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Macedonia Launch (New Location) Double-Specs, VMs in UK, NL, AL, MK (VPS + VDS)

24

Comments

  • allthemtingsallthemtings Member, Megathread Squad

    @emgh said:
    who it s online reak t it

    Flop it out mate

    Thanked by 2emgh admax
  • Doubling your resources for life is actually quite a profitable promotion

    Thanked by 1avsisp
  • forestforest Member
    edited April 16

    @avsisp said:

    @forest said:
    From https://www.avsisp.com/transit/routing-policies/:

    We actively filter traffic from known abusive ASNs and IP ranges. This isn't about limiting legitimate use—it's about protecting our customers from malicious actors and keeping your services online and accessible.

    Does this include any ranges running Tor relays? If so, can it be disabled? Because even a middle relay has to make connections with exit relays. Assuming that Tor middle relays are allowed in this location; I know they aren't allowed in your Albania location due to the heavy bandwidth use, but since Macdedonia specifies unlimited bandwidth, I assume that's not an issue.

    At present, we actively block all active Tor nodes by IP + Port combo (not IP alone) using the official list maintained by Tor themselves. We do not allow Tor usage / activity at all on our network.

    The list is available here: https://onionoo.torproject.org/details?running=true

    There is simply too much abuse around Tor for us to allow it. Since blocking Tor, a large portion of issues have simply stopped existing. Clients can always use bridges if they want to be a Tor client, but being Relay or Entry / Exit node will not work on our network.

    I seem to recall that you told me I was fine to run Tor on your UK locations, just not Albania:

    @avsisp said: EDIT: Just saw you asked about UK Location - there, run Tor relays to your hearts content - no exit nodes though.

    I then paid money for a VPS but could not activate because I could not log in. I was waiting until you unblocked Tor on your website, which you recently did. But now you're revoking the permission you explicitly gave me?

    Thanked by 1gleepdorf
  • Nice chickens

  • forestforest Member
    edited April 16

    @avsisp said: Relays DO generate abuse complains, but we are not referring to email notifications here. We are referring to listings in databases of abuse (AbuseIPDB, abuse.ch, etc with vague "Tor detected, access attempt" comments).

    They don't. Only Hetzner has that issue and those are internally-generated abuse complaints sent to their own customers based on their own internal traffic heuristics. I run 42 relays. Every single exit has pages upon pages of abuse reports. Every single middle relay contains zero reports on AbuseIPDB that IP during the time the relay is running.

    Chances are, you've experienced someone running a middle and then abusing the VPS in hopes that they can blame it on Tor, and IP reputation databases will falsely flag it as a Tor issue.

    But even if you want to stop people from running relays, blocking connections to relays is the wrong way to do it because that also blocks bridges, Snowflake, clients, HS websites, etc.

  • JohnFilch123JohnFilch123 Member
    edited April 17

    @forest said: But now you're revoking the permission you explicitly gave me?

    This is correct, even though I would not have used this vocabulary since it was not a formal contract, just a forum talk. I was told this change took place last year and I was pointed to this:

    Prohibited Services & Activities

    The following services and activities are strictly prohibited on our network:

    Tor Nodes: Operating Tor exit nodes or relay nodes is not permitted - traffic to and from the Tor network may be blocked by reasonable measures
    

    The funny thing is they blocked the whole range of 9XXX ports, so a few non-Tor related apps stopped working and I had to change their port.

  • forestforest Member

    @JohnFilch123 said: This is correct, even though I would not have used this vocabulary since it was not a formal contract, just a forum talk. I was told this change took place last year and I was pointed to this:

    I actually saw that when I asked them. They had that in place and I was explicitly told it would only apply to their Albanian location, and that I was free to run a non-exit relay.

    @JohnFilch123 said: The funny thing is they blocked the whole range of 9XXX ports, so a few non-Tor related apps stopped working and I had to change their port.

    What...? That's crazy. But there are so many relays which don't even use 9001 anyway. Many use 443.

    Thanked by 1oloke
  • @forest said: that I was free to run a non-exit relay

    I can only guess this new change has happened recently, possibly before you asked.

