Start "geth" Miner

This section describes how to start the 'geth' miner on a private Ethereum Blockchain.

"geth (Go Ethereum)" allows to operate the built-in miner module with these JavaScript object methods:

miner.start() - Starts the miner 
miner.stop() - Stops the miner
miner.setEtherbase() - Specifies the Etherbase to the miner
miner.setExtra() - Sets a text string to represent the miner
miner.setGasPrice - ? 
miner.getHashrate() - Check to see how fast the miner is running

Let's start the miner with 1 thread now:

> miner.start(1)
Error: etherbase missing: Etherbase must be explicitly specified

Note that the Etherbase, also called coinbase, is the public key of an Ether account, which is needed by the miner to receive mining reward Ether money.

Ok. Let's provide my account address, the public key, to the miner as the "etherbase":

> base = eth.accounts[0]
"0x05d4e1a499775ce9d681abd50bda655c7b5ccb90"

> miner.setEtherbase(base)
true

> miner.start(1)
null

Ok. I think the "miner" is running now. We should see new blocks generated soon.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of Ethereum

 Ethereum Blockchain

 Ethereum Mist Wallet

 geth - Go Ethereum

 Deprecated: Testnet - Ropsten Network

Private Ethereum Network

 What Is Ethereum Private Network

 Start a New Ethereum Private Network

 Ethereum Private Network Log and Data

 Private Network - Default Genesis Block

 Create Account on Ethereum Network

 What Is Ether Account

 What Is Ethereum Blockchain Miner

Start "geth" Miner

 "geth" Crashed - Out of Memory

 64-Bit "geth" for Private Ethereum Network

 Private Network with Custom Genesis Block

 Transferring Funds between Ether Accounts

 MetaMask - Browser Based Ethereum Wallet

 Using MetaMask Wallet

 Getting Free Ether on Test Networks

 Managing Ethereum Account

 Mining Ether with Your Computer

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB