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tor_box

An all-inclusive Tor configuration for Raspberry Pi, serves as both a relay and personal Tor network

Preface

tor-box is a Raspberry Pi based personal anonymizing Tor network, combined with relay functionality in order to support the volunteer-based Tor network. Upon completion of configuration, tor-box will supply a secure wireless network that one can simply connect to, and instantly anonymously browse the web, while running a relay in the background as a daemon. Keep in mind that using an out-of-date browser while connected to tor-box is a security risk!

Ready to get started?

Here is an extensive list of things you'll need before using tor-box:

Overview

We'll be breaking the setup into multiple parts. Everything in this tutorial will be done using command line, no user interface stuff.

Setup and Configuration

To begin, start by connecting a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and ethernet-based internet connection to your Raspberry Pi. Then, plug your Raspberry Pi into a power source. Allow the startup sequence to commence. You should now see a login query. By default, the username is "pi" and the password is "raspberry"

login as: pi
pi@raspberrypi's password: raspberry

You should now see a basic command line with the following prefix:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $

You're ready to start giving your Pi some commands! To begin, we need to configure the Raspberry Pi. To see the configuration options, type in the following command:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ raspi-config

When the options on the screen appear, use your arrow keys to navigate to "Advanced Options" and then navigate to "Enable/Disable SSH". We're going to select "Enable" and hit enter.

Before exiting raspi-config be sure to change the timezone, display, and other miscellaneous settings to your choosing if you so desire. This is optional, however. When you're done, hit the esc key to exit configuration and go back to the command line.

You'll need to make note of your Pi's IP address. You can find it by typing the following command:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ ifconfig

The IP will be listed under eth0. Now, run a shutdown command to your Pi by typing the following:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo shutdown -h now

After the shutdown sequence has completed, unplug the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power from the Raspberry Pi. Leave the ethernet connected. We'll need that. Once you've connected all of your hardware back up to your personal computer, plug the power source back in to the Pi.

Setting up SSH and the Avahi Daemon

Dealing with hardware is a hassle, and we want a way to communicate with our Raspberry Pi without having to use the hardware from our personal computer. Ideally, we could just send commands from our personal computer. Let's set that up!

If you're a Linux or Mac OS X user, you're in luck, because you can simply use the SSH command! If you're a Windows user, go ahead and download the PuTTY client. It's free and lightweight!

For OS X and Linux users

Open up a shell terminal, and type in the following command:

~ $ ssh pi@1.2.3.4

Replace 1.2.3.4 with the IP address of your Raspberry Pi. You should be prompted for the password, and after typing it in, you're ready to communicate with your Pi from your personal computer!

For Windows users

Once you have PuTTY downloaded, open it up. Under the Host Name (IP address) field, put the IP address of your Pi. Leave the port as 22, and hit Open. You'll be prompted for both a username and password. Log in using pi and raspberry. You're now ready to send commands to your Pi as well!

The Avahi Daemon

The Avahi Daemon is a way to connect to your Raspberry Pi via SSH without even having to know the IP address of the Pi. This makes connecting via SSH far more convenient. Installing the daemon is easy. Use the following command to install the daemon:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon

It should download and install in a matter of seconds. Next, we'll run the following command to ensure the daemon is running when the Raspberry Pi starts up:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo update-rc.d avahi-daemon defaults

We can now ensure the daemon has started by running:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart

Easy. Now instead of using the Pi's IP address (which may or may not remain consistent) to connect via SSH, the Raspberry Pi can be addressed by raspberrypi.local, regardless of the IP.

So, if you're using OS X or Linux, you can simply connect by typing:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

And if you're on Windows, simply type raspberrypi.local into the Host Name field, then click Open. You're now in command of your Raspberry Pi no matter what IP address it attempts to hide behind!

Setting up the Raspberry Pi as a Wireless Access Point

Instead of reinventing the wheel here, I'm going to redirect you to an easy-to-follow and well-written tutorial written by LadyAda at Adafruit for this step. Return here when you're done, though! We're getting to the good part.

Visit the tutorial HERE.

