BSC Node Deployment

Deploying a BSC Node

BSC (BNB Smart Chain) is an EVM-compatible network with Proof of Staked Authority consensus (21 validators). A full BSC node takes significantly more space than Ethereum: as of 2024, full chaindata exceeds 3 TB, making the choice of node type a critical decision.

Types of BSC Nodes

For most tasks (own RPC, event indexing, contract interaction), a Full Node with snap sync is sufficient.

Server Requirements

CPU:   16+ vCPU (BSC more CPU-intensive than Ethereum due to frequent blocks)
RAM:   32 GB minimum, 64 GB recommended for stable operation
Disk:  2 TB NVMe SSD (HDD not suitable — too slow I/O)
Net:   100 Mbps+, preferably low latency to Asian peers
OS:    Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

BSC produces a block every ~3 seconds (vs 12 s for Ethereum). This means 4x more blocks in the same period and proportionally more I/O and CPU load during sync.

Installing geth (BSC Fork)

BSC uses a fork of go-ethereum — bsc (Binance Chain go-ethereum fork):

# Install dependencies
apt-get update && apt-get install -y build-essential git golang-go

# Or via pre-built binary (recommended for production)
wget https://github.com/bnb-chain/bsc/releases/latest/download/geth_linux
chmod +x geth_linux
mv geth_linux /usr/local/bin/geth

# Check version
geth version

Configuration

Download genesis file and network config:

mkdir -p /data/bsc && cd /data/bsc

# Download genesis and mainnet config
wget https://github.com/bnb-chain/bsc/releases/latest/download/mainnet.zip
unzip mainnet.zip

# Initialize genesis block
geth --datadir /data/bsc init genesis.json

Configuration file config.toml:

[Eth]
NetworkId = 56
SyncMode = "snap"      # snap for quick start, full for full verification

[Eth.TxPool]
Locals = []
Journal = "transactions.rlp"
Rejournal = 3600000000000
PriceLimit = 3000000000   # 3 Gwei minimum (BSC specific)
PriceBump = 10
AccountSlots = 512
GlobalSlots = 10240
AccountQueue = 256
GlobalQueue = 5120
Lifetime = 10800000000000

[Node]
DataDir = "/data/bsc"
HTTPHost = "0.0.0.0"
HTTPPort = 8545
HTTPVirtualHosts = ["*"]
HTTPModules = ["eth", "net", "web3", "txpool"]
WSHost = "0.0.0.0"
WSPort = 8546
WSModules = ["eth", "net", "web3"]

[Node.P2P]
MaxPeers = 50

Launch

geth \
  --config /data/bsc/config.toml \
  --datadir /data/bsc \
  --cache 16384 \          # 16 GB RAM cache — critical for speed
  --rpc.allow-unprotected-txs \
  --history.transactions 90 \   # store tx index for last 90 days
  --txlookuplimit 0 \
  --syncmode snap \
  --snapshot \
  --diffsync \             # BSC-specific sync optimization
  2>&1 | tee /var/log/bsc-node.log

Systemd Unit

[Unit]
Description=BSC Full Node
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=bsc
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/geth \
  --config /data/bsc/config.toml \
  --datadir /data/bsc \
  --cache 16384 \
  --syncmode snap \
  --snapshot \
  --diffsync
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
LimitNOFILE=65536
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Monitoring Sync

# Current node block
geth attach /data/bsc/geth.ipc --exec "eth.blockNumber"

# Sync status
geth attach /data/bsc/geth.ipc --exec "eth.syncing"
# Returns false if synced, or object with progress

# Number of peers
geth attach /data/bsc/geth.ipc --exec "net.peerCount"
# If 0 — P2P connection problem (firewall, ports)

Ports to open: 30303/tcp and 30303/udp for P2P. RPC (8545) and WS (8546) — only on localhost or behind reverse proxy with auth.

Snap Sync: What Happens

In snap sync, the node doesn't download or verify each historical block. Instead, it downloads a snapshot of the current state (state trie), then catches up with fresh blocks. This is much faster (hours instead of days), but the node cannot respond to requests like eth_call or eth_getBalance for historical blocks — only recent ones.

Snap sync takes ~6–24 hours on NVMe SSD with good connectivity.

Nginx Reverse Proxy with Rate Limiting

Don't expose RPC directly. Minimal protection:

upstream bsc_rpc {
    server 127.0.0.1:8545;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name rpc.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        limit_req zone=rpc_limit burst=50 nodelay;
        proxy_pass http://bsc_rpc;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
    }
}

# In http block:
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=rpc_limit:10m rate=100r/s;

An unprotected RPC quickly starts receiving requests from bots scanning the network.