<p>If you use <code>connect</code> your bitcoind will exclusively connect to the nodes that you have specified in conjunction with <code>connect</code>.</p>

<p>When you use <code>addnode</code> your bitcoind will preferably connect to the specified nodes, but will also announce itself to other peers that are connected to them and try to make more connections.</p>

<p>The nodes that you had specified with <code>connect</code> might have been overloaded and therefore hadn't sent any data or even didn't accept the connection request. On the other hand, using <code>addnode</code> might have allowed your daemon to find additional peers that have seeded the data instead.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-19T18:51:41.780Z
I guess I'll just have to try more nodes - thanks @Murch.
Jarrett
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-18T17:10:15.907Z
2015-03-19T21:12:17.337Z
2015-03-19T21:12:17.337Z
Murch
<p>I've manually set many nodes in my <code>bitcoin.conf</code> file via the <code>connect=</code> property.</p>

<p>I can see that, when run, <code>bitcoind</code> connects to most of these nodes successfully.</p>

<p>However, I never see any blocks being downloaded.  I can only get blocks downloading if I either change the <code>connect=</code> properties to <code>addnode=</code>, or remove the <code>connect=</code> properties altogether.</p>

<p>Does anyone know why this is the case?</p>

<bitcoind>
Why does `connect` perform worse than `addnode` for synchronization?
Jarrett
# Why does `connect` perform worse than `addnode` for synchronization?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-18)

I've manually set many nodes in my `bitcoin.conf` file via the `connect=` property.

I can see that, when run, `bitcoind` connects to most of these nodes successfully.

However, I never see any blocks being downloaded. I can only get blocks downloading if I either change the `connect=` properties to `addnode=`, or remove the `connect=` properties altogether.

Does anyone know why this is the case?

**Tags:** bitcoind


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-03-18. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

If you use `connect` your bitcoind will exclusively connect to the nodes that you have specified in conjunction with `connect`.

When you use `addnode` your bitcoind will preferably connect to the specified nodes, but will also announce itself to other peers that are connected to them and try to make more connections.

The nodes that you had specified with `connect` might have been overloaded and therefore hadn't sent any data or even didn't accept the connection request. On the other hand, using `addnode` might have allowed your daemon to find additional peers that have seeded the data instead.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I guess I'll just have to try more nodes - thanks @username_1.  

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