Hi all,
I have recently installed a new tor relay (non-exit) in a new vsp. For several days now its bandwidth, according to ARM, is in the bits/second and there seems to be some problem reading its own torrc file. Also, while it had four connections for a while, there are none now.
Part of ARM quote: [ARM NOTICE] Read last day of bandwidth history from state file (-7502 seconds is missing) [ARM WARN] The torrc differs frm what tor's using. You an issue a sighup to reload the torrc values by pressing x. .....
and for good measure [ARM NOTICE] Tor is preventing system utiliites like netstat and lsof from working. This means arm can't provide you with connection information.......
Sometimes I also get that the data directory is not configured but I have left this commented out in the torrc file, being satisfied to use the default.
I do get a "normal running" flag on tor stats and a bandwidth of zero.
While I am very familiar with Linux in general this install is on debian which is new for me.
Any ideas on where I might start to sort this out would be appreciated.
Bruce Ganton
Hi. Thanks for running a relay.
For several days now its bandwidth, according to ARM, is in the bits/second and there seems to be some problem reading its own torrc file. Also, while it had four connections for a while, there are none now.
Regarding the low bandwidth and a low number of connections, this could be typical for a new relay. Reference https://blog.torproject.org/blog/lifecycle-of-a-new-relay
[ARM NOTICE] Read last day of bandwidth history from state file (-7502 seconds is missing)
This is normal in my experience. Arm is trying to read your node's bandwidth history to populate the graphs with data collected before you started Arm. I don't know why it fails, but you can squelch it by adding the following config line to ~/.arm/armrc (or wherever you keep your armrc file):
features.graph.bw.prepopulate false
[ARM WARN] The torrc differs frm what tor's using. You an issue a sighup to reload the torrc values by pressing x.
Pretty much what it sounds like; you edited torrc after starting up Arm. To bring in the chages such that Arm is in sync, just press 'x' in Arm twice and it will issue a HUP signal to the Tor process, which reloads the config.
[ARM NOTICE] Tor is preventing system utiliites like netstat and lsof from working. This means arm can't provide you with connection information
You need to add the following to /etc/tor/torrc if you want to utilize all the features of Arm:
DisableDebuggerAttachment 0
It's disabled by default for security (with a value of '1'), so think carefully before doing this. It "reduces security by enabling debugger attachment to the Tor process. This can be used by an adversary to extract keys." (Quoting from https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13880). If you do enable the deubgger attachment for Arm, make sure your control port is locked down (not reachable from the Internet or from other hosts you don't control, etc.)
It does seem a little odd you're still at 0 bandwidth with no connections. Without more data, it's hard to say what else might be going wrong (if anything). What does /var/log/tor/log have to say? There should be some lines in there that indicate if it's reachable from the internet.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
On 15-10-13 01:47 PM, Green Dream wrote:
Hi. Thanks for running a relay.
Thank you both for answering me. The relay's nickname is "ClydeBoy" and is listed on blutmagie so I presume is on Atlas & Globe. I have a "normal" flag and "running". The website now shows a bandwidth of 1.
However, some preliminary items I probably have wrong. The only way I can stop tor is ps -Al | grep tor and then kill nnnn. Is there not a more elegant way?
Also, if I start it as su: root it runs as root. If I start it "tor" as me it runs as me. There is a user listed in the password file of debian-tor but I am not sure how or if it is being used. How should tor be started and who should it be running as?
The current /var/log/tor/log (fresh, new) has nothing in it??
Bruce Ganton
ClydeBoy is listed three times on Atlas. It appears to be running from the same server, as the IP/port are the same for all 3 nodes, however the fingerprint is different for each instance on Atlas:
https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/68F162C50F22205FB3B728ACE67470B17D7430... https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/53C1C1A27F9CD0A87383FB473ABD7E8D4378F7... https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/53C1C1A27F9CD0A87383FB473ABD7E8D4378F7...
I'm guessing that during your testing and config changes, the existing Tor processes weren't getting killed and so you wound up with multiple Tor processes fighting for attention and resources. That's not going to work very well. ;-)
I'm not sure how you installed Tor. For Ubuntu or Debian, I normally follow the instructions here:
https://www.torproject.org/docs/debian.html.en#ubuntu
If you go this route, you should wind up with Tor installed as a proper service, which can then be controlled via the standard methods, like:
sudo service tor start sudo service tor stop sudo service tor restart
This will also take care of running the Tor process as the debian-tor user.
Pardon the bad copy/paste in the last email. The third listing on Atlas is:
https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/3FE1025A1E779CAFD21F593AC200C744770334...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
On 15-10-14 10:18 AM, Green Dream wrote:
ClydeBoy is listed three times on Atlas. It appears to be running from the same server, as the IP/port are the same for all 3 nodes, however the fingerprint is different for each instance on Atlas:
I was able to identify two tor processes running and killed them both. I then used your recommended way of starting tor. Now the log filed is being filled with good stuff and ARM is behaving as I am used to. FWIW, I googled around quite a bit and never noticed specific instructions on stopping tor. So thanks for giving me the magic bullet.
I'm guessing that during your testing and config changes, the existing Tor processes weren't getting killed and so you wound up with multiple Tor processes fighting for attention and resources. That's not going to work very well. ;-)
I'm not sure how you installed Tor. For Ubuntu or Debian, I normally follow the instructions here:
Yes, these are the directions I followed. In fact I installed Debian just so I could use option 1 as it seemed preferable. I was reasonably careful with this; how wrong can you go with sudo apt-get install? However, I have learned from hard experience to never be too cocky about having everything done right. :-)
Bruce Ganton
tor-relays@lists.torproject.org
-
Bruce Ganton -
Green Dream