    @forest said: Many use 443

    Yes, this is a bit challenging to block on the port level :lol:

    Thanked by 1oloke
  • forestforest Member

    @JohnFilch123 said: I can only guess this new change has happened recently, possibly before you asked.

    After I asked, you mean?

  • @forest said: After I asked, you mean?

    Yes, sorry, exactly that.

  • emghemgh Member, Megathread Squad

    I mean it's a though situation, especially if you paid yearly. Maybe a refund for the remaining time would be fitting.

    Can't blame a provider for changing up their terms, but obviously it sucks if you paid yearly with the expectation to do something that you now can't.

  • forestforest Member

    What's even stranger is that they were actually planning on adding an onion domain, so it's not like they're philosophically anti-Tor.

  • JohnFilch123JohnFilch123 Member
    edited April 17

    Probably money is the reason. 100 reddit customers v 3.5 tor customers.

    Maybe a solution would be to have separate ASN for tor customers but again if there are 3.5 people, it won't justify costs. So, money again.

    Thanked by 1tentor
  • emperoremperor Member
    edited April 17

    Well, there are couple of tor relays from their upstream, at least when i was using them there was. Also they have better specs, only thing is they accept crypto only. So if upstream dont have any problem with tor, neither should reseller imho.

    Thanked by 2tentor oloke
  • olokeoloke Member, Host Rep
    edited April 17

    @emperor said:
    Well, there are couple of tor relays from their upstream, at least when i was using them there was. Also they have better specs, only thing is they accept crypto only.

    Yeah, the upstream is fine with Tor relays (not exit). I run some in Kosovo and Macedonia with them.
    The minus is they don't have ipv6 (yet?) and I had some occasional few hour downtime incidents in recent months (mostly in Macedonia). And, like mentioned they only accept crypto which can be a problem too.

    So if upstream dont have any problem with tor, neither should reseller imho.

    Hmm not really. Often times downstreams/resellers have different policies and if they run things on their own ASN, it's completely up to them to set rules.

    Think @HostDZire (doesn't allow Tor, reseller of leaseweb which doesn't prohibit it), @aluy @MannDude who allow Tor (even exits) - downstreams of @AlexBarakov (who doesn't allow it),
    @NDTN prohibits Tor (using xtom/leaseweb network), @RIYAD who is reseller of many but doesn't allow Tor on H4F, and possibly many more...

    Ultimately it's up to ASN/IP range owner to determine what they permit on their network.

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @forest said:

    @avsisp said:

    @forest said:
    From https://www.avsisp.com/transit/routing-policies/:

    We actively filter traffic from known abusive ASNs and IP ranges. This isn't about limiting legitimate use—it's about protecting our customers from malicious actors and keeping your services online and accessible.

    Does this include any ranges running Tor relays? If so, can it be disabled? Because even a middle relay has to make connections with exit relays. Assuming that Tor middle relays are allowed in this location; I know they aren't allowed in your Albania location due to the heavy bandwidth use, but since Macdedonia specifies unlimited bandwidth, I assume that's not an issue.

    At present, we actively block all active Tor nodes by IP + Port combo (not IP alone) using the official list maintained by Tor themselves. We do not allow Tor usage / activity at all on our network.

    The list is available here: https://onionoo.torproject.org/details?running=true

    There is simply too much abuse around Tor for us to allow it. Since blocking Tor, a large portion of issues have simply stopped existing. Clients can always use bridges if they want to be a Tor client, but being Relay or Entry / Exit node will not work on our network.

    I seem to recall that you told me I was fine to run Tor on your UK locations, just not Albania:

    @avsisp said: EDIT: Just saw you asked about UK Location - there, run Tor relays to your hearts content - no exit nodes though.

    I then paid money for a VPS but could not activate because I could not log in. I was waiting until you unblocked Tor on your website, which you recently did. But now you're revoking the permission you explicitly gave me?

    Tor was hard blocked after that time - due to our ASN getting flagged, things being blocked, people complaining, and the explanation always being "Tor flag on ASN, VPN flag on ASN, IPs marked proxy" etc.

    Please send in a ticket and we will refund you any money spent. We are not anti-Tor at all - we are anti-losing every customer due to 1000s of complaints because a few customers want to run nodes that flag entire ASNs.

