Box for simple Tor node.

[jim bell]

 On Friday, October 11, 2019, 02:26:27 PM PDT, John Newman <jnn at synfin.org> wrote:
 
 
 On Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 09:05:00PM +0000, jim bell wrote:
> Somebody asked me a question, but because I am far from being an expert, I couldn't answer.   Suppose a person wanted to implement a TOR node, simply by buying some box, and plugging it into his modem, and power.  And NOT needing to become an expert on TOR, or even on computers in general.  And NOT having to follow pages and pages of instructions.   I did a few minutes of searching, and even the 'simple' explanations seemed 'clear as mud'. 
> Don't bother with long explanations challenging the usefulness, or trustworthiness of TOR.   Yes, we've discussed them to death.  That's a different subject.                    Jim Bell

>On FreeBSD, it's as simple as running the following commands as root

># install tor
 pkg install tor

># set appropriate variables, there aren't too many to get going and
# you can find them all well documented 
 vi /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc

># update your rc.conf so the service will start at boot, then start it
 sysrc tor_enable=YES
 service tor start

>For an idea of what the torrc file should look like, here is mine with a
few bits XXX'd out. My node is specifically configured not to allow exit
traffic because it was generating a lot of complaints upstream about my
host trying to hack peoples shit, etc :)  

># cat /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc | egrep -v "^$|^#"
SocksPort 9050
SocksPolicy accept 127.0.0.1
SocksPolicy reject *
Log notice file /var/log/tor/notices.log
RunAsDaemon 1
DataDirectory /var/db/tor
ControlPort 9051
HashedControlPassword XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
ORPort 9023
Exitpolicy reject *:*  # too many complaints :)
Nickname twentysevendollars
Address wintermute.synfin.org
OutboundBindAddress 198.154.106.54
RelayBandwidthRate 3265 KBytes  # playing with this
RelayBandwidthBurst 4355 KBytes # ditto
ContactInfo 0CA8B961 John Torman <tor @ synfin dot org>
DirPort 9030 # what port to advertise for directory connections
MyFamily XXXXXXXXXXXXX


>If you were doing this on Linux, it would be much the same. Replace the
"pkg install" with "apt-get install" or "yum install" or whatever, you
might have to add a tor repo or something. The config file probably
won't live under /usr/local/etc/tor, but just /etc/tor, and you'll use
systemctl rather than just updating the rc.conf with sysrc.

>I would not recommend you run an exit node from your home ;)


Yes, even years ago I was aware that a person shouldn't try to run an Exit node on a home setup.  Although, I wonder if it has been tried?   Sounds like a good beginning for a Wired article?   After writing that, I found:   https://blog.torproject.org/tips-running-exit-node       No way!!!

But you didn't answer my question.  I said a simple box, and that is precisely what I meant.   Power, Ethernet.  Plug into existing Modem.   Okay, I would understand it if the operator had to link it to the network by accessing a web page and informing them of the new IP address, but that's the level of complexity I was thinking about.  (Except for a box that already "knows" how to link up and start running.)
Could one of the problems with the TOR network be that only "experts" are likely to participate?
Also note:  I am referring to a situation where a person does not need, and does not want, the benefit of TOR for himself;  Just wants to add his "brick in the wall" to the nodes.  Has a spare $100 or so for the box, and has unlimited-usage gigabit/second Internet service.  (I see that Centurylink provides them for $65/month, probably subject to tax, as well.)
                   Jim Bell  
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