Node Academy: An Introduction

A step-by-step guide to installing and configuring your own node on a spare computer or a VPS
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The Node Academy is a comprehensive online course that teaches participants how to set up, configure, and maintain their own Lightning Network nodes. Led by Leo and organized by the Vancouver Bitcoiners, the course is designed to help participants grow the number of high-quality nodes on the network, particularly within the Pacific Nodewest noderunners community.

The course consists of eight guided virtual sessions, starting with an introduction that covers the minimum and suggested requirements for running a Lightning node, and helps participants decide whether to host their node on a spare machine or a virtual private server (VPS).

From there, the course progresses to topics such as the command line interface, installing and syncing Bitcoin Core, installing and configuring LND, and getting started with Lightning payments. Participants will also learn how to connect to mobile wallets, use Lightning Terminal to manage their node, and install web-based dashboards like Thunderhub, RTL, and LNbits.

The final session focuses on maintaining the node, covering best practices for regular software updates, monitoring node status and channel liquidity, and keeping backups of critical data. By the end of the course, participants will have the skills and knowledge necessary to run their own Lightning Network node with confidence.