[tor-relays] Grouping cloud relays running within same provider

[Karsten Loesing]

On 22/04/14 20:42, grarpamp wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 4:21 PM, Paul Syverson
> <paul.syverson at nrl.navy.mil> wrote:
>> "Of those 15,000 paths, 163 (or ≈ 1.1%) contained an entry and exit
>> node that resided in the same AS despite having an IP address from
>> different /16 subnets. Out of those 163 paths, all but one also had a
>> distinct /8 network address."
> 
> There are two questions new operators ask:
> - What provider allows Tor [exit] nodes so that I can place my new node there?
> (This is a very common question and leads directly to duplication.)
> - Where are there no relays right now so that I can try putting one there?
> (This question is so rarely asked that I cannot recall seeing it.)
> 
> Even though 1.1% is small it (AS/cidr) does not cover some relevant
> crossfields such as legal jurisdiction, I still think a project to research
> current relays would be useful (cidr block, AS, [upstream] hosting provider,
> physical/govt location, relay operator and location, funding source, etc).
> Then new operators could query an xor report of fields with
> - input their prospective new relay
> - get a top ten list of where we are already too heavy, do not host there
> - use our data to suggest new placements, ie:
> we have no relays in these countries, in these AS by size, etc...
> 
> It would make some sense to have onionooo plugin to carry this
> extended db, particular since hoster and some other fields would
> require human researched/maintained input.

Coming late to this discussion, so I may be missing some context.

First of all, did people following this thread see Compass?

https://compass.torproject.org/

Note that we have a GSoC student this year, Christian, who's going to
integrate Compass functionality into Globe.  I'm sure he wouldn't mind
input on that.

https://globe.torproject.org/

Regarding the "extended db" that is mentioned above, if there's yet
another data source that Onionoo should include, let's talk about that.
 I wouldn't want to be the human that does the research or maintain
input, as you say.  But if somebody else does that and if it's useful
data, I can write the glue code to integrate those the new data into
Onionoo.  For reference, here's the relevant part of Onionoo's protocol
specification:

https://onionoo.torproject.org/#details

All the best,
Karsten