[tor-relays] Request for Feedback on Relay Node Update Management

[Alessandro Greco]

Dear Tor-Relays Mailing List Members,

I hope this email finds you well. I'm reaching out to share some observations and pose some questions regarding the management of relay node updates, particularly concerning their impact on stability and security of the service provided.

Recently, I've noticed an interesting pattern with my relay node (ID: 47B72187844C00AA5D524415E52E3BE81E63056B [1]). I've followed TorProject's recommendations [2] and configured automatic updates, which has led to frequent restarts of the node to keep the Tor software up-to-date. While this practice ensures high security by keeping the software updated, it seems to compromise the stability of the node itself. The Uptime value of my node has remained at a maximum of a few hours.

This situation has prompted me to reflect on what might be the best strategy to adopt. On one hand, frequent updates ensure optimal security, while on the other hand, continuous restarts may affect the user experience for those relying on the node's stability for their Tor activities.

As such, I'd like to pose some questions to the community to gather feedback and assess best practices:

1. In your opinion, is it preferable to maintain automatic updates to ensure maximum security, even if frequent restarts may compromise the node's stability?
2. Or would it be more sensible to adjust the update frequency, perhaps performing them once or twice a week, to ensure greater stability of the node without excessively compromising security?
3. Have you had similar experiences with your relay nodes? How have you addressed this challenge and what were the outcomes?

Thank you in advance for your time and cooperation.

Best regards,
Aleff.

[1] https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#details/47B72187844C00AA5D524415E52E3BE81E63056B
[2] https://community.torproject.org/relay/setup/guard/debian-ubuntu/updates/

---

Browse my WebSite: aleff-gitlab.gitlab.io
Use my PGP Public Key: pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x7CFCE404A2168C85
Join to support:
- Free Software Foundation! (my.fsf.org/join?referrer=6202114)
- Electronic Frontier Foundation! (eff.org)
- Tor-Project (torproject.org)
- Signal (signal.org)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: publickey - alessandro.greco.1 at protonmail.com - 0x1D14CC10.asc
Type: application/pgp-keys
Size: 3178 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/attachments/20240326/e8a4d23e/attachment.key>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 855 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/attachments/20240326/e8a4d23e/attachment.sig>