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Run an archive node on Bitgold Network

What is an archive node?

An archive node is a full node running with --gcmode archive. It keeps all historical state from genesis, so you can query the state of any account or contract at any block height.

A regular full node only retains state for recent blocks. If you need historical balances, eth_call against old blocks, or debug_trace* over the full chain, you need an archive node.

Why run one?

Archive nodes support use cases such as:

  • trading systems that backtest against historical state;
  • verification services that check past transactions and balances;
  • analytics that need complete historical data;
  • exchanges and wallets that query historical balances.

Requirements

Archive nodes store all block and state data. Plan for:

  • Storage: multi-terabyte NVMe or SSD storage, sized to the current chain state plus growth;
  • CPU: enough cores to keep up with import and RPC traffic;
  • RAM: 32 GB or more is a practical starting point;
  • Network: stable, high-bandwidth connectivity.

Exact disk usage grows with the chain. Check the current snapshot sizes published through the official Bitgold Network channels before provisioning.

Run an archive node

  1. Download the Bitgold node binary, genesis.json, and config.toml from the official Bitgold Network distribution channel.
  2. Start the node with archive mode enabled:
./geth --config ./config.toml --datadir <datadir> \
  --gcmode archive --syncmode full \
  --cache 10000 --rpc.allow-unprotected-txs \
  --history.transactions 0 --history.logs 576000
  1. Monitor disk usage and sync progress. Archiving from genesis takes significantly longer than starting from a snapshot; if the Bitgold team publishes an archive snapshot, prefer it.

Disk growth

Archive mode keeps every historical state. Monitor free disk space and alert well before capacity is reached — a full disk will halt the node.