[tor-relays] 2 beginner questions

[Duncan]

Hi,

Torix:
> After running my first relay for a month at a RelayBandwidthRate of
> 200 KBytes/300KBytes burst, averaging 3-5 GiB per day, I upped it to
> 300KBytes/400 burst on the 22nd and reloaded the torrc. I don't know
> why I am now pushing so much more through this simple middle relay. My
> flags have not changed:
> 

Many people use high-bandwidth circuits. When you upped the 
RelayBandwidthRate, more circuits want to use your relay, as it looks 
more desirable. You should consider upping it further, if you can, as 
high-bandwidth relays (not merely relays that have attracted the 'fast' 
flag) are valuable to the Tor network.

> Fast, HSDir, Running, Stable, V2Dir, Valid
> 
> Here is my daily vnstat:
> 
>  06/21/2017 1.83 GiB | 1.82 GiB | 3.65 GiB | 354.28 kbit/s
> 
>  06/22/2017 1.98 GiB | 1.98 GiB | 3.96 GiB | 384.34 kbit/s
> 
>  06/23/2017 1.68 GiB | 1.67 GiB | 3.34 GiB | 324.47 kbit/s
> 
>  06/24/2017 2.33 GiB | 2.33 GiB | 4.66 GiB | 452.47 kbit/s
> 
>  06/25/2017 4.00 GiB | 3.98 GiB | 7.98 GiB | 774.93 kbit/s
> 
>  06/26/2017 6.45 GiB | 6.38 GiB | 12.83 GiB | 1.65 Mbit/s
> 
> The number of inbound connections has gone up as well, to sometimes
> 3500 from a normal of 700-800.
> 
> I am now on track to do about 17 Gib today. I expected to increase to
> maybe 6 or 7 GiB/day. What perked things up? The reload, or has the
> new bandwidth rate raised this realy above the average in some way?
> Really asking because I'm nervous about the ISP noticing, but wonder
> if it will just increase to the total bandwidth limit 24/7 of
> 26GiB/day. Hate to run it parttime to a size limit.

Use options such as such as AccountingStart and AccountingMax to 
configure transfer over a given period. See the Tor manual for more 
information on this. Note, this is not bandwidth, but transfer over a 
period. Your ISP should have a fair use policy on both bandwidth on 
transfer. Once you have this information, that can aid you on working 
out whether to configure bandwidth or transfer.

> 
> 2nd question: Why do I have 1903 inbound, but only 132 outbound
> connections? Shouldn't the extra connections disappear after 10 min or
> so of inactivity? My flags all seem okay, and Tor would tell me if my
> relay was misconfigured, methinks, so this is just my not knowing
> enough, I hope.

No, there are some circuits that are long-lived, such as an SSH 
connection. You probably shouldn't worry about the connections to this 
extent.

Best wishes,

Duncan