No Umbrel, No Start9. Run a bare metal Lightning node on a VPS in 2026 — Real lnd.conf, ZeroTier monitoring, channel strategy lessonsNo Umbrel, No Start9. Run a bare metal Lightning node on a VPS in 2026 — Real lnd.conf, ZeroTier monitoring, channel strategy lessons

Moved from a Raspberry Pi that died at home to a Contabo VPS running Bitcoin Core + LND in Docker. Been running it for a while now, node is live on Amboss: [amboss.space/node/03808d86fee8345c7b470f792f62e3a3cba78ad49d75d4623c8e27520c34f90d5b

A few things covered that most guides skip:

• ZeroTier private overlay network between the production VM and a monitoring VM on a separate provider — Uptime Kuma monitors over the private IP, zero public exposure, also serves as backup access when Tor has issues
• Why I stopped opening channels to big nodes (they drain you immediately and you spend more on rebalancing than you earn)
• LightningNetwork+ triangles for getting inbound liquidity from day one
• ACINQ and LNServer for reliable inbound
• Bitbanana for mobile rebalancing
• Auto fee management via LiT so I don't babysit channels manually

Full guide: https://davidebtc186.substack.com/p/how-i-built-my-own-bitcoin-lightning