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Looking for rare locations for Tor relays
I currently operate 33 Tor relays with locations in USA, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria, Vietnam, Turkey, Serbia, Moldova, Romania, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Japan, India, and Russia. I'm looking for more locations for an unmanaged VPS, with a preference for APAC. I do not want anything in Germany, Austria, or France, and I'm already aware of THE.hosting, JustHost, and OrangeVPS. I can pay either annually or triennially in cryptocurrency.
My minimum requirements are either of:
(A)
- 1 vCPU with AES-NI
- 1 GiB RAM (2 GiB ideal)
- 5 GiB storage
- 15 TB/month bandwidth @ 40 Mbps (unmetered @ 100 Mbps ideal)
- $30/year
(B)
- 2 vCPUs with AES-NI
- 3 GiB RAM (4 GiB ideal)
- 25 GiB storage (100+ ideal, HDD is fine)
- Unmetered bandwidth @ 100 Mbps
- $50/year
For both (A) and (B), CPU usage will be mid to high but not saturating. For (A), disk I/O will be virtually nothing, and for (B) expect sustained random reads and writes up to ~1 MiB/s. I'll be running Debian, Alpine, OpenSUSE, or FreeBSD.
For (A), I only intend to install Tor and a Globalping probe. For (B), I plan to install Tor, a Globalping probe, Hyphanet (previously known as Freenet), and perhaps an I2P router. These won't cause any abuse complaints or IP blacklisting.
I'm happy to pay extra if the host accepts exit relays, but I won't count on that (it would be a big ask since exits do bring in abuse complaints). My budget is flexible, especially for particularly exotic locations, but it's spread out among many servers so I can't deviate from it too much.
Comments
maybe @avsisp for Albania?
Their ToS states:
Which is a bit ambiguous since it seems to imply that only Tor exits are disallowed, then that Tor as a whole is. That, and being one of only two hosts I've ever come across that flat-out block connections from Tor makes me a bit hesitant.
I'd love clarification from them, since traffic to and from the Tor network, if it is exclusively through the Tor network (i.e. not an exit that bridges the Tor network to the rest of the internet) cannot bring in abuse complaints.
hi @forest ,
I recently found a thread about VPS servers in Indonesia. A lot of good recommendations there and Indonesia is not a very popular country for Tor yet. However I don't think most of the hosts mentioned take crypto payments.
I also asked @bela from servergalactic a while ago about Tor relays, but they said they can't really deal with them because of high bandwidth costs in Philippines. Maybe Thailand would be more suitable, but still not sure if within your budget. They seem to take crypto via binance.
Today I got a VPS in Laos from No ACK, however the network speeds are unsuitable to run any kind of relay (i just set up globalping probe there). In any case, No ACK takes crypto (bitcoin) via BTCPay.
Readydedis is also a good one for Japan. They recently ran a promo for 10th anniversary. Unmetered 100mbps in Japan is very nice at this price. However I see you already run a relay with them. (also their ToS seems to be a bit restrictive for "anonymizers")
For Malaysia you could ask @jonbeard from Breezehost or @advinservers from Advinservers but the prices are a bit high, especially for high bandwidth VPS servers.
They allow non-exit relays without problems. I used to run a relay there for some time, however decided to shut it down recently due to frequent network issues
(i think the XDP anti ddos network filters get in a way of Tor relay in my case)
Also, Albania is not that rare and even holds more Tor network consensus than Lithuania for example. (how much of that is just fake geo is a whole another story...)
Best luck with your search and please let me know once you find something interesting
10 Mbps isn't too bad, since some of my servers (like the one in Nigeria) utilize less simply because of the low consensus weight of those countries no matter how fast their connections are, but your YABS makes it look like it can't even achieve a real 10. I suppose I could ask them (I already have one of their VPSes in Sweden and it's running strong as an exit).
I think that's the special I bought from! I'm not getting much speed with Tor yet (about 0.5 Mbps), but that could be because it's still ramping up. Worst-case, I'll add an I2P router to it. I believe they actually used some cryptocurrency payment gateway that required strict KYC, but after making a request in a support ticket, they gave me an address to send directly to, so that worked out.
One of my US exit nodes is hosted on Advin! They've been out of stock of their Malaysia location for a while though, and quoted a custom 100 Mbps unmetered plan as something like $30/month, otherwise the bandwidth is too restrictive as you say. I'll look into Breezehost!
If they stop using Cloudflare to straight-up block Tor connections, I'll give them a try.
I guess a few globalping probes would be able to find out pretty easily. I can buy a cheap Albanian host ($2/month if prepaying for 5 years, something like $4/month if paying a month at a time) with JustHost, but I already have a few relays from them and plan to add a few more, and don't want my "portfolio" to be too heavy on any one AS.
Will do!
Nice to see this initiative @forest !
For India, you might want to reach out to DigiRDP. They have been out of stock for a while now, but they might do something custom for you. I don't think any Indian hosts will allow exits, sadly, due to the strict local rules.
For Hong Kong, Akile might be a good option. I currently run a webtunnel bridge over there.
For Vietnam, TOTHost might be an option, but I am not sure about their T&C regarding TOR.
I use Rackoona for a non-exit relay in India, as well as a Hyphanet (Freenet) node. They've been pretty good so far, although from time to time, their upstream (at least I think it's their upstream) occasionally blocks the directory authorities, which breaks its ability to run as a relay. I've opened a ticket about it and they got it fixed, although there was a little confusion at first and they asked me to provide KYC to run a relay (I think they thought, at the time, that I was running an exit).
They're a bit pricey for only 1.5 TB/month at their lowest tier, but they don't look bad. I'll look into them. I know that OrangeVPS can do them cheaper, but I'm a bit hesitant to buy from them given my current experience where they accused me of sending email spam because my VPS IP was on a blacklist, yet didn't realize that it was actually their entire /24 that was blacklisted (https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/4704603/#Comment_4704603).
