Hey Robert,
Thanks for your interest in setting up a relay! I see you've already had some replies to your questions but let me add a slightly different suggestion - buying a Raspberry Pi for ~£25 and running your relay from there. This has the advantage of being extremely low in power requirements and doesn't need you to leave one of your other machines on all the time.
If you're curious about this option, I've written up some pretty detailed instructions here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bf_D_j1O-9ckTS9DY8ngIdiFwHta6Q5Uj_5dvOia...
Good luck!
Chris On 18 Apr 2014 07:21, "Robert Smith" kittenjuggler@ymail.com wrote:
Judging by the level of your computer skills implied by the emails, those involved in Tor have better things to do than help a guy like me. I think it is important to the entire world that the internet links us together, and Tor may be the most crucial part of that.
I have 3 machines as possible candidates for a Tor relay:
A) A decent PC (around 6 years old) with Vista installed. It's been unused for 2 years. I am willing to do a clean re-install of Vista or even Linux (with help) to run it as a Tor relay, night and day.
B) A MacBook Pro (4gb ram, Intel, Snow Leopard). Again, I am willing to wipe it, and do a clean install of the OS and use it for a Tor relay, night and day.
C) My personal laptop an Asus G74S (12gb ram, i7 quad core 2.2ghz, Win7 Home Premium 64bit), which I "sleep" most nights.
Modem: 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).
Questions:
- If I run a Tor relay with that modem, are there any security risks to
the other devices? I am no technical guru.
- If I run a Tor relay on either (or both the Vista PC and MacBook) of
the computers mentioned above, will it be mostly a "set it and forget it" maintenance? I cannot devote much time (and definitely don't have much expertise).
- Will I compromise the anonimity of Tor users due to my lack of
technical skills while running a Tor relay? I don't want to do more damage than good.
- Can I throttle down the bandwidth on my Tor relay(s) when I need it
for my own personal machine? I don't want to disrupt the Tor net.
- Can you suggest the best way to use my machine(s) to make a reliable,
maintenance free and secure Tor relay, requiring the least amount of time? I am guessing it's the MacBook cabled to the DSL, running only Tor relay software, and running only a normal relay.
- At this point is it worth my while, to attempt a Tor bridge or exit
relay or am I even capable of doing it properly? I have little experience or expertise in networking and not much time.
Thanks for spending your valuable time reading my questions. I hope to make it pay off, in a long term Tor relay.
Rob Smith
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