- tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

Exit Relays: What is your DNS timeout rate?
by nusenu 26 Aug '23

26 Aug '23

Hi, the upcoming relayor release will contain new prometheus alert rules that should help operators detect/mitigate/prevent some common operational issues. One of these rules will alert on high DNS timeout rates [1] on exit relays that should be investigated and resolved to improve the Tor Browser experience for users. To define the default alert threshold it would be relevant to know current timeout rates by multiple exit operators. So if you feel up to it you can send me (off-list) your current timeout rates (30 day graph): If you run tor exits with relayor and MetricsPort enabled you can use these Prometheus queries: timeout percentage by server: (sum by (instance)(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_error_total{reason="tor_timeout"}[15m])))/(sum by (instance)(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_query_total[15m])))*100 DNS query rate: sum by (instance)(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_query_total[15m])) If you run exits without relayor you can use these queries: (sum by (job)(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_error_total{reason="tor_timeout"}[15m])))/(sum by (job)(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_query_total[15m])))*100 sum(rate(tor_relay_exit_dns_query_total[15m])) kind regards, nusenu [1] https://github.com/nusenu/ansible-relayor/commit/9b6937563ec0b41e6abb0217ed… -- https://nusenu.github.io

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Wrong "first seen" flag for bridges at metrics.torproject.org
by telekobold 23 Aug '23

23 Aug '23

Hi together, I have an issue regarding the "first seen" flag at metrics.torproject.org: It is definitely wrong for my two bridges - both dates are much too close in the past. For one of the bridges, it seems to correspond to the last signing key renewal, for the other bridge, it seems to correspond to the penultimate signing key renewal. Has anyone observed similar behavior for its relay? (I found it meaningful to first ask here before creating an issue at [*]). [*] https://gitlab.torproject.org/hiro/onionoo/-/issues Kind regards, telekobold

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Tor-Bridge
by tor＠pqpera.xyz 19 Aug '23

19 Aug '23

Possible compression bomb; abandoning stream. <- Happened to my server for 2h straight. Should I take any measures against that? Bridge is obsf4 with fingerprint: 2EA91C1415C421424BB478A55790E655627DE366.

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Tor Relay in Kubernetes cluster
by Daniel Nikoloski 18 Aug '23

18 Aug '23

Hi all, Is anyone running Tor relay in k8s cluster? I am trying for a few days but It does not come alive. My servers are not behind a firewall, should be and are accessible, I run two bare-metal servers in Contabo. 1 master 1 node. Docker image and helm chart that use; https://gitlab.com/nikoloskid/tor-server The logs I get; > Aug 05 21:04:55.000 [notice] Now checking whether IPv4 ORPort 38.242.233.101:32150 is reachable... (this may take up to 20 minutes -- look for log messages indicating success) > Aug 05 21:24:45.000 [warn] Your server has not managed to confirm reachability for its ORPort(s) at 38.242.233.101:32150. Relays do not publish descriptors until their ORPort and DirPort are reachable. Please check your firewalls, ports > > , address, /etc/hosts file, etc. When i try telnet it is open to the internet > telnet 38.242.233.101 32150 > Trying 38.242.233.101... > Connected to 38.242.233.101. > Escape character is '^]'. You can see the service here; https://gitlab.com/nikoloskid/tor-server/-/raw/helm-chart-tor-relay/tor-ser… /etc/tor/torrc; > Nickname icebergk8s > Address 38.242.233.101 > ContactInfo nikoloskid(a)pm.me > RelayBandwidthRate 3.5MB > RelayBandwidthBurst 5MB > MaxAdvertisedBandwidth 5MB > ORPort 9001 NoAdvertise IPv4Only > ORPort 32150 NoListen IPv4Only > SocksPort 0 > ExitPolicy reject *:* > User debian-tor > DataDirectory /var/lib/tor Lep pozdrav / Best Regards, Daniel Nikoloski

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Tor Relay Operator meetup @ CCCamp 2023 - Saturday 19th @ 7pm
by gus 17 Aug '23

17 Aug '23

Hello, The Tor Relay Operator Meetup - Chaos Communication Camp-2023[1] will happen at Bornhack (Cold North Village)[2] on Saturday, August 19th at 7pm (local time). After the meetup, we invite everyone to stay and have beer and drinks at Bornhack. Please spread the message. We have Tor stickers for you! :) Gus [1] https://events.ccc.de/camp/2023/infos/ [2] Coordinates: 53.0314175, 13.3065457 https://map.events.ccc.de/camp/2023/map/#20/53.03143/13.3066 -- The Tor Project Community Team Lead

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WebTunnel: What ASNs/networks work best?
by tor-home at encryptfirst.com 17 Aug '23

17 Aug '23

When running a WebTunnel bridge, what types of IPs are better for serving requests? My background is with self-hosted home-lab type of setups. There are a number of different ways for homelabs to accept inbound https connections. A few examples: - Forward a port on a home router. - Rent a cloud VM/VPS and tunnel a port from the VPS's IP. - Have a CDN tunnel/forward requests. - VPN hybrid solutions like Tailscale Funnel. Are any of these better than others for hosting a WebTunnel bridge? Should cloud provider IPs be preferred over residential IPs, for example, considering that is where most web servers are hosted? Are large CDNs preferred over individual cloud VMs? Is it better to use a different IP for WebTunnel than the IP that runs the OR port (i.e. host OR port on home IP and WebTunnel from a cloud-based IP)? I'm mainly asking to determine which way helps the broadest number of Tor users. And which is less likely to be blocked in the future. What are the best practices? PS: Thanks for the webtunnel-bridge Docker image and the documentation on how to run it. It was very helpful and made setup easy.

