- tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

NTP and tor
by Michael Brodhead 03 Aug '18

03 Aug '18

I brought up my first relay over the weekend and I am waiting for traffic to ramp up. In a few places I've read the suggestion to use NTP to keep the relay's clock in sync. Fair enough, but now there is a problem... I've been reading up on NTP a bit and using ntpdate to occasionally update the system time is now deprecated. We're supposed to run ntpd. Ntpd docs make it sound like ntpd needs to run a listener to function at all. I'd rather not add additional attack surface to my relay. Those of you who run relays, how are you keeping your system clock in sync? My relay is on FreeBSD 11. Thanks, ---mkb

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dir port on non exit
by TorGate 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Hi again, is the dir port on a nonexit node a god ide ? TorGate torgate(at)linux-hus.dk

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Question regarding variables in torrc
by conrad＠rockenhaus.com 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Hello All, I haven't had a chance to experiment with it yet, but can I source a variable from the tor startup script, let's say the IPv6 address of an instance, and define that within torrc as follows ORPort [$Instance_IPv6_ADDR]:443 I'm sure if it's possible it would of already been done. I just wanted to see if there was an easy fix for simplifying templates for end users. Thanks, Conrad -- Conrad Rockenhaus Fingerprint: 8049 CDBA C385 C451 3348 776D 0F72 F2B5 26DA E93F Public Key: https://pgp.key-server.io/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x0F72F2B526DAE93F https://www.rockenhaus.com ------ Get started with GreyPony Anonymization Today! https://www.greyponyit.com

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ExtOrPort settings for obsf4, obfs3 and firewall
by Cristian Consonni 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Hi, Form the instructions to install obsf4: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/PluggableTransports/obfs4… --- ``` ExtORPort auto ``` [...] ``` [notice] Registered server transport 'obfs4' at '[::]:46396' ``` Remember the random port associated to your bridge needs to be open for incoming connections. You can find it from the logs: it's 46396 in this example. --- I can assume that using `ExtORPort auto` would mean that potentially any time Tor is restarted or reload a new port will be picked. Furthermore, in this thread[1] it is said: --- [...] ExtORPort tells tor to open a local-only (bound to localhost) socket for getting information from / communicating with obfsproxy --- So, if I want to be sure to know in advance which firewall port I should let open it is better that I choose a fixed port. Also, that port needs only to accept connections from localhost, i.e. the loopback interface? The only port that needs to be reachable from anywhere is the ORPort? Also, in this answer on Tor Stack Exchange[2] it is said that is possible to run both obfs3 and obfs4 from the same bridge. Is this useful/recommended? Also, in the answer: --- I had to make port forwards for the given obfs ports in iptables (easy with gufw) as well as in my hardware (internet-)firewall to make things work. So I am not so sure that the ExORPort is for local connections only as mentioned by Rodger (please let me know if I am wrong here). --- Thanks in advance (I am sorry for the flood of stupid question, but I prefer to ask a stupid question that having things not work and not understanding why...) C [1]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/2014-February/003909.html [2]: https://tor.stackexchange.com/a/6735

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Re: [tor-relays] AS awareness
by Isaac Grover, Aileron I.T. 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Hi Conrad, Back in 2017 I used atlas to find lowly represented ASs and countries with regards to exits, sought out hosting providers in those areas, contacted each of them to determine if Tor exits were allowed per their TOS, and based on those responses, set up four exits with a restrictive policy all in different countries with different providers, and they were all shut down within two months. When asked why, each of them basically responded the same: 'we didn't know what a Tor exit was when you first asked'. So the challenge isn't necessarily that exits are or aren't allowed, but rather the providers haven't been properly educated or use a boilerplate TOS without proper vetting. Make your day great, Isaac Grover, Senior I.T. Consultant Aileron I.T. - "Practical & Proactive I.T. Solutions" Office: 715-377-0440, Fax:715-690-1029, Web: www.aileronit.com

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new fingerprint
by TorGate 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

Hi, what is the best solution to change the tor fingerprint ? TorGate torgate(at)linux-hus.dk

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DirCache on low-memory hosts
by Michael Brodhead 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

Those of you running relays on low-RAM hosts, what do you do about DirCache? When I first brought up my relay I noticed this message in the logs: [warn] Being a directory cache (default) with less than DIRCACHE_MIN_MEM_MB MB of memory is not recommended and may consume most of the available resources, consider disabling this functionality by setting the DirCache option to 0. When I DirCache to 0 I see another warning: [warn] DirCache is disabled and we are configured as a relay. This may disqualify us from becoming a guard in the future. As it turns out I can increase my VMs memory for free so that’s no big deal. Still, I’m curious. What do people do with relays without much memory? Skip DirCache? Are there ways to reduce the memory footprint and still cache directory info? Thanks, —mkb

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greyponyit.com free trial report
by Dmitrii Tcvetkov 29 Jul '18

29 Jul '18

Since 25.07.2018 I'm running Tor exit relay BBF17F784433635FA28E7E585D05FE3B15A31A6B on FreeBSD VPS. Although AS16276 is quite crowded, fact that IP address space is SWIPed to Conrad Rockenhaus means that I, as relay operator, don't need to deal with a torrent of abuse complaints because of usual exit activity. This allows to run relay with default exit policy. The VPS has OS FreeBSD 11.2 on KVM hypervisor (hypervisor maybe different for newer VPS though), storage is ZFS on GPT. The relay is too young to reach it's full potential, I may post updates in the future.

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3-hourly pattern in network load of my Tor exit relay
by Toralf Förster 29 Jul '18

29 Jul '18

I do run 2 exits at the same hardware [1] and do use systat [2] to monitor system data. 2 questions: A) Since a while (months) I do observe a periodic pattern in the network load. An example is the graph (SVG format, made with [3]) of the data from yesterday. Is this typical? I did not observe such a pattern in the last few years. B) htop shows me, that the Tor exit relay listening on ORPort 443 consumes typically 30% more CPU time than the second Tor exit relay listing on ORport 9001. Boths however have nearly identical configs, bandwith weights and amount of connections (typical values are 4300 and 4500 respectively, 3700 and 3900 of them are connections to relays, the delta are exit connections). Does this explains the delta in CPU time? [1] https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#search/family:D11D11877769B9E617537B… [2] http://sebastien.godard.pagesperso-orange.fr/ [3] svg=/tmp/graph.svg; sadf -g -T ~/tmp/sa/sa28 -O skipempty,oneday -- -n ALL > $svg && konqueror $svg -- Toralf PGP C4EACDDE 0076E94E

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theonionbox
by TorGate 29 Jul '18

29 Jul '18

Hi i have found an issue on the freebsd startupscript. The theonionbox.py is in the /bin dir not in the theonionbox dir OLD: # That's out script command="${theonionbox_dir}/theonionbox.py --mode=service --config='${theonionbox_conf}'" start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -u ${theonionbox_user} -p ${pidfile} ${command}" NEW: # That's out script command="${theonionbox_dir}/bin/theonionbox --mode=service --config='${theonionbox_conf}'" start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -u ${theonionbox_user} -p ${pidfile} ${command}" Hope this help any Relayoperator :-) TorGate torgate(at)linux-hus.dk

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