user13530: Let's say I have a dedicated server just for my bitcoind and for better reliability and some security reasons I want it to be connected to a much bigger number of nodes than it is willing to do by default (about 40-50).
Providing that I have enough resources, how can I set my bitcoind to keep a specific number of connections to other nodes? Is this possible without recompiling it?
Note: there's a maxconnections option which sets the upper bound, but it doesn't seem bitcoind strives to reach it. Need to kick it off somehow.

user13530: According to the discussion above I came to understanding that this is not possible without patching bitcoind.
I have found a workaround for my use case though: instead of using a single instance of bitcoind I'll run many of them (perhaps even on separate machines in separate locations) and make them talk to each other via addnode option. It is likely that different instances will talk to different nodes on the Network and thus enlarging the total set of nodes I receive updates from. I'll basically have a star topology of my nodes, using the central one for RPC. With more leaf nodes the maximum delay in receiving a transaction notification should lower.

user208: Bitcoind will never make more than 8 outgoing connections. By default, it will allow up to 128 connections (see -maxconnections), but that includes incoming ones.
Available connection slots of fully synchronized nodes are a limited resource on the network, so they shouldn't be wasted. As long as you have enough connections to be sure that at least one is not trying to attack you, you should have enough.

13530: <p>Let's say I have a dedicated server just for my bitcoind and for better reliability and some security reasons I want it to be connected to a much bigger number of nodes than it is willing to do by default (about 40-50).</p>

<p>Providing that I have enough resources, how can I set my bitcoind to keep a specific number of connections to other nodes? Is this possible without recompiling it?</p>

<p>Note: there's a <code>maxconnections</code> option which sets the upper bound, but it doesn't seem bitcoind strives to reach it. Need to kick it off somehow.</p>
 13530: <p>According to the discussion above I came to understanding that this is not possible without patching bitcoind.</p>

<p>I have found a workaround for my use case though: instead of using a single instance of bitcoind I'll run many of them (perhaps even on separate machines in separate locations) and make them talk to each other via <code>addnode</code> <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_calls_list#Full_list" rel="nofollow">option</a>. It is likely that different instances will talk to different nodes on the Network and thus enlarging the total set of nodes I receive updates from. I'll basically have a star topology of my nodes, using the central one for RPC. With more leaf nodes the maximum delay in receiving a transaction notification should lower.</p>
 208: <p>Bitcoind will never make more than 8 outgoing connections. By default, it will allow up to 128 connections (see <code>-maxconnections</code>), but that includes incoming ones.</p>

<p>Available connection slots of fully synchronized nodes are a limited resource on the network, so they shouldn't be wasted. As long as you have enough connections to be sure that at least one is not trying to attack you, you should have enough.</p>
