[tor-relays] Problems Setting up Bridge Relay on AWS

freeflow at mail.md freeflow at mail.md
Fri Oct 5 01:12:35 UTC 2012


Hi!

I recently set up a bridge relay on my home broadband connection.

Unfortunately my ISP is restricting bandwidth during what it refers to 
as "peak hours", usually between 16:00 & 00:00 each day. This is 
obviously having a detrimental affect on my bridge relay as both 
upstream & downstream bandwidth is severely limited during these times.

So I decided to set up a bridge relay on AWS, using the documentation 
at https://cloud.torproject.org/#get_started

During the set-up process I've experienced 2 separate problems which 
I've described below.

These are the actions I've taken:

1) I've successfully registered my account with AWS.

2) I've navigated my web browser to 
https://cloud.torproject.org/#get_started

3) At the above mentioned web page I've chosen:

Obfsproxy Bridges (required ports: 22, 443, 52176)

eu-west-1-Ireland

4) The pre-configured image is selected, and I'm directed to the AWS 
Management Console.

When I arrive on the AWS Management Console page my web browser 
(Firefox 15.0.1) presents me with a "Warning: Unresponsive Script" 
dialogue box. The dialogue box explains,

"A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. 
You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script 
will complete.

Script: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images [snip]...

I chose to persevere & clicked "Continue" on the "Warning: 
Unresponsive Script" dialogue box.

After being presented with another "Warning: Unresponsive Script" 
dialogue box I arrive at the "Choose an AMI" pane of the "Request 
Instances Wizard" which displays the pre-configured settings.

It's at this stage that I begin to get confused...

I've attempted to use the "Step-by-Step" instructions provided at 
https://cloud.torproject.org/#get_started

The "Step-by-Step" instructions state,

"Simply follow the steps as illustrated below, and your bridge will up 
and running in just a couple of minutes."

With regard to the "Choose an AMI" pane the "Step-by-Step" 
instructions suggest,

"Click "Continue". (No changes needed here.)"

There doesn't appear to be an option to continue beyond the first pane 
(Choose an AMI), the only available option that I can see is to cancel 
(top right corner of the Choose an AMI/Request Instances Wizard pane).

This takes me to the "Amazon EC2 Console Dashboard". However, because 
nothing has been set up, the EC2 Console Dashboard quite correctly 
informs me that there are no instances running.

On the left-hand side of the Amazon EC2 Console Dashboard is the 
"Navigation" pane listing "Instances" & "Images" (including AMIs).

So, I can see some of the required components that are incorporated 
into the "Request Instances Wizard" but I lack the experience to set up 
my AWS manually. So, more confusion!

On the plus side the Amazon EC2 Console Dashboard does inform me that 
I've selected my chosen region which it reports is up & running.

Maybe a "Continue" option isn't being displayed in the "Choose an AMI" 
pane because of the above-mentioned "Unresponsive Script" dialogue box, 
or maybe there's some other way to move through the "Request Instances 
Wizard" that I'm unaware of?

I'm currently running java version 1.7.0_07 from Oracle Corporation on 
12.04.1 LTS precise.

I have no experience of setting up anything like an AWS so any help 
would be much appreciated & hopefully I can succeed in setting up my 
bridge relay!

Best regards!



More information about the tor-relays mailing list