Re: Time Warner bad / VPS recommendations

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Subject: Re: Time Warner bad / VPS recommendations

From: John Brooks <special@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 19:48:48 -0700

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Two very important factors to keep in mind for a tor node on a VPS are memory and FD limits. A lot of VPS software will limit the number of sockets available to each guest, which is usually a limit tor will run into quickly. I run my 300 KB/s node with a limit of 8192 sockets, and it usually has 5000-6000 open. Aside from that, a tor node handling a significant amount of traffic will start using ridiculous amounts of memory after running for a couple days; I regularly see mine at 200-300mb. VPS systems are notoriously low on those two resources, so you should keep that in mind while searching.

As for hosts that will allow Tor, the best recommendation I have is to be up-front about it. Explain it and ask explicitly if you will have problems; there is a good chance they'll give a vague answer to get the sale and go back on it later, but still worth a try.

And just because somebody should say it, thanks for being so dedicated to running a node. Tor depends on people like you ;)

On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 7:42 PM, Matthew McCabe <mateo07@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So Time Warner Cable finally gave me an ultimatum that either I stop running Tor or they will shut off my service. This was after 3 DMCA and 2 general abuse/hacking complaints. Note that Time Warner does not say anything about proxy servers in their AUP. They were just tired of getting these complaints on my account. Also, AT&T was not able to setup DSL service at my location...so I have decided to kill my Tor exit node.

I would really like to continue running a Tor exit node. I have looked at a couple virtual hosting companies such as vpslink and slicehost. Some of their cheaper plans seem like they would be sufficient for running a Tor exit node. Does anyone run Tor on a VPS? If so, which company and plan do you use? Have you gotten any flack for running a Tor exit node?

Thanks,
Matt