Watchtowers for public LN nodes \ stacker news ~lightning

pull down to refresh

1251 sats \ 13 comments \ @DarthCoin 28 Jan lightning

If you are running a PUBLIC routing node and connect your node with some watchtowers, here is a list maintained by openoms: https://github.com/openoms/lightning-node-management/issues/4

It is good to have a watchtower.

How to add / connect your node to a watchtower?

edit your node lnd.conf file, adding these 4 lines at the bottom:

[wtclient]
wtclient.active=true

[watchtower]
# activate this line only if you want to be a watchtower server. Keep in mind that running a WT server occupy more space and resource on your node.
watchtower.active=true

restart lnd service

At this point, your node is running the client & server.

To get your WT Server address run this:

lncli tower info

To add some else's WT to your node, run this:

lncli wtclient add

(and before you press return, add their "uris" value. it should look like this:

Clearnet WT: 0354......@94.177.171.73:9911

Tor only WT e25b281e05320d83b58........c@qxyhqlor3wqnys7zajalxy5smfapdi7qd...........onion:9911

view all related items

92 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 28 Jan

Are there still privacy tradeoffs with watchtower usage? I haven't kept up with improvements to watchtowers.

329 sats \ 0 replies \ @Filiprogrammer 29 Jan

The watchtower stores fixed-size, encrypted blobs and is only able to decrypt and publish the justice transaction after the offending party has broadcast a revoked commitment state.

Source: https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/blob/master/docs/watchtower.md

243 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 28 Jan

Here is a nice talk about WT by Sergi Delgado at BH2022. There's also a talk at Chaincode about LN privacy and WT by Sergi, but can't find it right now.

109 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 28 Jan

Not really. But if you are already a public node, you are already exposed to public, right? Any LN explorer can show all your channels. A WT is only keeping updated the information about the status of your channels (last commit etc), but not knowing all your detailed txs. Also you can have anytime a "friendly" WT peer, for example a friend that is also running a public node and you can watch reciprocally, in private.

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @BTCLNAT 29 Jan

No se para de aprender contigo. Cada tanto. Boom. Otra joya. Gracias.

Por cierto, se está trabajando en un nodo Lightning por acá. Se está trabajando duro, sabes que no es tan fácil como en otros lugares, pero estamos haciendo todo lo posible. Gracias por siempre ayudar.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin OP 29 Jan

Especialmente para tu caso es necesario un watchtower, en caso si corres un nodo publico. Having conexion issues could trigger such force closures and if hou do not have a watcher some bad actors coild steal your sats broadcasting another channel state.

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCLNAT 29 Jan

The node is being set up by one of the community programmers. It would be intended to help those here to improve custody. Due to technical conditions we will have to be behind Tor. After the tests, there will be the possibility for anyone who wants to set up their own Lightning node. If it is private there will be no problems. But if I want to use it like Uncle Jim, it will be more complicated. There is also the issue of staying connected, the bandwidth, the balance of the channel, quite a bit of responsibility. But we will continue working. The important thing is, without harming the network, to try everything we can to help.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @cz 28 Jan

What’s gonna happen if I do that?

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 28 Jan

IF you run a public routing node, it will help you keep your channels sane and your peers cannot cheat on you, stealing your sats. IF you run a PRIVATE node (not routing) is not really necessary.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Filiprogrammer 29 Jan

It can still make sense to use a watchtower with a private node. Your channel partner could still try to publish an old channel state onchain while your node is offline.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cz 29 Jan

Ty! I have understood it very well now, and it will help me if I run a node ever in future. I forwarded this yesterday to my Reddit friend who I know runs a node. I don't know if it's public or private. He never clarified it to me.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 29 Jan

As a private node runner, you are choosing wisely your peers. is supposed to be more LSPs and well known people or even friends (with public nodes). So the risk is really low.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cz 28 Jan

deleted by author