Run a Storj Storage Node in Docker (Earn From Idle Disks)

Identity creation, vetting survival, and the exact compose file — how to turn spare terabytes into monthly STORJ payouts.

1. Reality check before you start

Storj pays for data actually held ($1.50/TB/mo) and served ($2/TB egress). New nodes spend weeks in vetting and months filling with data. This playbook plants an orchard, not a money tap — set calendar reminders for month 3 and month 6, not day 3.

One node per /24 subnet. Running two identities behind one household IP violates terms and gains nothing.

2. Create your identity (one-time, back this up!)

The identity authorizes your node. Generation is CPU-bound (hours on weak hardware) and the resulting files are irreplaceable — lose them, lose your reputation.

# run identity tool anywhere (laptop fine):
docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd)/identity:/identity \
  storjlabs/identity auth create /identity/storagenode.id 2>&1 | tail

# then authorize it against Storj's CA:
docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd)/identity:/identity \
  storjlabs/identity auth sign /identity/storagenode.id

3. Sign up & get your API key

1. Create an account at storj.io → Node Operators section

2. Generate a storage node API key from the dashboard

3. Note your external IP (or set up DDNS if dynamic)

4. Deploy the storage node

services:
  storagenode:
    image: storjlabs/storagenode:latest
    container_name: storj
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "28967:28967/tcp"
      - "28967:28967/udp"
    environment:
      - WALLET=0xYOUR_ERC20_WALLET
      - ADDRESS=your.ip.or.ddns:28967
      - EMAIL=you@example.com
      - STORAGE=2TB            # honest value only!
      - API_KEY=***
    volumes:
      - ./storj-config:/app/config
      - ./storj-identity:/app/identity
      - ./storj-data:/app/data
    mem_limit: 1g
    stop_grace_period: 300s

docker compose up -d storagenode
docker compose logs -f storagenode | grep -iE "started|error"

5. Port forward 28967

Forward TCP+UDP 28967 from your router to the node host. Storj requires reachability for audits — unreachable nodes accumulate suspensions.

Verify: https://your-ip:28967 from external network should return a JSON-ish response (not timeout). Then watch the dashboard:

# node stats via CLI:
docker exec storagenode storagenode setup 2>/dev/null
curl -s localhost:14002/api/sno/ | python3 -m json.tool | head -30

6. The long game: months 1–6

Maintenance is nearly zero: keep the box on, let Watchtower update the image, never delete the identity, and don't chase every restart warning. Check docker compose logs storagenode | grep -i fail monthly — occasional audit failures are normal noise, rising trends are not.

Tools used in this playbook

• Storj — ★★★★☆ 4.0/5