<p>Bitcoin by default will not make more than 8 outgoing connections, and <code>-maxconnections</code> only controls how many incoming connections you allow. Feel free to set this higher, but it will take time before others connect to you in large numbers.</p>

<p><strong>Please don't change this, as there is no need.</strong> Connectable peers on the network are a scarce resource, and essential to the decentralization. If people go try connect to all of them like some sites do, we'll very quickly run out.</p>

<p>In case you're a merchant or miner, you perhaps want to set up a few fixed connections to trusted others (see the <code>-addnode</code> command line/config option), but having more connections does not mean stronger verification (the reference client always verifies everything) or even faster relaying (as you'll slow down by distributing new blocks and transactions to all your peers). It is mostly a matter of providing a service to the network.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T06:43:42.413Z
It could be also counted from aggregate nodes across the country and not just from one client.
Tek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-05T18:23:25.403Z
After 4 days of running my box with -maxconnections=1000, I was still only at ~50 connections. [I have not seen a "connected time" over 8 hours in the list provided by blockchain.info](http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes) so that tells me they must restart their server every 8 hours or so. Either that, or connections drop and refresh after 8 hours?
user3145
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-05T23:27:16.687Z
I'm sure they have a custom infrastructure that creates thousands of outgoing connections. Bitcoind never creates more than 8. As I said, there is no need for more.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-05T10:27:01.880Z
2017-04-10T06:10:24.047Z
2017-04-10T06:10:24.047Z
Pieter Wuille
<p>As nobody seems to have mentioned it I'll chip in for future reference. If your bitcoind node is behind a router/NAT then you can only connect to others, they cannot connect to you. Let's assume most people are in that situation, which makes most nodes unconnectable (directly at least). If you open up your node port on your router then every bitcoind node out there will be able to connect to you if they wish rather than your node only being able to connect to others who have opened their port. The same applies to Bittorrent and other p2p systems.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-30T18:02:13.217Z
2014-12-30T18:02:13.217Z
George
<p>Why do you need 1,000+ connections?</p>

<p>By default bitcoind cannot have more than 125 connections. You need to start bitcoind with the parameter <code>-maxconnections=&lt;n&gt;</code> or set <code>maxconnections=&lt;n&gt;</code> in  bitcoin.conf to be able to connect to more peers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T19:06:00.400Z
**Why?!** Why not should be the real question! If you must know, I want to have **the** most verified blockchain in the world.
user3145
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T20:38:43.963Z
"The most verified"?  That makes no sense.  Every node at the same block height and block hash is equal.  And yours may have a blockchain fork that eventually becomes orphaned.
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T21:52:26.003Z
Sorry for the typo, I'm not up to speed on the entire bitcoin lexicon just yet. If not the most verified, then **I want to be the fastest at recognizing new transactions.** That is what I meant.
user3145
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T18:31:39.850Z
2013-03-04T18:31:39.850Z
Nicolai
<p>To check whether you allow incoming, use this: <a href="https://bitnodes.21.co" rel="nofollow">https://bitnodes.21.co</a>
There is a button to check your ip and if it results in green, you are fine to have incoming connection. Once you have that, I was told you can have more outgoing connection.  Good luck.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-30T13:27:13.143Z
That's not an answer to the question.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:08:51.573Z
2016-06-28T14:08:51.573Z
Dennis Ng
<p>The bitcoind client has a maxconnections configuration option.  The client launched With -maxconnections=N will allow up to N incoming connections to be established simultaneously.</p>

<p>Perhaps you may need to increase the connection timeout for that many connection attempts from a single (possibly underpowered) node.  Perhaps set it to like 15 seconds (15000 ms).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>-timeout=           Specify connection timeout in milliseconds (default: 5000)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>[Edit: Pieter Wuille's answer gets you further there.  -addnode will let you force new outgoing conections to nodes when you have their IP addresses.]</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T21:54:49.013Z
I will re-start my bitcoind client now with the timeout increased to 15 seconds as suggested as well as the -maxconnections=1000 and get back to you.
user3145
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-05T05:16:53.463Z
So after 7 hours of running bitcoind with a 15 second timeout and 1,000 max connections.. I was at 32 connections at one point but have now dropped to 28, so I doubt adding the maxconnections or the timeout variable did much at all unfortunately. In fact I think it may have hindered the number of connections I would normally have after 7 hours.
user3145
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-08T01:24:14.560Z
does maxonnections in the .conf override what's in code as the max?
Sun
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T20:43:50.417Z
2013-03-07T22:32:35.537Z
2013-03-07T22:32:35.537Z
Stephen Gornick
<p><a href="http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes">At this moment, blockchain.info has over 1,900 nodes connected to their bitcoin client.</a></p>

