Tor Relay Hosting in Ukraine - Run a Eastern Europe Middle Relay

Tor network relays come in three types: **Guard/Entry relays**: The first hop in a Tor circuit. Tor users connect to guard relays directly. Guard relays see the user's real IP but not the destination. **Middle relays**: Intermediate relays in the circuit. They receive encrypted traffic from guard relays and forward it to exit relays. Middle relays see only encrypted data - they cannot determine the source or destination of the traffic. **Exit relays**: The final hop. Exit relays connect to destination websites on behalf of Tor users. They face abuse reports because their IP appears in destination logs. **Why middle relay is simpler**: Middle relays do not connect to destination websites, so they receive no abuse complaints from external services. ISPs and data centers are generally comfortable with middle relay operation even when they would not allow exit nodes. Exit nodes permitted. Independent hosting providers with minimal interference in technical operations. Ukraine is suitable for middle relay operation. The relay becomes visible in the Tor consensus and contributes to the network's capacity and diversity.

Setting up a Tor middle relay (non-exit) on Debian/Ubuntu in Ukraine: ```bash # Install Tor apt update && apt install tor -y # /etc/tor/torrc - middle relay configuration Nickname YourRelayName ContactInfo relay-operator@example.com ORPort 9001 DirPort 9030 ExitRelay 0 ExitPolicy reject *:* BandwidthRate 50 MB BandwidthBurst 100 MB RelayBandwidthRate 50 MB # Restart Tor systemctl restart tor # Monitor logs for successful bootstrap journalctl -u tor -f | grep -E "Bootstrapped|Self-testing" ``` **Key settings**: - `ExitRelay 0` and `ExitPolicy reject *:*`: Explicitly set non-exit status - `BandwidthRate 50 MB`: Sets 50 MB/s (400 Mbps) sustained rate - adjust to your plan - `BandwidthBurst 100 MB`: Allows burst above average - Nickname: 1-19 alphanumeric characters **Becoming a guard node**: After approximately 60 days of stable operation with sufficient bandwidth, Tor's network may promote your relay to guard status (IsStable and IsHSDir flags). Guard status significantly increases traffic handled.

If you operate multiple Tor relays (on multiple VPS instances or dedicated servers), configure the MyFamily parameter to inform Tor users that your relays are controlled by the same operator: ```bash # On each relay's torrc, add all relay fingerprints: MyFamily FINGERPRINT1,FINGERPRINT2,FINGERPRINT3 # Get your relay's fingerprint after bootstrap: tor --verify-config # Or check: cat /var/lib/tor/fingerprint ``` **Why MyFamily matters**: Tor selects relays from different families for the guard, middle, and exit positions in a circuit. Declaring family prevents Tor from using two of your relays in the same circuit, which would be a deanonymization risk. **Multiple relays in Ukraine**: Running 2-3 relays in Ukraine contributes significantly to Eastern Europe relay diversity. Tor's path selection algorithm values geographic and AS diversity - multiple relays from different ASNs in Ukraine are more valuable than multiple relays from the same datacenter. UA-IX with 1Tbps+ capacity. Ukraine offers high-bandwidth connectivity at competitive pricing.

Measuring your Ukraine relay's contribution to the Tor network: **Tor Metrics**: metrics.torproject.org shows your relay's consensus weight, flags (Guard, Stable, Running, HSDir, Fast), and historical bandwidth data. A newly bootstrapped relay typically sees low traffic for the first 1-8 weeks as Tor's distributed algorithm builds trust in new relays. **Observed bandwidth vs advertised**: Tor measures your actual throughput and uses this in path selection. Advertise only what your plan can sustain: - Iceland VPS $22.99/mo: Advertise 50-80 Mbps - Romania VPS Start $49.99/mo: Advertise 100-200 Mbps - Dedicated server: Advertise 500Mbps-1Gbps **Flag timeline**: - Running: Within minutes of successful bootstrap - Valid: After consensus inclusion (~1 hour) - Fast: After demonstrating 100+ KB/s throughput - Stable: After 7+ days continuous uptime - Guard: After 60+ days with Stable + Fast + sufficient bandwidth **Eastern Europe relay gap**: Check metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#search/country:uk to see how many relays exist in Ukraine. Less-represented countries provide more network diversity value per relay.