Installing and Configuring Tor as Client Only

Okay, from this point on, we'll need to be running all commands as root. You're the boss, and you want your Raspberry Pi to know it! Simply type in:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo -i

Now all the commands you type will be as a root user. Your prompt should now look something like this:

root@raspberrypi:~#

Now, you can do all the typing to configure the IP tables and install Tor on your own, or you can simply run the shell script I created. It couldn't be easier to run. The script can be found in this repository here, titled installtor.sh. To run the script, all you need to do is type in the following command:

root@raspberrypi:~# curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CMoncur/tor_box/master/installtor.sh | sudo sh

Allow Tor to install entirely. Now, there's one more thing to do before we call it a day. We have to ensure Tor is configured to your liking. Now, you might decide that you don't actually want to change anything, and that's fine. The configuration file as it is will appeal to a vast majority of users. However, if you do want to change your configuration settings, open up a Nano editor of the Tor configuration file by typing:

root@raspberrypi:~# nano /etc/tor/torrc

Make changes as you see fit, then hit Ctrl-X to exit Nano, and hit yes to save and write out the changes to the file. Now, let's restart the Tor service by typing:

root@raspberrypi:~# service tor restart

You should see the following notifications:

[ ok ] Stopping tor daemon...done.
[ ok ] Starting tor daemon...done.

Tor is now configured!

Installing and Configuring Tor as a Client and Relay

Similar to the client-only section, from this point on, we'll need to be running all commands as root. Accomplish this by typing the following!

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo -i

Now all the commands you type will be as a root user. Your prompt should now look something like this:

root@raspberrypi:~#

You can most certainly install Tor, set up IP tables, and configure everything on your own, but running this shell script will accomplish all of that for you seamlessly. The script can be found in this repository here, titled installtorwithrelay.sh. To run the script, all you need to do is type in the following command:

root@raspberrypi:~# curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CMoncur/tor_box/master/installtorwithrelay.sh | sudo sh

Allow Tor to install entirely. Now, there's one more thing to do before we call it a day. We have to ensure Tor is configured to your liking. Now, you might decide that you don't actually want to change anything, and that's fine. The configuration file as it is will appeal to a vast majority of users. However, if you do want to change your configuration settings, open up a Nano editor of the Tor configuration file by typing:

root@raspberrypi:~# nano /etc/tor/torrc

One point of interest in this configuration file is the RelayBandwidthRate and RelayBandwidthBurst. By default, they're set to 300 KB/s and 600 KB/s respectively. This shouldn't be enough to cause a noticeable drop in performance for most major ISPs, even if your bandwidth is throttled to a very low rate. But feel free to adjust these as you see fit.

Next, locate Nickname torbox within the configuration file and change it to whatever name you like. You can also keep torbox as a name if you really want to!

Make changes as you see fit, then hit Ctrl-X to exit Nano, and hit yes to save and write out the changes to the file. Now, let's restart the Tor service by typing:

root@raspberrypi:~# service tor restart

You should see the following notifications:

[ ok ] Stopping tor daemon...done.
[ ok ] Starting tor daemon...done.

Now, since this configuration file has the DirPort and ORPort set to 9030 and 9001 respectively, you'll need to make sure those ports are forwarded to your Raspberry Pi.

Tor is now configured!

Monitoring your relay

Since we now have a configured Tor relay, we want to make sure that it's up and running. To do this, we'll follow that log file we made when installing Tor! Simply type the following command:

root@raspberrypi:~# tail -f /var/log/tor/notices.log

The tail command will simply track a file in real time, and display any new contents placed within it. This is useful for us because we can monitor our relays in real time. If your relay is set up correctly, you should see messages similar to the following:

May 18 00:00:56.000 [notice] Tor has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like client functionality is working.
May 18 00:00:56.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 100%: Done.
May 18 00:00:56.000 [notice] Now checking whether ORPort 11.22.113.114:9001 and DirPort 11.22.113.114:9030 are reachable... (this may take up to 20 minutes -- look for log messages indicating success)
May 18 00:00:57.000 [notice] Self-testing indicates your DirPort is reachable from the outside. Excellent.
May 18 00:00:58.000 [notice] Self-testing indicates your ORPort is reachable from the outside. Excellent. Publishing server descriptor.
May 18 00:01:52.000 [notice] Performing bandwidth self-test...done.

If you're getting something different regarding the DirPort or ORPort, chances are your ports are not forwarded properly. Try forwarding ports 9030 and 9001 to your Raspberry Pi.

Otherwise, it looks like you're all set! To verify, head over to Globe, and try typing in the nickname you gave to your relay into the search bar. If you didn't rename your nickname in the configuration file, it has defaulted to torbox. You might see your relay in the search results right away, but don't be concerned if it doesn't show up immediately. Sometimes it can take up to six hours for the relays to be published to Globe or Atlas.

Wrapping it all up

You should now have a fully functioning wireless Tor access point and relay! Congratulations! Try connecting to it from your desktop or laptop. The wireless network should be named whatever name you gave it while setting up your wireless access point. Mine is named tor_box.

Once connected, the VERY FIRST thing you need to do is visit https://check.torproject.org/ to ensure your Tor access point is up and running correctly. You should see a congratulations message, followed by your IP alias.

I now give you permission to browse the web anonymously. Proceed.