<p>I have been running an m1.small ubuntu 12.04 server and bitcoind for ~4 days straight now with no reboots. My bitcoind client still only shows ~60 connections maximum when performing a "./bitcoind getinfo" command.</p>

<p>How can I achieve 1,000+ connections to my bitcoind client? And is it "worth it" in your opinion?</p>

<p>EDIT: I have re-started my bitcoind client with the -maxconnections=1000 and -timeout=15000 parameters but after ~12 hours of running bitcoind, the number of connections is only up to ~40. And I don't seem to be maxing out my CPU, RAM, or bandwidth just yet.</p>

<p>EDIT 2: <a href="http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes">I have not seen a "connected time" over 8 hours in the list provided by blockchain.info</a> so that tells me they must restart their server every 8 hours or so. Either that, or connections drop and refresh after 8 hours? <strong>I am beginning to think that blockchain.info keeps track of IP addresses running bitcoin in a database of sorts... and forefully connects to them every time their bitcoind reboots. Am I right?</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T21:53:13.227Z
Any idea on what might be holding me back from achieving 1,024 connections on my bitcoind? I don't seem to be maxing out my CPU, RAM, or bandwidth just yet.
user3145
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-29T20:23:12.713Z
Bitcoin Unlimited has an option `-maxoutconnections` that allows you to increase outgoing connections to peers. It defaults to `8` but you can set it to something higher without having to recompile the node from modified source.
greatwolf
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-18T10:49:27.323Z
When I set `-maxconnections` to something high I get the following error: 

> Warning: Reducing -maxconnections from 4096 to 865, because of system limitations.

so it seems like one can not even go super high with incoming connections as well?
lifeofguenter
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-10T01:33:42.290Z
@AMB I believe BU offers two versions of the client, one works with the legacy chain and the other works with Bitcoin Cash.
greatwolf
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-19T03:43:57.987Z
The links to the node list are broken could someone fix them? In addition, looks like blockchain.info is now blockchain.com?
foba
<bitcoind><connection>
How does one attain 1,000+ connections like blockchain.info?
user3145
# How does one attain 1,000+ connections like blockchain.info?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-04)

[At this moment, blockchain.info has over 1,900 nodes connected to their bitcoin client.](http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes)

I have been running an m1.small ubuntu 12.04 server and bitcoind for ~4 days straight now with no reboots. My bitcoind client still only shows ~60 connections maximum when performing a "./bitcoind getinfo" command.

How can I achieve 1,000+ connections to my bitcoind client? And is it "worth it" in your opinion?

EDIT: I have re-started my bitcoind client with the -maxconnections=1000 and -timeout=15000 parameters but after ~12 hours of running bitcoind, the number of connections is only up to ~40. And I don't seem to be maxing out my CPU, RAM, or bandwidth just yet.

EDIT 2: [I have not seen a "connected time" over 8 hours in the list provided by blockchain.info](http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes) so that tells me they must restart their server every 8 hours or so. Either that, or connections drop and refresh after 8 hours? **I am beginning to think that blockchain.info keeps track of IP addresses running bitcoin in a database of sorts... and forefully connects to them every time their bitcoind reboots. Am I right?**

**Tags:** bitcoind, connection

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Any idea on what might be holding me back from achieving 1,024 connections on my bitcoind? I don't seem to be maxing out my CPU, RAM, or bandwidth just yet.  
> **username_1**: Bitcoin Unlimited has an option `-maxoutconnections` that allows you to increase outgoing connections to peers. It defaults to `8` but you can set it to something higher without having to recompile the node from modified source.  
> **username_2**: When I set `-maxconnections` to something high I get the following error:   > Warning: Reducing -maxconnections from 4096 to 865, because of system limitations.  so it seems like one can not even go super high with incoming connections as well?  
> **username_1**: @AMB I believe BU offers two versions of the client, one works with the legacy chain and the other works with Bitcoin Cash.  
> **username_3**: The links to the node list are broken could someone fix them? In addition, looks like blockchain.info is now blockchain.com?  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_8 on 2013-03-04. Score: 15 | Accepted answer

The bitcoind client has a maxconnections configuration option. The client launched With -maxconnections=N will allow up to N incoming connections to be established simultaneously.

