Hi operators,
maybe this is a dumb question, but as I couldn’t find any real advise anywhere on the net: Does it make sense to start operating a non-exit relay from home for a longer term? I’m thinking about at least getting a T-Shirt (the more uptime, the better). However, my concerns are the daily disconnect and the dynamic IP.
What do you think? Any first-hand tips are of course appreciated.
Cheers, Jannis
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Am 08.04.2015 um 12:57 schrieb Jannis Wiese:
Does it make sense to start operating a non-exit relay from home for a longer term?
Here is such a thing:
https://globe.torproject.org/#/relay/A52C51551F3BD6A68E778720E02B53303F014EB...
It's a 20 Mbit down / 1 Mbit up connection without daily disconnect. Other than DSL you keep your connection for months with a cable ISP.
Just a few kB/s on average is certainly not much, but it's more than nothing. The main point of Tor is obfuscation, the more nodes participate, the better.
Without being an exit relay you'll barely notice the relay running at all. I installed it a few months ago directly on the router with default settings (except adding the reject *:*) and didn't have to care about it since then. Behaviour of normal internet usage is unchanged. Not much work for at least some effect.
However, my concerns are the daily disconnect and the dynamic IP.
Perhaps somebody else can say more on this topic. Other than that, I'd simply give it a try. Can't hurt.
Markus
- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dipl. Ing. (FH) Markus Hitter http://www.jump-ing.de/
Thanks Markus, looks good!
On 08.04.2015, at 14:21, Markus Hitter mah@jump-ing.de wrote:
Signed PGP part It's a 20 Mbit down / 1 Mbit up connection without daily disconnect. Other than DSL you keep your connection for months with a cable ISP.
I’ve got 50Mbit down/10Mbit up at home and planned to give about 5Mbit to the relay. As far as I’ve seen yet, even exit relays don’t run at 100% all the time, so I might adjust that.
On 08.04.2015, at 18:13, Seth list@sysfu.com wrote: Been running a relay at home for about 3-4 months now and like other poster barely notice the traffic. IIRC recommended upstream bandwidth is 2Mpbs or greater, if you run a relay on a connection without enough bandwidth (in either direction) it's not really helping the network, (Roger sez!). Sorry don't have a reference link handy for this factoid. Also make sure the connection is stable.
Thanks for that! So my 5Mbit estimate is already more than enough, good to know. About stability, I’ve read this part of the Tor FAQ https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#RelayFlexible https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#RelayFlexible and I think I can check off each item.
Just _make sure_ that your exit policy is set to reject all, the default torrc config makes it an exit node with no outbound restrictions last time I checked.
Yes, as every documentation and tutorial I found also mentions this, being an exit relay seems to be default. Thanks again for pointing that out.
Cheers, Jannis
On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 03:57:20 -0700, Jannis Wiese mail@janniswiese.com wrote:
maybe this is a dumb question, but as I couldn’t find any real advise anywhere on the net: Does it make sense to start operating a non-exit relay from home for a longer term? I’m thinking about at least getting a T-Shirt (the more uptime, the better). However, my concerns are the daily disconnect and the dynamic IP.
What do you think? Any first-hand tips are of course appreciated.
Been running a relay at home for about 3-4 months now and like other poster barely notice the traffic. IIRC recommended upstream bandwidth is 2Mpbs or greater, if you run a relay on a connection without enough bandwidth (in either direction) it's not really helping the network, (Roger sez!). Sorry don't have a reference link handy for this factoid. Also make sure the connection is stable.
Another reason I think it's a good idea to run a relay 24/7 is that it provides cover traffic. It becomes more difficult for an observer to determine when you yourself are using the Tor network, helping to thwart time of usage correlation attacks.
Just _make sure_ that your exit policy is set to reject all, the default torrc config makes it an exit node with no outbound restrictions last time I checked.
On 2015-04-08 12:57:20 (+0200), Jannis Wiese wrote:
Does it make sense to start operating a non-exit relay from home for a longer term? I’m thinking about at least getting a T-Shirt (the more uptime, the better).
Sure it does. I signed up for a 200mbps symmetric fiber line only to help tor. If you're not being an exit, there's nothing to worry about.
However, my concerns are the daily disconnect and the dynamic IP.
Daily disconnect? If you're on ADSL/fiber there isn't such a thing. The IP usually changes when you restart/reset the router so, barring a blackout, that is hardly going to happen. And if you get an UPS as I did, you may be in the middle of a blackout but still be connected to the net :^).
On 08.04.2015, at 21:47, David Serrano tor@dserrano5.es wrote: Sure it does. I signed up for a 200mbps symmetric fiber line only to help tor. If you're not being an exit, there's nothing to worry about.
Great, thanks!
Daily disconnect? If you're on ADSL/fiber there isn't such a thing. The IP usually changes when you restart/reset the router so, barring a blackout, that is hardly going to happen. And if you get an UPS as I did, you may be in the middle of a blackout but still be connected to the net :^).
You’re right, my provider says it shouldn’t be the case with my (IP based VDSL, VoIP) connection. The normal ADSL connection here in Germany however, has a forced disconnect once a day.
Cheers, Jannis
tor-relays@lists.torproject.org
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David Serrano -
Jannis Wiese -
Markus Hitter -
Seth