Re: Puzzling behavior of Tor server.

[Roger Dingledine <arma@xxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Sep 04, 2006 at 01:04:28PM -0700, Caitlin wrote:
> I recently set-up a Tor server with an exit node on port 80 (WinXP
> SP2).
> When using either firefox or opera, I frequently see the following
> entries in my log file:
> 
> Sep 04 04:08:19:078 [Notice] resolve_my_address(): Your IP seems to
> have changed. Updating.
> Sep 04 04:08:39:187 [Notice] router_orport_found_reachable():
> Self-testing indicates your ORPort is reachable from the outside.
> Excellent. Publishing server descriptor.

These log messages have to do with running Tor as a server. They look
fine.

> Sep 04 07:51:55:031 [Notice] connection_ap_expire_beginning(): We tried
> for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit 'yyycccvvvddd132'.
> Retrying on a new circuit.

But these messages are about running Tor as a client. Are you using your
Tor as a socks proxy too, that is, for application connections? If so,
it doesn't much matter that you're also a server -- that's a separate
issue. If you aren't, then it looks like somebody else is, and you should
look into closing your socksport more.

(The only way in which running a Tor server might matter here is if your
Tor server is using a lot of your bandwidth, so there isn't much left
for your own connections -- it's on the todo list to give priority to
local connections, but it's hard to do in an easy and simple way. Most
people who run Tor servers and also want to use Tor as a client run two
separate processes.)

In any case, these types of messages are ordinary. Tor automatically
tries to retry to another circuit if the current circuit seems crummy
enough.

> This makes logging out of Yahoo mail and other services difficult. Does
> anyone have a suggestion?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'this' here. Using Tor makes logging out of
Yahoo mail difficult? Perhaps this is a flaw with Yahoo's authentication
model (that it assumes you'll always be coming from the same IP address),
or perhaps it's just coincidence, or perhaps one of us is confused?

--Roger