Perhaps you may need to increase the connection timeout for that many connection attempts from a single (possibly underpowered) node. Perhaps set it to like 15 seconds (15000 ms).

> -timeout= Specify connection timeout in milliseconds (default: 5000)

[Edit: username_4 username_4's answer gets you further there. -addnode will let you force new outgoing conections to nodes when you have their IP addresses.]

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I will re-start my bitcoind client now with the timeout increased to 15 seconds as suggested as well as the -maxconnections=1000 and get back to you.  
> **username_0**: So after 7 hours of running bitcoind with a 15 second timeout and 1,000 max connections.. I was at 32 connections at one point but have now dropped to 28, so I doubt adding the maxconnections or the timeout variable did much at all unfortunately. In fact I think it may have hindered the number of connections I would normally have after 7 hours.  
> **username_10**: does maxonnections in the .conf override what's in code as the max?  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-03-05. Score: 23

Bitcoin by default will not make more than 8 outgoing connections, and `-maxconnections` only controls how many incoming connections you allow. Feel free to set this higher, but it will take time before others connect to you in large numbers.

**Please don't change this, as there is no need.** Connectable peers on the network are a scarce resource, and essential to the decentralization. If people go try connect to all of them like some sites do, we'll very quickly run out.

In case you're a merchant or miner, you perhaps want to set up a few fixed connections to trusted others (see the `-addnode` command line/config option), but having more connections does not mean stronger verification (the reference client always verifies everything) or even faster relaying (as you'll slow down by distributing new blocks and transactions to all your peers). It is mostly a matter of providing a service to the network.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: After 4 days of running my box with -maxconnections=1000, I was still only at ~50 connections. [I have not seen a "connected time" over 8 hours in the list provided by blockchain.info](http://blockchain.info/connected-nodes) so that tells me they must restart their server every 8 hours or so. Either that, or connections drop and refresh after 8 hours?  
> **username_4**: I'm sure they have a custom infrastructure that creates thousands of outgoing connections. Bitcoind never creates more than 8. As I said, there is no need for more.  
> **username_5**: It could be also counted from aggregate nodes across the country and not just from one client.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2014-12-30. Score: 3

As nobody seems to have mentioned it I'll chip in for future reference. If your bitcoind node is behind a router/NAT then you can only connect to others, they cannot connect to you. Let's assume most people are in that situation, which makes most nodes unconnectable (directly at least). If you open up your node port on your router then every bitcoind node out there will be able to connect to you if they wish rather than your node only being able to connect to others who have opened their port. The same applies to Bittorrent and other p2p systems.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2013-03-04. Score: 1

Why do you need 1,000+ connections?

By default bitcoind cannot have more than 125 connections. You need to start bitcoind with the parameter `-maxconnections=<n>` or set `maxconnections=<n>` in bitcoin.conf to be able to connect to more peers.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: **Why?!** Why not should be the real question! If you must know, I want to have **the** most verified blockchain in the world.  
> **username_8**: "The most verified"?  That makes no sense.  Every node at the same block height and block hash is equal.  And yours may have a blockchain fork that eventually becomes orphaned.  
> **username_0**: Sorry for the typo, I'm not up to speed on the entire bitcoin lexicon just yet. If not the most verified, then **I want to be the fastest at recognizing new transactions.** That is what I meant.  

---

### Answer by username_9 on 2016-06-28. Score: -4

To check whether you allow incoming, use this: <https://bitnodes.21.co>
There is a button to check your ip and if it results in green, you are fine to have incoming connection. Once you have that, I was told you can have more outgoing connection. Good luck.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: That's not an answer to the question.  

---

