May 2025 - tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

Tor Operators Ask Me Anything - 13-06-2025
by Nothing to hide 21 May '25

21 May '25

Hi Tor operators, We already briefly mentioned an upcoming Ask Me Anything (AMA) by Tor operators during the Tor Operator Meetup on the 10th of May. And now it's time for the announcement: https://www.reddit.com/r/TOR/comments/1krv4rt/tor_operators_ask_me_anything…. During this AMA, anyone can engage with us directly and ask us anything they're curious about. The following Tor operators are participating: R0cket, Nothing to hide, Artikel10 and CCC Stuttgart. The Ask Me Anything will be held on Friday 13 June 2025 between 08:00-23:00 UTC on /r/TOR. Feel free to ask your questions the 13th or to share this AMA with people or your communities. We also have a post on Mastodon to share: https://mastodon.social/@tor_ama/114545560947637613. We're experimenting with this format to see whether it benefits the community. Our goal is to provide answers and context about Tor, dispel myths and inspire more people to become Tor operators--or encourage current operators to expand their efforts, perhaps by scaling up or running exit relays. This initial AMA will help us learn from our mistakes and if successful, establish a regular series where other operators (of all shapes and sizes) can participate. We're looking forward to the 13th of June! And if anyone has questions about the AMA, feel free to ask them or send people our way :). Have a great day, Nothing to hide

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Seeking Advice on Running a Tor Exit Node in India
by RUSTEDUSTED 19 May '25

19 May '25

Dear Tor Operators, I hope this message finds you well. I am planning to set up a Tor exit node and would like to seek your valuable advice and guidance before proceeding. Specifically, I want to understand the following: - What are the essential technical and operational considerations I should be aware of before running an exit node? - Are there best practices or configurations you recommend to ensure the node runs securely and efficiently? - What kind of bandwidth allocation is ideal? I am considering allocating around 30-40 Mbps on my internet connection—would this be sufficient or optimal? - Could you please share insights on the legal responsibilities and potential risks involved with operating a Tor exit node in India? - Are there any specific resources, communities, or contacts you recommend I engage with for ongoing support? - (most importantly) what hardware accelerations should my device support?? is it fine if i run it on raspberry pi 5 or would it need a modern x86 CPU? I appreciate any advice or resources you can share. I am eager to contribute responsibly and effectively to the Tor network. Thank you very much for your time and help. Best regards, Pradnyesh Email: rustedusted(a)proton.me Location: Pune, India

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Next Tor Relay Operator Meetup - Saturday, May 10th @ 1800 UTC
by gus 10 May '25

10 May '25

Hi! The next online relay operator meetup is happening on Saturday, May 10th, 2025 at 1800 UTC[1]. ## Agenda - Announcements - Happy Family and updates from Network Team - Tor @ Universities - Next Tor in-person events: WHY, Bornhack, DEF Con - Next Tor Relay Operator meeting Feel free to suggest and add other topics for the meetup on this issue here: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/relays/-/issues/114 ## How to join Meetup details: - Room link: https://tor.meet.coop/gus-og0-x74-dzn - Date & Time: Saturday, May 10th, 2025 @ 18.00 UTC - Duration: 60 to 90 minutes - Tor Code of Conduct: https://community.torproject.org/policies/code_of_conduct/ - Registration: No need for a registration or anything else, just use the room link above. The room will open 10 minutes before the meetup starts. Gus [1] If you're confused about UTC and your timezone, anarcat maintains a cool project called undertime - https://gitlab.com/anarcat/undertime -- The Tor Project Community Team Lead

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Patela: A basement full of amnesic servers
by Osservatorio Nessuno 07 May '25

07 May '25

Hi everyone! A while back, we announced[1] our project to set up a server facility in Italy to host Tor exit nodes. After several weeks of testing, we’re excited to share that our first nodes are now in production, running on our autonomous system. [2] Four of these nodes operate diskless thanks to System Transparency [3] and Patela [4], a small, pull-based tool we developed to configure exit nodes efficiently. To optimize this infrastructure, we’ve worked on multiple fronts, including mTLS for nodes authentication, TPM for crypto operation and nftables rules. In this post[5], we’ll explain how the system works, and we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback via the mailing list. Now that we’ve completed this initial testing phase, our next goal is to acquire suitable hardware to increase bandwidth capacity. Stay tuned for updates! Bye b [1] - https://osservatorionessuno.org/blog/2024/12/how-to-bgp-from-your-basement-… [2] - https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#search/as:AS214094 [3] - https://docs.system-transparency.org/st-1.0.0/ [4] - https://github.com/osservatorionessuno/patela [5] - https://osservatorionessuno.org/blog/2025/05/patela-a-basement-full-of-amne…

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How Best to Maximize Impact of $500/mo Budget?
by Tor at 1AEO 05 May '25

05 May '25

If you have a budget of $500/mo (EUR or USD, roughly) that could be used to strengthen Tor network, what would you use it for and why? Some ideas: Run new relays: Lease VPS or colocate hardware yourself Fund existing operators: Provide stipends or grants to help other operators Donate to the Tor Foundation: Support core development, research, and docs. Other ideas: e.g. donation platforms, bandwidth grants, research funding? Which approach (or mix) yields the best consensus-weight gain per dollar? Any tips on pitfalls, vetting, or recommended donation channels? I've been leaning towards running new relays since it seems to always benefit from more diverse growth but wondering what others think. Thanks for your insights!

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Tor Relay Deployment Dilemma: Handle BGP yourself or have it done upstream to announce your own AS?
by Tor at 1AEO 02 May '25

02 May '25

I'm currently evaluating the best approach for having my AS announced with my owned (not rented) IPv4 addresses, and I've observed that hosting providers have different preferences for handling BGP sessions. For example, one provider requires that the BGP session be managed on the same server running the Tor relays, while another handles the announcement with my AS entirely on their side. This inconsistency makes it challenging to determine the most effective approach. I'm seeking guidance on the following points (or others you think are helpful): - When given the option: Should I manage the BGP session myself, or is it preferable to delegate it to the upstream provider whenever possible? - When required to manage BGP myself: - To conserve CPU/RAM resources for Tor, is it advisable to only use a default route (0.0.0.0/24) rather than a full routing table, relying on the upstream provider for full routing? - Under what circumstances should I implement multi-homed strategies myself versus allowing the upstream provider to manage them? - Are there best practices for route filtering or failover management? - What are your experiences regarding the compute and memory requirements for these configurations? - What are some preferred monitoring solutions? bgpmon.net doesn't seem free... Helpful read and suggestions at the end from this 6 year old article from nusenu, but couldn't find too much beyond this: https://nusenu.medium.com/how-vulnerable-is-the-tor-network-to-bgp-hijackin… I'm already using ROA and RPKI via ARIN for each /24 and limit max length to /24 to help as well. "The Tor exit fraction located in /24 prefixes is much higher than the guard capacity. So hijacks against exit capacity might be harder than attacks against guard capacity." - Seems also good to have /24 prefixes for guards, not just exits. Thanks!

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