Author: ZmnSCPxj 2017-12-13 12:53:52
Published on: 2017-12-13T12:53:52+00:00
To discover nodes on the network, there are no UIs available. The current LN programs keep track of this in their databases, but they vary in detail. Network bootstrap involves some LN nodes being discoverable via DNS, then a node connects to them, request node gossip, then it will select from the node information it acquires to select some nodes to connect and channel to. There is a difference between "connect" and "channel"; to connect means only that you contact them over the network and consumes only bandwidth and some small amount of CPU power on your node, whereas to channel means to commit some bitcoins to a payment channel between you.There is no UI where one can accept or reject incoming channel requests, as one auto-accepts incoming channel requests. One may program the node to reject some nodes via any heuristic one chooses, but one would have to implement that themselves. If one intends to become a hub and earn routing fees, investing some on-chain bitcoins is suggested. Each node indicates as part of its information a "fixed fee" and a "proportional fee". It is expected that there will be many nodes through which people can route, so there will be much competition, and eventually, the system will settle to a state where most nodes charge the same low fee.There are no performance/reputation info available for any hub. Presumably, the auto-channeling program will gather statistics and other information to make some guesses on which nodes have good performance. Any node can become a hub without permission or special treatment of the network if by "hub" we mean "node with high number of channels". Even the DNS bootstrap should only be used to gather initial node gossip to acquire some *other* nodes that can potentially be channeled to.
Updated on: 2023-05-24T16:29:17.354121+00:00