Ultra Light Nodes
When running without a blockchain connection, bandwidth incentive payments (SWAP) cannot be made so there is a risk of getting blocklisted by other peers for unpaid services.
Configuration
To run Bee as an ultra-light node full-node and swap-enable must both be set to false, and the blockchain-rpc-endpoint value should be set to an empty string "" or commented out in the configuration.
Mode of Operation
The target audience for this mode of operations are users who want to try out running a node but don't
want to go through the hassle of blockchain onboarding. Ultra-light nodes will be able to download data as long as the data consumed does not exceed the payment threshold (payment-threshold in configuration) set by peers they connect to.
Running Bee without a connected blockchain backend, however, imposes some limitations:
- Can't do overlay verification
- Can't do SWAP settlements
Since we can't buy postage stamps:
- Can't send PSS messages
- Can't upload data to the network