    We're happy to have anyone host something like i2p for example, which is not causing issues or getting our ASN banned everywhere.

    Thanked by 1gleepdorf
  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @forest said:

    @avsisp said: Relays DO generate abuse complains, but we are not referring to email notifications here. We are referring to listings in databases of abuse (AbuseIPDB, abuse.ch, etc with vague "Tor detected, access attempt" comments).

    They don't. Only Hetzner has that issue and those are internally-generated abuse complaints sent to their own customers based on their own internal traffic heuristics. I run 42 relays. Every single exit has pages upon pages of abuse reports. Every single middle relay contains zero reports on AbuseIPDB that IP during the time the relay is running.

    Chances are, you've experienced someone running a middle and then abusing the VPS in hopes that they can blame it on Tor, and IP reputation databases will falsely flag it as a Tor issue.

    But even if you want to stop people from running relays, blocking connections to relays is the wrong way to do it because that also blocks bridges, Snowflake, clients, HS websites, etc.

    I see what you're saying, but it's incorrect entirely. A single Tor relay even on your ASN gets the entire ASN flagged. Some automated abuse reporting systems (that I disagree with, myself) will then auto-report every attempt from any IP on that ASN.

    As for the blocking relays meaning that it'll block bridges, that's entirely incorrect. There's a whole app, website page, etc for getting unlisted bridges to use for outbound access when Tor is blocked. The official list of relays are only public relays and exists, they are not bridges and other services used to access the network. They do not include any websites at all. And they are only blocked by BOTH IP:PORT combo, not whole IPs.

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @JohnFilch123 said:

    @forest said: But now you're revoking the permission you explicitly gave me?

    This is correct, even though I would not have used this vocabulary since it was not a formal contract, just a forum talk. I was told this change took place last year and I was pointed to this:

    Prohibited Services & Activities

    The following services and activities are strictly prohibited on our network:

    Tor Nodes: Operating Tor exit nodes or relay nodes is not permitted - traffic to and from the Tor network may be blocked by reasonable measures
    

    The funny thing is they blocked the whole range of 9XXX ports, so a few non-Tor related apps stopped working and I had to change their port.

    The port block is in process of being removed from our systems. Most servers this was already reversed. It was the "ORPort" that was being blocked, a common known Tor range. This was during the initial weeks of the block, as it killed all active nodes on our network instantly to get the flagging removed while better measures were implemented.

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @JohnFilch123 said:
    Probably money is the reason. 100 reddit customers v 3.5 tor customers.

    Maybe a solution would be to have separate ASN for tor customers but again if there are 3.5 people, it won't justify costs. So, money again.

    Money is not the only reason to care about ASN being flagged. But yes, there is no justification in causing all of our customers to have issues for a tiny minority to have the convenience to simply avoid using a bridge. When you operate a business, you can't screw over all your customers so that 1 or 2 of them can have preferential treatment. It would be a massive disaster. You have to always take into account what's good for the majority. It's about what's doing right by our customers, which means not letting our ASN being flagged on every database known to man so what, 4 total in our entire history, customers can have a node up? It just doesn't make sense when you balance the greater good.

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @emperor said:
    Well, there are couple of tor relays from their upstream, at least when i was using them there was. Also they have better specs, only thing is they accept crypto only. So if upstream dont have any problem with tor, neither should reseller imho.

    Which upstream? And what reseller? We are not a reseller of anyone. We run our own ASN, Own IPs, have SEVERAL Upstreams (6 at present active with others on reserve status incase of issues). And upstream allowing something doesn't mean hosts do that use that ISP. An upstream = an internet transit provider.

    All Tier 1s allow anything, even shady bulletproof hosts and all - that doesn't mean all their customers and their customers customers have to, does it? Your logic makes no sense at all to me here. Or am I misunderstanding something and you think we resell on someone else's node and IPs (which isn't the case)?

  • emperoremperor Member

    @avsisp said: Own IPs , no sense at all to me

    Are you running 195.144.24.0/24 there ?

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @emperor said:

    @avsisp said: Own IPs , no sense at all to me

    Are you running 195.144.24.0/24 there ?

    That is the range used for our MK location, correct - which is announced and operated on our ASN on our node.

