delvingbitcoin

DNS seed node filtering

DNS seed node filtering

Original Postby cdecker

Posted on: March 1, 2024 10:38 UTC

The email discusses the operational mechanics and the rationale behind the order in which nodes are returned by bitcoinstats.com.

The website is designed to list nodes based on the sequence they are scanned by the crawler, prioritizing recently seen working peers. This method is chosen to ensure a higher likelihood of successful connections for requesters. Once connected, it is anticipated that the bitcoind software will utilize the getaddr/addr mechanism to expand its address manager, thereby reducing the necessity for DNS bootstrapping in the future.

DNS seeds, as mentioned, serve primarily as a bootstrapping mechanism for completely new nodes rather than for regular peer lookups. The efficacy of this system is such that as long as one functioning node is included among the typically returned 25 seeds, joining the network should be feasible regardless of the node version. The email also reflects on the potential benefits and drawbacks of implementing sanity filtering to possibly exclude older versions from getting connections, indicating an ongoing consideration of how to optimize the balance between welcoming new nodes and maintaining network health and security.