<p>Good question, This is a quote from article that i have just read, where its described in a pretty simple way:</p>

<p>Now when you first open up a Full Node client like Bitcoin Core, most people are sitting behind a firewall. In this case, your Full Node is limited in the number of connections it can connect to (around 8) and only looks for Super Nodes a.k.a. Listening Nodes. The reason for this is because your Full Node isn’t publicly connectable yet.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/VH0TH.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/VH0TH.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>In a distributed network, a Super Node functions as a highly connected redistribution point as well as a relay station. Therefore this would be an appropriate term to describe a publicly connectable Full Bitcoin Node. This means many nodes can connect to it to obtain relayed transactional data and blockchain history.</p>

<p>Original article: <a href="https://hackernoon.com/lets-talk-about-bitcoin-nodes-e9502193198c" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://hackernoon.com/lets-talk-about-bitcoin-nodes-e9502193198c</a></p>

<p>So basically you get your data from <strong>publicly connectable Full Bitcoin Nodes</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-13T22:23:48.850Z
I disagree there's such thing as a 'full bitcoin node'. If it's not full, it's not a node.
Osias Jota
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-14T18:06:50.763Z
@OsiasJota Any system, such as a server, desktop application, or wallet, that participates in the bitcoin network by “speaking” the bitcoin protocol is called a bitcoin node
Tomas Bisciak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-14T18:37:41.237Z
It shouldn't be.
Osias Jota
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-14T18:48:59.310Z
But I recognize that's the way the word is used today :(
Osias Jota
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-13T21:12:57.647Z
2018-03-13T21:12:57.647Z
Tomas Bisciak
<p>The very word 'node' means there's no servers and clients, every running software is equivalent. No 'central' anything, Bitcoin was created to be a decentralized system. The initial copy and any future updates can be donwloaded from any other node.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-14T13:52:21.990Z
When you say 'other node', in group of a million nodes across the globe, how do my node know from which node to download from? How to trust that node? Where to get nodes address from?
Faiz Ali
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-14T17:25:07.953Z
Bitcoin node software have a list of IP adresses of other nodes they can communicate. There's no trust required. See this answer: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3536/how-do-bitcoin-clients-find-each-other
Osias Jota
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-13T21:10:02.617Z
2018-03-13T21:10:02.617Z
Osias Jota
<p>From where does a node download the latest copy of ledger initially? Is this information stored in a 'central server'?</p>

<p>Let's say a node is offline for a while, after coming back how will the node get to know the ledger is up-to-date or not?</p>

<synchronization>
From where does a node download a copy of the ledger
Faiz Ali
# From where does a node download a copy of the ledger

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-13)

From where does a node download the latest copy of ledger initially? Is this information stored in a 'central server'?

Let's say a node is offline for a while, after coming back how will the node get to know the ledger is up-to-date or not?

**Tags:** synchronization


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-03-13. Score: 1

Good question, This is a quote from article that i have just read, where its described in a pretty simple way:

Now when you first open up a Full Node client like Bitcoin Core, most people are sitting behind a firewall. In this case, your Full Node is limited in the number of connections it can connect to (around 8) and only looks for Super Nodes a.k.a. Listening Nodes. The reason for this is because your Full Node isn’t publicly connectable yet.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/VH0TH.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/VH0TH.png)

In a distributed network, a Super Node functions as a highly connected redistribution point as well as a relay station. Therefore this would be an appropriate term to describe a publicly connectable Full Bitcoin Node. This means many nodes can connect to it to obtain relayed transactional data and blockchain history.

Original article: <https://hackernoon.com/lets-talk-about-bitcoin-nodes-e9502193198c>

So basically you get your data from **publicly connectable Full Bitcoin Nodes**

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I disagree there's such thing as a 'full bitcoin node'. If it's not full, it's not a node.  
> **username_1**: @OsiasJota Any system, such as a server, desktop application, or wallet, that participates in the bitcoin network by “speaking” the bitcoin protocol is called a bitcoin node  
> **username_2**: It shouldn't be.  
> **username_2**: But I recognize that's the way the word is used today :(  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-13. Score: 0

The very word 'node' means there's no servers and clients, every running software is equivalent. No 'central' anything, Bitcoin was created to be a decentralized system. The initial copy and any future updates can be donwloaded from any other node.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: When you say 'other node', in group of a million nodes across the globe, how do my node know from which node to download from? How to trust that node? Where to get nodes address from?  
> **username_2**: Bitcoin node software have a list of IP adresses of other nodes they can communicate. There's no trust required. See this answer: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3536/how-do-bitcoin-clients-find-each-other  

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