    If your point is that the upstream owns the range there, that's correct. He's a friend and leases us the range. Many hosts operate using leased ranges on their own ASN and network.

    Again, not getting your point. It's our ASN that gets flagged - it's our ASN it's announced on - it's our network it's on and we are responsible for it, regardless of who owns the range at the RIR level.

    The range OWNERSHIP (legal forever ownership) and the one responsible for it (announced on their ASN) are not always the same person. Especially in today's economy where a range costs 8000+€ on RIPE to buy + LIR status at 2K a year.

  • emperoremperor Member

    @avsisp said: He's a friend and leases us the range

    So that was my logic about reseller part, you should not be mad about that.. it was just opinion. GL with sales.

    Thanked by 1oloke
  • APIAPI Member

    Any promo for a lower spec vps with yearly pricing?

  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 17

    @emperor said:

    @avsisp said: He's a friend and leases us the range

    So that was my logic about reseller part, you should not be mad about that.. it was just opinion. GL with sales.

    No no - not upset about it at all - just confused. That's not reselling.

    Reselling is when you for example pay someone else to use their node, their IPs, their ASN, and sell on that server VMs on a node you do not manage or through an API they provide or something of that sort - which we do not. We manage our own network, hardware, IPs, etc. Are IP ranges leased, sure - that's common business practice. But leasing a range doesn't mean reselling at all mate - bit of a different thing.

    When I hear reseller I think those selling on another provider, not someone managing their own nodes and network who leases IPs as a choice (you'd probably be surprised to know that even some of the largest and most well known hosts here rent ranges because it makes more financial sense until you get to a certain point - that point being hetzner, ovh, etc size).

    Thanked by 1emperor
  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 17

    @API said:
    Any promo for a lower spec vps with yearly pricing?

    Shoot us a ticket with your request, we may be able to accommodate.

  • NushairAlviNushairAlvi 🚩 Host Rep Tag Suspended

    Happy good bad day 😁

    Thanked by 1avsisp
  • avsispavsisp Member, Patron Provider

    @NushairAlvi said:
    Happy good bad day 😁

    That has to be the most confusing sentence of today and made me laugh 🤣

    Thanks for the smiles 😁

    Thanked by 1NushairAlvi
  • NushairAlviNushairAlvi 🚩 Host Rep Tag Suspended

    @avsisp said:

    @NushairAlvi said:
    Happy good bad day 😁

    That has to be the most confusing sentence of today and made me laugh 🤣

    Thanks for the smiles 😁

    Welcome 😁 be happy and get happy . Happy bad day ! No it's not birthday what you just read !

    Thanked by 1avsisp
  • forestforest Member
    edited April 18

    @avsisp said: As for the blocking relays meaning that it'll block bridges, that's entirely incorrect. There's a whole app, website page, etc for getting unlisted bridges to use for outbound access when Tor is blocked.

    But you can't run a bridge relay on your VPS if your VPS blocks connections to all Tor relays, as the bridge itself needs to connect to Tor (and you can't use a bridge over a bridge). Likewise, you can't operate an onion service. If you really do have to block Tor, you should simply have an alert that fires if one of your IPs is detected on the Tor consensus and not block connections to the Tor network. After all, what if someone wants to run torsocks wget on your VPS?

    @avsisp said: Tor was hard blocked after that time - due to our ASN getting flagged, things being blocked, people complaining, and the explanation always being "Tor flag on ASN, VPN flag on ASN, IPs marked proxy" etc.

    Hmm, that's strange. I genuinely suspect something weird is happening because, with very few exceptions, I haven't seen a non-exit get flagged by any reputable (or even semi-reputable) IP reputation database, much less thousands of complaints. Is it possible that some people are either running exits (not middles), or are running middles while also abusing the service and trying to blame it on Tor? Because what you describe is out of the ordinary.

    Do you have some examples of these 1000s of abuse complaints? I'm curious to figure out why that happens with your ASN so much more than others. I suspect there's more going on here than just excessive auto-reporting.

    @avsisp said: Please send in a ticket and we will refund you any money spent.

    I only spent $10. I'm not a greedy person and I totally understand if this is a case of caveat emptor, but if you could instead donate it to the EFF or Tor Project, that would be better than refunding it to me.

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