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Running an exit relay in Italy
by Eldalië 17 Aug '23

17 Aug '23

Hello there and thanks everyone for your answers to my message about middle relay blocking. Reading them I feel trying to solve the blacklisting of my IP would be overkilling. Since I have a chance to get a cheap VPS, I will try to migrate the relay on it. And since the relay would be on a dedicated IP, I'm thinking about making it an exit. Of course I must consider the law, and I'd like to read some references and listen about experiences from other operators before seeking professional (expensive, I guess) legal advice. My concerns are the following, but I would appreciate any other thoughts as well. The relay would be in Italy so Italian and EU laws apply. 1. Would I bear any responsibility for the use of the relay? I'm aware of the "mere conduit" concept (that is applied in the EU too) but Italy may have some crappy additional law I'm not aware of. 2. Would I be subject to any data retention or data monitoring obligation? 3. Would I be subject to any user identification obligation? 4. Would I risk the police knocking on my door even if the relay runs on a datacenter and not on my home network? Thanks, Eldalië -- Eldalië My private key is attached. Please, use it and provide me yours!

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(EVENT) Tor Relay Operator Meetup - June 24, 2023 @ 18.00 UTC
by gus 10 Aug '23

10 Aug '23

Hello, The next Tor Relay Operator Meetup will happen on June 24, 2023, at 18.00 UTC. We're working on the agenda here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/tor-relay-op-meetup-june-keep onionsite: http://kfahv6wfkbezjyg4r6mlhpmieydbebr5vkok5r34ya464gqz6c44bnyd.onion/p/tor… Feel free to add other topics to the agenda. WHERE Room link: https://tor.meet.coop/gus-og0-x74-dzn Registration No need for a registration or anything else, just use the room-link above. We will open the room 10 minutes before so you can test your mic setup. Please share with your friends, social media and other mailing lists! cheers, Gus -- The Tor Project Community Team Lead

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short conntrack DDoS attack
by Toralf Förster 09 Aug '23

09 Aug '23

Few days ago the throughput of my Tor relay went down to nearly zero for about 3 minutes. It turned out that the reason (maybe) was a change here in my iptables rules. Especially I switched these 2 lines: iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate INVALID -j DROP iptables -A INPUT -m conntrack --ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT and run then few hours later into problems. And switched back ofc. An explanation for the dropdown was given in [1]. Given that the explanation is right: How is the Tor application harmed if an attacker mangles packets so that the state of them are INVALID for the conntrack module but they do pass the RELATED,ESTABLISHED rule ? [1] https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-8798034.html -- Toralf

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Re: [tor-relays] Middle relay IP blocking
by torserver 08 Aug '23

08 Aug '23

Roger, I had the same problem with 3 financial websites blocking my IP address while running a middle relay. Exactly 5 days after stopping the relay these sites can be reached again. They probably use the same mechanism, visible in the TPRB Firefox plug-in. I run my home relay on a low energy consuming Raspberry Pi. Why is there no perfectly detailed instruction to install a relay on the Raspberry? With its built-in VNC it can be managed by SSH and remote desktop perfectly. Then there is no need for data congestion on a few cheap providers. One Watt power consumption only costs 3 Euros a year. Snowflake almost uses no data with a few occasional users. I 'd like to use my 100 Megabits more efficient. Regards, me. > Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2023 02:32:03 -0400 > From: Roger Dingledine <arma(a)torproject.org> > To: tor-relays(a)lists.torproject.org > Subject: Re: [tor-relays] Middle relay IP blocking > Message-ID: <ZNHhY1rj8rQAId0y(a)nogrod.csail.mit.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On Mon, Aug 07, 2023 at 11:28:32PM +0300, s7r wrote: > > While all the above is true, a thing to remember is to make sure we don't > > end up all renting too many VPS'es or dedicated servers in the same places / > > same AS numbers - we need network diversity, it is a very important factor, > > more AS numbers, more providers, more physical locations, etc. So, running > > at home is super good and recommended from this perspective, provides us > > with the diversity we need, however not being to login to online banking to > > pay an electricity bill because of a middle relay is also way too annoying.. > > however who can afford the hassle should definitely run a middle relay or > > bridge at home > > Yes, exactly this. If you are interested in running a non-exit relay at > home, and you can tolerate the hassles from occasionally finding that > some service doesn't want to hear from you, then you are definitely > helping the diversity of the Tor network. > > Having the Tor traffic concentrated at a few cheapo providers like Hetzner > and OVH is not only scary in the sense that too much traffic goes through > too few cables, but it's also scary because it increases the appeal for > somebody to attack those few companies, either by breaking into their > infrastructure to watch traffic or through more traditional insider > threats like getting an employee there to help them monitor traffic. > > The internet already has uncomfortably many bottlenecks -- too few > undersea cables, too few Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), too few > app stores, etc. > > > (even Exit relay, I do run an Exit relay at my office place > > and I had one police visit in like 8 years or so). > > Follow this advice only with great caution. :) Many people happily > run their exit relay from their home, but it only takes one fresh new > cybercrime detective (trying to make a name for himself by kicking down > a door at 7am, and with no idea what Tor is) to ruin your day. > > --Roger > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > tor-relays mailing list > tor-relays(a)lists.torproject.org > https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-relays > > > ------------------------------ > > End of tor-relays Digest, Vol 151, Issue 9 > ******************************************

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