What do stratum URL, worker and password mean?

What do the stratum URL, worker and password mean?

Stratum is the protocol miners use to talk to a pool. Every miner asks for the same three things, even if the field names differ:

How do you split the stratum URL across different miners?

The URL has three parts: stratum+tcp:// (the scheme), stratum.directpool.io (the host) and 3333 (the port). Miners differ in how many boxes they give you:

The rule: if there is a separate port field, enter the bare host. If there is only one box, enter the full URL with scheme and port.

What should you put in the worker field?

On DirectPool, the worker field is your Bitcoin address, optionally followed by a dot and a name: bc1qyouraddress.bedroom. There is no account to create.

• The address must start with bc1 or 3. Addresses starting with 1 are rejected. Payouts are written to this address inside each block the pool finds, so copy and paste it from your own wallet.
• The worker name after the dot is any label you like, such as office or gamma2. It lets you tell miners apart on the pool page. Use letters, numbers, dashes or underscores.
• Several miners, one address: give each a different worker name. Their shares add up under the same address.

Careful: never put an exchange deposit address in a pool. Some exchanges do not credit coins from coinbase transactions, and the address may change. Use an address from a wallet you control.

What does the password field do?

Pools that identify you by address do not need a password, so x is the convention. Any value works. On DirectPool the field has one real use: setting a fixed starting share difficulty for large miners with d= followed by a number, for example d=500000 for a 200 TH/s machine.

Which share difficulty should a large miner use?

A share is a small proof of work. DirectPool starts new connections at difficulty 1,000. That suits small miners, but a big ASIC would then send dozens of shares a second, which wastes bandwidth for no benefit. A higher difficulty means fewer, larger shares; your credited work stays the same.

The suggestions aim for roughly one share every few seconds. Small miners can leave the password as x. Share difficulty does not change your odds or your payout; it only changes how often your miner reports. The lowest accepted share difficulty is 1, and decimal values are rounded up to 1.

Why is there no account or real password?

Traditional pools ask you to sign up, then hold your earnings in an account until you withdraw. DirectPool pays each miner directly inside the block it finds, so there is nothing to log into and nothing to withdraw. Your Bitcoin address is enough to identify your shares and to pay you.

It also matters for security. Plain stratum+tcp connections are not encrypted, which is normal for Stratum V1 pools. Because DirectPool never asks for a secret, there is nothing sensitive for anyone on the network path to read. Your address is public on the blockchain anyway.

Should you set a backup pool?

Most miners have fields for a second or third pool, often called fallback, Pool 2 or Pool 3. The miner switches to them only when the first pool is unreachable, and switches back when it returns. Adding one keeps your miner working during a pool outage. Shares sent to the backup pool earn on that pool's terms, not DirectPool's, so use an address you control there too. Leaving the backup fields empty is also fine; your miner simply waits and reconnects.

What do complete settings look like?

A Bitaxe on AxeOS:

Stratum Host:  stratum.directpool.io
Stratum Port:  3333
Stratum User:  bc1qyouraddress.bedroom
Password:      x

An Antminer S21 on stock firmware:

URL:       stratum+tcp://stratum.directpool.io:3333
Worker:    bc1qyouraddress.garage
Password:  d=500000

What happens if a field is wrong?

The full checklist is in My miner won't connect to the pool. Once connected, paste your address on the home page to see your workers, or on the verify page to see your slice of the next block. The Stratum V1 protocol itself is documented by Braiins.