank line.
dbcache
Computed as 90% of RAM unless bitcoin_dbcache_mb_override is set. The live node
was hand-tuned to 200 MB; the calculation produces 3528. As with fulcrum,
set_fact outranks role defaults, so the calculation honours the override — a
value pinned only in defaults/ is silently ignored.
Monitoring: one variable, no product knowledge
The check tests bitcoind's RPC and records the answer in its exit code, which
systemd keeps: systemctl is-failed bitcoin-knots-healthcheck.service. Set
healthcheck_push_url to report anywhere that accepts an HTTP ping.
The timer had last fired 2026-08-09 while still reporting active and
enabled — the same OnBootSec + OnUnitActiveSec dead chain as fulcrum, where
nothing re-arms it if the service does not run in a given boot. The role runs the
check once after enabling, which both smoke-tests it and supplies the reference
the timer schedules from.