Re: [tor-talk] Setting up a Tor relay on the hosting server.

[Damian Johnson <atagar1@xxxxxxxxx>]

> so presumably I would not have root

This depends on who you go with. Most VPS providers will give you root, but some specialized hosting providers don't and set up the services for you. The easiest setup would be to get a Debian server with root then follow the first option on:
https://torproject.org/docs/debian.html.en

Tor will be a system service so you just need to modify the torrc, sighup (or restart) tor, and then you should be all set. The main trick is finding a hosting provider that lets you handle the abuse complaints that come with running an exit...

Bit of a shameless plug, but arm (http://www.atagar.com/arm/) is a monitor you can ssh in and use to configure or check the health of your relay. It also has a wizard that can make a torrc for you:
http://www.atagar.com/transfer/tmp/arm_wizard2.png

> or perhaps the best way to run it is via cron

There shouldn't be any need to use cron.

Thanks for running a relay! -Damian

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 2:20 PM, William Wrightman <williamwrightman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have not as yet purchased hosting so cannot answer the question.  Obviously if Debian is best then I would look for a Debian provider.

What I want to do is to buy hosting with an amenable ISP or hosting provider so presumably I would not have root.  I then need to figure the easiest way to have Tor always on.


I imagine the best way of creating the binaries then running Tor is via SSH or perhaps the best way to run it is via cron.

--- On Wed, 8/17/11, Damian Johnson <atagar1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Damian Johnson <atagar1@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [tor-talk] Setting up a Tor relay on the hosting server.
To: tor-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 11:23 AM

Lets start with: what OS and do you have root on this box? If it's, for instance, a debian based distro then that makes the setup a lot nicer.

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 9:57 AM, William Wrightman <williamwrightman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have a couple of questions about setting up a Tor relay.  I've read https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-relay.html.en and https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tips-running-exit-node-minimal-harassment and https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/GoodBadISPs

Here is what I understand happens.  Please correct me if the information below is wrong or could be better managed.

1.Select an hosting company. After you have the OK from them then upload the Tor tarball and untar it.  I think that only Tor is needed when you are operating as a relay (no need for the Vidalia GUI).  So at this point Tor is on the server of your hosting company.

2. Edit the torrc file with the appropriate exit policy.  Obviously you need to put the information in to make sure it is listed as an exit node so it is entered into the directory.

3. I think I am right to say that you could then need to execute the Tor binary. So if you have /home_directory_name/tor then you would presumably need to SSH in and run the binary. 

Or would it be easier to setup a cron job so that the binary starts but then stays on permanently?

Thanks.

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