How to: Linux install guide for an IPFS node on a Raspberry, Banana, or Atomic Pi with Ubuntu to pin CIDs

Tutorials
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This tutorial is streamlined from a great tutorial here: How to install IPFS node on Raspberry Pi 4 running Ubuntu - Friends of Little Yus

1. Prerequisites

  • Raspberry, Banana, or Atomic Pi with at least 1GB RAM

  • 32GB storage capacity for OS and CID content

  • internet connection preferably via LAN

2. Install Ubuntu Server version (LTS)

3. Download IPFS

  • visit the IPFS distribution page Releases · ipfs/kubo · GitHub

  • depending on your your Pi-model, download the latest 64-bit linux-arm64 or 32-bit linux-arm version

  • as of this writing, latest version is 0.18.1. which will exemplarily be used on Raspberry Pi:

Raspberry Pi 3/4 (64-bit):

wget https://dist.ipfs.io/go-ipfs/v0.18.1/go-ipfs_v0.18.1_linux-arm64.tar.gz

Raspberry Pi 2 (32-bit):

wget https://dist.ipfs.io/go-ipfs/v0.18.1/go-ipfs_v0.18.1_linux-arm.tar.gz

4. Extract

Raspberry Pi 3/4 (64-bit): tar -xvzf go-ipfs_v0.18.1_linux-arm64.tar.gz

Raspberry Pi 2 (32-bit): tar -xvzf go-ipfs_v0.18.1_linux-arm.tar.gz

5. Run install script and confirm installed version

cd go-ipfs

sudo bash install.sh

ipfs --version

6. Low-power profile initialization

since we are happy with a resource-constrained system we

initialize IPFS with the low-power profile:

ipfs init —profile=lowpower

7. Create a service for the IPFS daemon

The following link was used as reference for creating this service file: systemd support · Issue #1430 · ipfs/kubo · GitHub

Create service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/ipfs.service

Edit, Copy, and Save the following to the ipfs.service file (Replace Raspberry with your username):

[Unit]
Description=IPFS Daemon
After=network.target
[Service]
User=Raspberry
Environment=IPFS_PATH=/home/Raspberry/.ipfs
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/ipfs daemon --init --migrate
StandardOutput=journal
Restart=on-failure
KillSignal=SIGINT
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

8. Start IPFS

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl start ipfs

9. Enable auto-start on reboot

sudo systemctl enable ipfs

10. Reboot Pi

sudo reboot now

11. Pinning CIDs

pin CIDs to keep sensitive content censorship resistent, e.g., the GridSAT NDP - just copy/paste the following commands:

CID for NFT with NDP source code:

ipfs pin add QmNZ6pKjn5s68MazQycJwazymio9rGx3i6qZqCDsgfzgBP

CID for NDP .git:

ipfs pin add QmYjdbvH4fvrJosbn9Nu85QUZB9MQC9P6CwozcMJELepSj

CID for gridsat.eth/:

ipfs pin add QmWxzTDuZzDGD24tv2cukJhUo5H8CF9bUqA8bxZR7Y77UK

Note: CIDs may constantly change - please update regularly - CID updates for the exemplary NDP are posted here, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and gridsat.eth/

The following steps are not mandatory and can be skipped for a resilient IPFS node to pin content - however, they help the IPFS network to perform at its best:

12. Configure Ports

IPFS uses the following default ports:

  • 4001 – default libp2p swarm port – must be open to sync to all other public nodes.

  • 5001 – API port and webui– provides write/admin access to the node – should be locked down or configured to only be accessible by your local IP.

  • 8080 – Gateway

13. Configure firewall

assumed that UFW already runs, open up the following local ports:

  • 4001 must be open to sync to all other public nodes.

  • 5001 API port and webui. Keep closed if you do not use

  • 8080 – Gateway. Keep closed if you do not use

Open up ports:

sudo ufw allow 4001

sudo ufw allow 5001

sudo ufw allow 8080

14. Port forwarding

most internet routers support the Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) and/or IPv6 - enable, e.g., for Fritz!Box How do I activate UPnP for my Fritz!Box? | Paessler Knowledge Base - if there is no native UPnP and/or IPv6 support, IPFS only needs the libp2p swarm port (4001) to be open: Configure NAT and port forwarding | IPFS Docs

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