Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
How to setup a Tor relay or Tor bridge
What is Tor? (from https://www.torproject.org/)
“Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.”
This is something of great value to our friends in Iran.
Get Tor
(all found at https://www.torproject.org/easy-download.html.en)
Os X: https://www.torproject.org/dist/vidalia-bundles/vidalia-bundle-0.2.0.34-0.1.10-universal.dmg
Windows: https://www.torproject.org/dist/vidalia-bundles/vidalia-bundle-0.2.0.34-0.1.10.exe
Linux/Unix/src: https://www.torproject.org/download-unix.html.en
and install (detailed instructions Windows, Os X) (short version: double click install file)
Relay or Bridge?
A relay will be a proxy in the Tor network and help speed up the network for the people using it – a bridge, on the other hand, will enable people to reach the Tor network if the relays are blacklisted. If you setup a bridge, you will need to get its address to the people that are going to use it (more on that later. Short: do not post it publicly).
IMPORTANT: We’re going to need both sorts (mostly relays though), so please answer the poll (at the end) on which type you’ve set up. And if the type doesn’t matter to you, please check the poll to see how others have chosen and balance it up.
Relay:
(from https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-relay.html.en#setup)
- Right click on the Vidalia icon in your task bar. Choose Control Panel.
- Click Setup Relaying.
- Choose Relay Traffic for the Tor network.
- Enter a nickname for your relay. (Optional, enter contact information.)
- Change ports from the default ports (needs to be >1024 on Os X and Linux/Unix)
- If you have UPnP: Choose Attempt to automatically configure port forwarding. Push the Test button to see if it works. If it does work, great. If not, see “Firewall/router” below.
- Choose the Bandwidth Limits tab. Select how much bandwidth you want to provide for Tor users like yourself.
- Choose the Exit Policies tab. If you want to allow others to use your relay for these services, don’t change anything. Un-check the services you don’t want to allow through your relay. If you want to be a non-exit relay, un-check all services.
- Click the Ok button. See “Check if it works” below for confirmation that the relay is working correctly.
Firewall/Router:
If you are using a firewall, open a hole in your firewall/router so incoming connections can reach the ports you configured (Relay Port (plus Directory Port if you enabled it)). Make sure you allow all outgoing connections, so your relay can reach the other Tor relays.
Check if it works:
Restart your relay. If it logs any warnings, address them.
As soon as your relay manages to connect to the network, it will try to determine whether the ports you configured are reachable from the outside. This may take up to 20 minutes. Look for a log entry like Self-testing indicates your ORPort is reachable from the outside. Excellent. If you don’t see this message, it means that your relay is not reachable from the outside — you should re-check your firewalls, check that it’s testing the IP and port you think it should be testing, etc.
And now what?
Well, congratulations, this is it. People can now surf the internet without fear of filtering/blocking or surveillance. Collect your karma points and continue following https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23IranElection or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html
Bridge:
- Right click on the Vidalia icon in your task bar. Choose Control Panel.
- Click Setup Relaying.
- Click Help censored users reach the Tor network
- Enter a nickname for your relay. (Optional, enter contact information.)
- Change ports from the default ports (needs to be >1024 on Os X and Linux/Unix)
- If you have UPnP: Choose Attempt to automatically configure port forwarding. Push the Test button to see if it works. If it does work, great. If not, see “Firewall/router” below.
- Choose the Bandwidth Limits tab. Select how much bandwidth you want to provide for Tor users like yourself.
- Click the Ok button. See “Check if it works” below for confirmation that the bridge is working correctly.
Firewall/Router:
If you are using a firewall, open a hole in your firewall/router so incoming connections can reach the ports you configured (Relay Port (plus Directory Port if you enabled it)). Make sure you allow all outgoing connections, so your relay can reach the other Tor relays.
Check if it works:
Restart your bridge. If it logs any warnings, address them.
As soon as your bridge manages to connect to the network, it will try to determine whether the ports you configured are reachable from the outside. This may take up to 20 minutes. Look for a log entry like Self-testing indicates your ORPort is reachable from the outside. Excellent. If you don’t see this message, it means that your relay is not reachable from the outside — you should re-check your firewalls, check that it’s testing the IP and port you think it should be testing, etc.
Get that address to those that need it (IMPORTANT)
After successfully setting up the bridge, click “Setup Relay” and you will see your IP port and a string of chars, this is your bridge address.
Your bridge address is not posted publicly, you need to get it to those that need it. DirectMessage (in Twitter) or email @austinheap (me@austinheap.com), @protesterhelp (protesterhelp@gmail.com), @persiankiwi, @stopahmadi or @iran09
And now what?
Well, congratulations, this is it. People can now surf the internet without fear of filtering/blocking or surveillance. Collect your karma points and continue following https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23IranElection or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html