What's your experience running WebTunnel? How much bandwidth does it take? I have two IPv4s on most of my exits since I need one dedicated to recursive DNS resolution, which means that each of my exits has an IPv4 that's not on the list of relays, so it would be perfect to run a bridge on.
I actually messaged their support a while ago. They said that they don't explicitly block Tor, so long as the activity doesn't affect their other systems, which I take to mean it can't saturate their network or get their IPs on blacklists (so no exits). Right now I run a relay with dataonline.vn for Vietnam.
Hmm, have I think their regular plans are not the best.
Currently I am using their BF2024 plan, which gave me 1C/1G/10GB/2TB@10G for $20/3yr.
Since this one is a new tunnel, there is not much usage on it yet.
One of my active webtunnels in Germany used a little bit under 2.5TB for a month.
Also ServerPoint came to mind, they had(have?) a LET special which could get you 40TB BW in SG for $120/3yr. Not sure if TOR usage is allowed tho.
Will be sure to let you know if I come across any other hosts
I have this special for $40/y with 44TB bw in Singapore. I'm pretty sure they have no problem with Tor non-exits, however relays there have been vastly underperforming compared to others in the SG region.
I run other applications to utilize more bandwidth on it and they are fine, however Tor doesn't seem to like their network for whatever reason.
Make sure you check their aftermarket servers, they can be really cheap, like $10/y or lower for 1/1/5 and 1TB traffic.
Hi would you reconsider Germany?
The Tor network already has a lot of servers in Germany and my goal is diversity, but if the price is extremely good and it's on an AS that has relatively few relays already, I'd consider it.
The EU in general is very heavy with TOR nodes.
Here in the US.
Houston is a not too common as much nodes are up in Dallas.
Glad to see your into the i2p project as well.
Check out 3hcloud
Looks like they prohibit:
That's true, and that's why, for EU, I focus on relatively underrepresented countries.
I didn't know that! I know there's a lot of network infrastructure in Texas and there are a lot of relays in the US in general, so I've somewhat avoided them. But if I find a really good deal with servers in Houston, I'll look into it.
I don't personally use it, but I figure it would be a good way to put some of the unused bandwidth to good use. I also run Hyphanet (Freenet) nodes, and I2P was actually an offshoot of Freenet a long, long time ago, which is why they both use Java. For I2P, I use the C++ rewrite (i2pd) instead of the Java version. It's a lot lighter on memory and more performant.
Maybe Josh can help you get something setup in Houston. He used to run dataideas. Big supporter for Tor Relay and Tor Exit Relay hosting.
I still run a few tor nodes and i2p.
Will send you a message @forest and see what we can get setup.
I've found Albania, Macedonia, UAE, Portugal, and Armenia (and plenty of others, but the others are less "rare") on https://4vps.su, who I believe are the ones behind "GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS LLP". They seem to be semi-bulletproof, host a number of Tor exits, and the price is decent. I have no idea how accurate their geofeed is, though.
They currently have a very nice promo for their Kemerovo, Russia region, but I already have a Russian VPS in Novosibirsk (which is geographically close to Kemerovo) from JustHosting.
I think THE.Hosting would be good as they seem to have locations almost everywhere (they used to be PQ.Hosting), but their cheapest plan, which is only $1/month, requires KYC, which is a big no-go for me.
@forest have you checked oneprovider ? Although it's not within your budget
@emg88 oneprovider is always more expensive than going to their upstreams. For instance they were recently selling a Barcelona dedi for $46 after an alleged 50% discount - in fact it was a Psychz box available for $19.50! They are still reselling Online.net/Scaleway boxes at 40% markup too.
I have, but as @nikio says, they're more expensive than their upstreams. Resellers with a huge number of locations are often either dirt cheap (with next to no support and no real SLA) or very expensive (with the only benefit being that you only have to work with a single reseller). I believe oneprovider also required KYC when I last checked, but I'm not sure.
I didn't need KYC when I registered with oneprovider but that was maybe 2 years ago. Things may have changed. The problem is that they really aren't remotely good if you can identify their upstreams.
Do they even have their own ASN or do they just directly resell servers straight from upstream?
they do. https://bgp.he.net/AS136258
You forgot Tarisu sir.
Will running non-exit TOR relay not fall under para 1D of you Service Agreement, sir?
I am also considering Melbicom. They have Singapore for only €5,70 EUR/month and, while it is limited to 5 TB/month traffic, it's throttled to "only" 100 Mbps, so it's effectively unmetered @ 100 Mbps, and that's a great price in such a location.
What is your bandwidth overage policy? I don't need more than 100 Mbps burst, but 4 TB/month is rather limiting. If I reduce disk size from 30 to 5 GB, and reduce RAM from 2 to 1.5 GB, can I have unmetered bandwidth at 100 Mbps (instead of 10 Gbps) at the cheap (1 vCPU) plan?
A non-exit relay wouldn't count as an open proxy, I don't think. 1D seems to be a "don't get us on any spam blacklists" rule, and Tor non-exits do not cause blacklisting on any reputable blacklist, nor abuse complaints.
I have been running this for a while now (~6 months). It is ok for the price, had a few network downtimes. Opened a ticket once at the beginning, got a response in 20 mins saying 'there was a network outage in DC' and 'no estimated timeline to fix it, issue with the router'. I think it was fixed within a few days. Other than that it is a great machine with Ryzen 9 7950x but the port is capped to 100Mb/s. However, price is very affordable.
Let me know if you want YABS or any other test from this machine.
Agree but always good to double check how the provider treats non-exit relays.