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296 sats \ 12 replies \ @kepford 1 Apr 2024 \ on: Help With LNDg? lightning
LNDg is not easy to use. Has a lot of functionality but the task of building easy to understand UIs to manage lightning nodes is not an easy one. I mean no disrespect to the dev/s behind LNDg but it takes a lot of time and effort to use it beyond just starring at it. I've learned to use it for a few things like batch opening channels, looking at my profit/loss (depressing), and other basic things.
I've not figured out any of the automation things and I've tried. I think some of the issues aren't with LNDg but are with the complexity of lightning. All that said, I'd love some resources around using LNDg myself.
I concur with all you said.
What I would like to add is that LNDg is not meant to be used with just few channels. Is more for 200+ channels with a lot of traffic.
If you have just 10-50 channels, you will be much better doing it manually few times balancing and using the valve system and you are good to go.
@siggy47 don't bother too much with this if you are using your node just for few personal payments. Just have well balanced your channels and you are good to go.
EDIT: here I wrote a guide some time ago about these aspects
https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/lightning-routing-fees-experiment
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I agree @DarthCoin. I know this may sound crazy, but I won't use it for my node. As you know, my node is for personal use. I have a few large channels. What I'm trying to do is really understand the lightning network better. I'm not a technical guy. I don't find it easy learning node stuff through the command line. This software is GUI (sort of!), and it's crammed with all sorts of information re channels, payments, etc. Even after 2 1/2 years running a node, I'm still confused. I want to learn more about it, even though I probably won't use it. I don't learn well with technical books like Mastering The Lightning Network. Andreas gets way too technical for me really quickly.
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Use Thunderhub or RTL. Very easy to use as node management for desktop.
In that guide I explained some methods to use it manually, no automation.
Don't be confused, it is very good that you want to understand more how LN works and yes, through command line will be a mess for you if you are not comfortable with.
LNDg is good indeed, but for the next step, when you have 200+ channels and you really need it for large traffic. LNDg is not running smooth with few channels and you will get frustrated.
Think about LN as a network of pipes, where the water are the sats in channels and the pipes are the channels, the transport. You are the "water manager" with a node and you have a big responsibility to make that water to flow smoothly through pipes, not too much but also not too little.
I hope you read my reply to Javier, on his post about closing his node: #486306
Also this guide, about liquidity
https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/managing-lightning-node-liquidity
More guides about nodes here:
https://darth-coin.github.io/nodes/nodes.html
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Or use both. I started with RTL but now I use both depending on what I'm doing and what I want to see.
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Exactly, it can complement each others easily in many tasks.
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I got most of my information from your guides. I do use RTL and Thunderhub. I also did read your reply to Javier. It's kind of depressing, huh, that someone who built a really powerful node got disillusioned and decided to shut down?
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Noooo is not depressive at all! Why many people saw it like that?
It is not. I think is a good thing that he came out to say that story.
Is a big lesson for many, because you see, very few noobs know about that you can run in many ways a LN node.
Please don't consider that post as a FUD or bad thing for LN, it is not.
Javier knows very well about the limitations of today of LN implementations, and his personal infrastructure limitations that were too low for his expectations.
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I definitely didn't see it as fud, but if guys at his level are dropping out, should we just accept that only really big enterprise nodes will handle most of the routing?
Super helpful Darth! That makes a lot of sense.
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