- tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

OS Upgrade
by kathihil935＠gmail.com 25 Apr '21

25 Apr '21

Ubuntu 20.4 on my Digital Ocean droplet needs to be upgraded. Can the upgrade be done without shutting down the relay. I currently have six flags and don't want to loose them. How is the upgrade done on a relay that is in operation?

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owner of tor log file changes after reboot
by Patrice Bönig 22 Apr '21

22 Apr '21

Hi @all, I have a question and I don't know were I have to look at. I am running a relay (compiled from source) on Raspberry Pi OS Buster. Tor is runs under the user "pi", so the tor logfile has also the user permission (chown pi logfile). Tor starts via crontab (@reboot) but after a reboot the user of the logfile changed to "debian-tor". After every reboot I have to change it back to "pi". Does anyone has an idea what's going on? regards, Patrice

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Questions about consensus votes
by Tobias Höller 22 Apr '21

22 Apr '21

Hi, I have only recently started operating relays (Family:008196DC449482C73CFA9712445223917F760921) and have some trouble with reliably getting the "Fast" and "HSDir" flags for my relays. Right now they regularly obtain and loose these flags and I would like them to be more stable To figure out what was going wrong, I took a look at the archived votes at https://collector.torproject.org/archive/relay-descriptors/votes/ Unfortunately, I still don't understand why some things are happening, so I'm hoping you can help me out: 1. The "Fast" flag is assigned by either measurements (if the DirAuth is also a Bandwidth Auth) or the reported bandwidth. On my relays I noticed that if I set the "BandwidthRate" close to the fast threshold (105KB/s) I would not get the fast flag, unless I configure a much higher bandwidth burst rate (>5MB/s). Even more confusing, different bandwidth auths seem to require different burst rates. While for example Moria1 started voting me fast with a Bandwidth Burst rate of 5Mbit/s, maatuska did not do so until I increased the BandwidthBurst to 100Mbit/s (my complete internet uplink). What I'd like to know: Is that something that only affects me or have you also experienced it? And are there any recommendations how high the bandwidth burst should at least be compared to the desired bandwidth rate? 2. I am confused about the HSDir flag: According to https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/tree/dir-spec.txt#n2500 it should require the relay to be fast+stable+ uptime>MinUptimeHidServDirectoryV2 (by default 96 hours). So, if an authority votes my relay to be Running+Stable+Fast for 100 consecutive votes, it should vote for "HSDir" in the last 4 votes, right?. Because moria1 for example, votes my relays to be fast+stable+running constantly, but never votes for the HSDir flag. Is there another condition for becoming HSDir that I am not aware of, or can you think of an other reason why this is happening? Lastly, I'd be curious to learn if I am the only operator who has trouble to maintain flags on their relays, or if you have also experienced similar problems to mine. If yes, how did you solve them. kind regards Tobias -- DI Tobias Höller Institute of Networks and Security Johannes Kepler University Linz Altenbergerstraße 69 4040 Linz

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Running a bridge via google cloud
by Keifer Bly 17 Apr '21

17 Apr '21

Hi all, So I am well aware, google cloud is too expensive to run a relay on, but I wonder are they expensive to run a bridge? They are on 1GB eqauls a few cents model. Thank you. --Keifer

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Relay Control
by Kathi 16 Apr '21

16 Apr '21

What actually controls the tor relay? TORRC or nyx? I realize NYX is a 'monitor'. However nyx allows for command line changes; i.e bandwidth/ports etc. thanks

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[RFC] Draft: Expectations for Relay Operators (deadline: May 10, 2021)
by gus 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

