I run a bridge relay on vista x64 through my ISP's router-modem firewall. I need some help in understanding a few lines in the message log. Replacing the name of machine on my LAN by <NAME> and the IP addresses by <LAN address> and <ISP address> (= the bridge's address), the lines are:
Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] resolve_my_address(): Guessed local hostname '<NAME>' resolves to a private IP address (<ISP address>). Trying something else. Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] resolve_my_address(): Interface IP address '<LAN address>' is a private address too. Ignoring. Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] resolve_my_address(): Address '<NAME>' resolves to private IP address '<LAN address>'. Tor servers that use the default DirServers must have public IP addresses. Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] router_pick_published_address(): Could not determine our address locally. Checking if directory headers provide any hints. Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] router_pick_published_address(): Success: chose address '<ISP address>'.
I don't know if these lines are telling me something about the bridge. In particular, what does it mean that the <LAN address> is being identified as private? This doesn't change regardless of the setting on my local LAN firewall to "public", "private", "domain" or "all". Does Tor mean by "private" simply the LAN address, and by "public" the ISP address?
Despite these info lines Tor finally claims success. Does this mean that I can ignore the previous info lines? Or are they telling me that I have to do something? As far as I can tell my bridge is working fine. Thanks, eli
Hi Eli,
On Thursday, 20 September 2012, 13:25, eliaz eliaz@tormail.org wrote:
... Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] resolve_my_address(): Guessed local hostname '<NAME>' resolves to a private IP address (<ISP address>). Trying something else. Sep 20 07:33:43.872 [Info] resolve_my_address(): Interface IP address '<LAN address>' is a private address too. Ignoring. ...
In particular, what does it mean that the <LAN address> is being identified as private?
"Private address" in the context of an IP address usually refers to an address in one of the reserved ranges which are set aside for use on private networks and which can't be routed to over the internet. These ranges are 192.168.*.* (the commonest one, used by most home routers when issuing addresses to clients), 10.*.*.* (fairly common, especially in corporate networks) and 172.16.*.*-172.31.*.* (not seen very often). 100.64.*.*-100.127.*.* is also reserved for ISPs to use, primarily to help ease the transition from the old-style 32-bit IPv4 addressing system (addresses that look like 173.194.69.99 which is one of the addresses for www.google.com) to 128-bit IPv6 addresses (which look like 2a00:1450:4008:c01::68 - also www.google.com).
It's not surprising that your LAN address is a private one (most likely in 192.168.0.* or 192.168.1.* depending on what router you have); your ISP may also be using private addresses, at least for its residential customers. If your ISP does allocate you a private address, your reachability from the public internet is largely dependent on how their NAT and firewalling system works. Publishing the private address won't work, though, as it could be used by many different ISPs (or even multiple times by the same ISP!)
Hope this sheds a little light on the log entries.
Stephen
On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 08:25:05AM -0400, eliaz wrote:
Despite these info lines Tor finally claims success. Does this mean that I can ignore the previous info lines? Or are they telling me that I have to do something? As far as I can tell my bridge is working fine.
Tor logs at log-level notice by default for a reason -- we don't expect you to look at, or understand, info or debug logs.
Or said another way, if Tor isn't complaining to you with notice, warn, or err messages, you can assume everything is going smoothly.
See also https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TorFAQ#WhatloglevelshouldI...
--Roger
tor-relays@lists.torproject.org
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eliaz -
Roger Dingledine -
Stephen Mollett