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Getting Started

Running a node is the best way to use IOTA. By doing so, you have direct access to the Tangle instead of having to connect to and trust someone else's node. And by doing so, you help the IOTA network to become more distributed and resilient. Below are a few references to ensure you have everything you need to get started.

As the node software is the backbone of the IOTA network, you can learn more about the tasks a node is responsible for in Nodes 101.

Because of the node's importance, you need to make sure that your device meets the minimum security requirements for running a node, which you can learn about in Security 101.

To handle a potentially high rate of messages per second, nodes need enough computational power to run reliably, so they should have the following minimum specifications:

  • 4 cores or 4 vCPU.
  • 8 GB RAM.
  • SSD storage.
  • A public IP address.

The amount of storage you need will depend on whether and how often you plan on pruning old data from your local database.

Bee exposes different functionalities on different ports:

  • 15600 TCP - Gossip protocol port.
  • 14265 TCP - REST HTTP API port (optional).
  • 8081 TCP - Dashboard (optional).

The mentioned ports are important for flawless node operation. The REST HTTP API port is optional and is only needed if you want to offer access to your node's API. All ports can be customized inside the config.toml file.

The default dashboard only listens on localhost:8081 per default. If you want to make it accessible from the Internet, you need to change the default configuration (though we recommend using a reverse proxy).