Dear relay operators, In the last years, during Tor meetups, assemblies, workshops, mailing lists threads, and other gatherings with relay operators, we have discussed topics like relay operational security and good practices, code of conduct, transparency, sustainability, and many more important topics. We believe that it's time and necessary to have an explicit document with these topics to foster and guide good practices in the Tor relay community. This document aims to set some expectations of maintaining the Tor network infrastructure, i.e., Tor relays. To give you an overview of the proposal, it has five topics: 1. Keep users safe 2. Maintain good system op-sec 3. Make sure your relay isn't broken 4. Sustainability 5. Community You can read the draft proposal here: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/team/-/wikis/Expectations-for-R… And submit your feedback in this ticket: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/relays/-/issues/18 ## Deadline We are opening the document for community consultation and feedback today, April 13, 2021, and you can submit your contribution until May 10, 2021. After closing this public call, we will evaluate and incorporate the relevant feedback into this document's final version. The Expectations for Relay Operators will be published on the Community portal[1] and used to guide our community. ## How to contribute and give feedback After reading the proposal, you can request a GitLab account[2]. If you want to contribute anonymously, you can submit your contribution using Anon-Ticket, which does not require you to create an account. ### Contributing using Anon-Ticket 1. Visit the website: https://anonticket.onionize.space/ 2. Click on "Create Identifier." 3. Save your unique identifier and click on "Login with This Identifier." 4. Select "See a list of all projects" > The Tor Project / Community / Relays > Look for issue #18 > Click on "New Note". 5. Write your feedback and click "Create Note". 6. Finally, a moderator will approve your feedback. Feel free to discuss and reach out to the relays operators community on IRC (irc.oftc.net #tor-relays) or the tor-relays mailing list. Thanks for running relays! Gus ## Notes [1] Community portal Relay Operations: https://community.torproject.org/relay [2] GitLab account creation: https://anonticket.onionize.space/user/gitlab-account/create/ Or https://gitlab.onionize.space/ -- The Tor Project Community Team Lead http://expyuzz4wqqyqhjn.onion/

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tor relay issue on windows 10
by Keifer Bly 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

Hi all, So I am attempting to start a new relay on Windows Server 2019. The issue is though for an unspecified reason, the tor process just quits when starting the relay: Here is the log file: [image: image.png] And then once it gets to "now checking if qr port is reachable from the outside" the tor process suddenly quits. Im running it as administrator I am wondering why the process would suddenly stop for no apparent reason on reaching this? Here is the torrc, though it seems to read that no issue: SocksPort 0 ORPort 4555 Nickname testrelay ContactInfo kk(a)gmail.com Log notice file c:\notices.log ControlPort 9051 ExitPolicy reject *:* Though it seems to read the torrc file without any issue. Thanks. --Keifer

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TOR relays killing internet speed
by John Csuti 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

Hello everyone, I am hosting 3 VM's limited at 10Mbps all together. Each VM is limited to 1Mbps via proxmox. I have noticed if i have these relays running it kills a 10Gbps fiber optic line. All the way down to 50Mbps or worse depending on what the time of day. Any idea what i can try? I noticed this happen over the past few months maybe its increased usage on the relays not sure. According to TOR relay search the demand has spiked recently. I wondering why/how it could bypass the limits on both proxmox and pfsense. Thanks, John Csuti (216) 633-XXXX

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Relay Name Change
by Kathi 10 Apr '21

10 Apr '21

I changed the name of my relay nick name from <UnNamed> to (Correct Name) after I got it to operate correctly. The relay was in operation when I did the change. I went into the menu in NYX, clicked reset tor. The relay has been up eighteen hours as of this writing. Its flags are: Fast, Running, V2Dir, Valid.1,911 circuits open and 2709 outbound, 20,670 connections on Ivp4 Tor Metrics shows <Unnamed> only (Correct Name) isn't shown when searched How long does it take for the name change to take effect? sysop

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Possible to give something I made to tor? (message for roger digeldine and other tor project heads)
by Keifer Bly 10 Apr '21

10 Apr '21

Hi all, So for the sake of diversity, as well as helping out Windows users who want to contribute to tor, this is a tool I have created which makes running tor relays on Windows very easy. The features are: Auto installs tor and keeps it up to date. Easy relay configuration with provided torrc file. Can configure to start relay on OS boot. The drawbacks is it configures the Windows Defender Firewall to allow the relay traffic but can't auto configure any other firewalls, and only supports vanilla bridges currently. I am wanting to give this tool to tor project to list on the website for those looking to run relays on Windows networks (networks running Windows Server, etc). I've made this GUI open source with a GitHub link, if interested. Thanks. --Keifer

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