<div dir="ltr">>you need to update your debian once in a while. the update process is<br>>fairly easy. you can even automate it if you wish.<br><br>Just a quick elaboration on this, you can easily set up a cronjob to<br>
do this weekly.<br><br>If you type in: <font face="courier new, monospace">crontab -e</font><br><br>You can then select nano, which should be the second option as a text editor. Then add: <font face="courier new, monospace">0 5 * * 1 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y</font><div>
<font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">This will run an upgrade once a week at 5 am.</font><br><div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 12:20 AM, Nima Fatemi <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nima@riseup.net" target="_blank">nima@riseup.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi Robert,<br>
<br>
Replying in-line...<br>
<br>
Robert Smith:<br>
<div class="">> Judging by the level of your<br>
> computer skills implied by the emails, those involved in<br>
> Tor have better things to do than help a guy like me. Â I think it is<br>
> important to the entire world that the internet links us together, and<br>
> Tor may be the most crucial part of that.<br>
<br>
</div>First of all, thanks for your interest in running a relay.<br>
<br>
Of course you are always welcome to ask your questions on here, on #tor<br>
irc channel or via sending an email to <a href="mailto:help@rt.torproject.org">help@rt.torproject.org</a> in case<br>
it's a private question that you don't want the whole world know about.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> I have 3 machines as possible candidates for a Tor relay:<br>
><br>
> A) Â A decent PC (around 6 years old) with Vista installed. Â It's been<br>
> unused for 2 years. Â I am willing to do a clean re-install of Vista or<br>
> even Linux (with help) to run it as a Tor relay, night and day.<br>
><br>
> B) Â A MacBook Pro (4gb ram, Intel, Snow Leopard). Â Again, I am willing to<br>
> wipe it, and do a clean install of the OS and use it for a Tor relay,<br>
> night and day.<br>
><br>
> C) Â My personal laptop an Asus G74S (12gb ram, i7 quad core 2.2ghz, Win7 Home Premium 64bit), which I "sleep" most nights.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Modem: Â DSL from "Telus" (in Victoria, BC, Canada) with 4 ports (I use 1 cable port to my personal computer, 1 wireless port for my iPad or Android cell phone).<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>Well, it's more about how many "public IP"s you have than the number of PCs.<br>
<br>
First you need to make sure your ISP is okay with receiving incoming<br>
traffic.<br>
<br>
Then, I'd suggest installing a fresh Debian on your PC.<br>
You can google around to figure out how to install debian. It's fairly<br>
easy. Here's a short, simple guide with screen-shots:<br>
<a href="http://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/sect.installation-steps.html" target="_blank">http://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/sect.installation-steps.html</a><br>
<br>
Then all you need to do is following these steps to install latest<br>
version of Tor on your system:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.torproject.org/docs/debian.html.en#ubuntu" target="_blank">https://www.torproject.org/docs/debian.html.en#ubuntu</a><br>
<br>
Then open terminal and type:<br>
<br>
sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc<br>
<br>
and add the following lines to your torrc file, note you can change<br>
ORPort number to whatever port you want (just make sure that port is<br>
open in your firewall/router), pick a cool nickname for your relay and<br>
add your contact info:<br>
<br>
RunAsDaemon 1<br>
ORPort 9001<br>
Nickname name-of-your-relay-goes-here<br>
ContactInfo your-contact-info-goes-here<br>
ExitPolicy reject *:*<br>
<br>
Press crtl+o then crtl+x to save the file and exit the editor.<br>
<br>
Then you need to restart Tor using this command:<br>
<br>
sudo service tor restart<br>
<br>
Now your relay should be up and running.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> Questions:<br>
> 1) Â If I run a Tor relay with that modem, are there any security risks to the other devices? Â I am no technical guru.<br>
<br>
</div>Not if you become a non-exit relay. The "ExitPolicy reject *:*" line is<br>
for that purpose.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> 2) Â If I run a Tor relay on either (or both the Vista PC and MacBook) of<br>
> the computers mentioned above, will it be mostly a "set it and forget<br>
> it" maintenance? Â I cannot devote much time (and definitely don't have<br>
> much expertise).<br>
<br>
</div>you need to update your debian once in a while. the update process is<br>
fairly easy. you can even automate it if you wish.<br>
<br>
you can either use the interface or open terminal and type:<br>
<br>
sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y<br>
<br>
do this at least once a week please.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> 3) Â Will I compromise the anonimity of Tor users due to my lack of technical skills while running a Tor relay? Â I don't want to do more damage than good.<br>
<br>
</div>Nope. only encrypted traffic goes in and out your (non-exit) relay.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> 4) Â Can I throttle down the bandwidth on my Tor relay(s) when I need it for my own personal machine? Â I don't want to disrupt the Tor net.<br>
<br>
</div>yes, you can. read your torrc file located at /etc/tor/torrc to figure<br>
out how. but please have it in mind that the minimum bandwidth for a<br>
relay is 100KB/s (800kb/s). If you don't have that much bandwidth, you<br>
may consider running a bridge instead of a relay. bridges consume much<br>
less bandwidth and help censored users access Tor network.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy-debian-instructions.html.en#instructions" target="_blank">https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy-debian-instructions.html.en#instructions</a><br>
<div class=""><br>
> 5) Â Can you suggest the best way to use my machine(s) to make a reliable,<br>
> maintenance free and secure Tor relay, requiring the least amount of<br>
> time? Â I am guessing it's the MacBook cabled to the DSL, running only<br>
> Tor relay software, and running only a normal relay.<br>
><br>
><br>
> 6) Â At this point is it worth my while, to attempt a Tor bridge or exit<br>
> relay or am I even capable of doing it properly? Â I have little<br>
> experience or expertise in networking and not much time.<br>
> Thanks for spending your valuable time reading my questions. Â I hope to make it pay off, in a long term Tor relay.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I hope I've covered all your questions.<br>
<br>
Bests,<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">--<br>
Nima<br>
0XC009DB191C92A77B | @nimaaa | mrphs<br>
<br>
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right<br>
to say it" --Evelyn Beatrice Hall<br>
<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div>AJ Bahnken<br></div><div>Co-Founder of <a href="http://syndicatepro.com" target="_blank">Syndicate Pro</a></div></div>
</div>