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How to use Zeus to connect to a node behind Tor?
178 sats \ 7 comments \ @BTCLNAT 9 Feb bitcoin_beginners
Friend @DarthCoin, I know you have excellent guides and I have read them more than once, but this time I need clarification.
In CUBA we already have a Lightning node to open channels for poor Cubans. This work is thanks to @Cuba_BTC and especially @bitalion. With Blixt a beauty, I already opened my channel with them using that wallet. How good it feels.
Now comes the chicken rice with chicken. ZEUS. It has the best POS I have seen, it uses Yadio, so the merchants put their prices in CUP and the invoice in SAT is correct. So I want to use it. But for technical reasons we have to be behind Tor. The Zeus Embedded Node does not allow its use. Which of these solutions would be appropriate. The knot here is just Tor.
Enlighten me friend.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fiatrevelation 9 Feb
Lopp has a guide on this.
But a warning, for some reason when I did this I was unable to connect my Lightning terminal. I'm not sure the reason for this and I gave up trying to figure it out. I'm OK using Zeus instead, personally.
Darthcoin is right. LN is onion routed so you already have some good privacy without using Tor (i.e. you can see a payment's route only when sending). The advantage of tor is that it won't broadcast your ip if you are announcing your node to the network. This preserves privacy since your nodes geographical location can be traced using your ip, so other peers in the network can see your pubkey and the ip address associated with it. Also, it is important to note that, over a Tor connection, although this hides your traffic, isps can still see that your ip is using a tor connection.
Tor Browser prevents people from knowing the websites you visit. Some entities, such as your Internet Service Provider (ISP), may be able to see that you're using Tor, but they won't know where you're going when you do VPNs are convenient for obfuscsting your location.
The only advantage of connecting over tor is to not broadcast your ip and therefore location (which you can hide/change anyway using a vpn). I believe connecting only over Tor would affect the node's routing ability, but LND offers a "hybrid" option so your node allows tor and clearnet connections.
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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @DarthCoin 9 Feb
Zeus embedded node do NOT work over Tor, ONLY by using it together with orbot. But I will never recommend to open channels with a Tor only node. It will be a pain in the ass and you could lose a lot of sats and liquidity.
You have been warned. LN is offering you enough privacy for transacting. And also Zeus is using like Blixt a neutrino server, so your IP / xpub as client is not leaked.
Just open 1-2 channels with some well known LSP / friendly LN nodes and you are good to go. https://github.com/ZeusLN/zeus/discussions/2265
we have to be behind Tor
WHY? Tor is adding huge delay for syncing with neutrino, why are you cutting your own foot?
When you sync your Zeus be sure you put in neutrino peers only the ones (2-3 max) that have a good ping (under 100-150ms). Here is a list:
btcd1.lnolymp.us | btcd2.lnolymp.us - for US region sg.lnolymp.us - for Asia region btcd-mainnet.lightning.computer - for US region uswest.blixtwallet.com (Seattle) - for US region europe.blixtwallet.com (Germany) - for EU region asia.blixtwallet.com - for Asia region node.eldamar.icu - for US region noad.sathoarder.com - for US region bb1.breez.technology | bb2.breez.technology - for US region neutrino.shock.network - US region
Or choose one that is in your region: https://bitnodes.io/nodes/?q=NODE_COMPACT_FILTERS
Or you can have a local central community Bitcoin core node, over Tor and serving local neutrino clients (Zeus or Blixt) for the whole community. You just have to add a single line in the conf https://docs.lightning.engineering/lightning-network-tools/lnd/enable-neutrino-mode-in-bitcoin-core
That central core node can server blocks even over a mesh / LAN network.
I encourage ANY local bitcoin community to run a neutrino server with their core node. It cost nothing.
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21 sats \ 4 replies \ @BTCLNAT OP 9 Feb
La comunidad tiene un nodo central. Pero para conectarse a ese nodo se tiene que estar detrás de Tor a causa del ISP de aquí.
Necesito saber cuál de las tres opciones usar en Zeus , para no usar Orbot.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @DarthCoin 9 Feb
Esta opcion es SOLO para nodos LN remotos, no es para embedded. Si tienes un nodo LN solo Tor, entonces mejor instalas Lightning Terminal y utilizas la conexion con LNC para Zeus. Es mas estable.
Que nodo es realmente este que no entiendo muy bien el problema.
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @BTCLNAT OP 9 Feb
CubaBitcoin tiene un nodo Lightning. Localización: Francia, alojado en ISP en Lituania. Aquí es tremendo lío con el ISP de aquí. La solución fue detrás de Tor y listo. Es solo Lightning.
Se llama Cuba Bitcoin.
Tal vez viendo en la mempool.space ves mejor la situación en que estamos
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 9 Feb
  1. No tienes que dar informacion privada por aqui. Yo preguntaba solo que tipo de nodo es y como conectas a el.
  2. O sea tu ISP esta bloqueando el accesso por clearnet a este VPS (nodo LN) ?
  3. Entonces la unica solucion es conectar atraves de Tailscale o LNC. Aqui tienes la documentation de como hacerlo: https://docs.zeusln.app/category/remote-connections
  • tailscale = private tunnel over private IP
https://darth-coin.github.io/nodes/tailscale-vpn-your-node-en.html
  • LNC = Lightning Node connect using Lightning Terminal from LL
https://lightning.engineering/posts/2021-11-30-lightning-node-connect-deep-dive/
Again, using Tor with that node you will have ONLY troubles, but yeah your situation in Cuba is really fucked up with running LN nodes.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 9 Feb
Can you use NWC from any other node? Did you test it ? Coinos, lnwallet.app, rizful, nodana, minibits or any other service that provide a NWC access, can you test it, if your ISP is not filtering?
If NWC works, you can convert very easily your remote node into a Alby Hub with NWC. You can even create sub-accounts as uncle Jim for more people.
The management part can still be done through a Thunderhub in a Tor browser but using effectively that LN node for payments can be done over NWC.
NWC is a wonderful way to simply use LN accounts: https://nwc.dev/
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