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<h1>Configuring Hidden Services for <a href="http://tor.eff.org/">Tor</a></h1>
<hr />
<p>Tor allows clients and servers to offer hidden services. That is,
you can offer a web server, SSH server, etc., without revealing your
IP to its users. In fact, because you don't use any public address,
you can run a hidden service from behind your firewall.
</p>
<p>If you have Tor and Privoxy installed, you can see hidden services
in action by visiting <a href="http://6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion/">the
hidden wiki</a>.
</p>
<p>This howto describes the steps for setting up your own hidden service
website.
</p>
<hr />
<a id="zero"></a>
<h2><a class="anchor" href="#zero">Step Zero: Get Tor and Privoxy working</a></h2>
<br />
<p>Before you start, you need to make sure 1) Tor is up and running,
2) Privoxy is up and running, 3) Privoxy is configured to point
to Tor, and 4) You actually set it up correctly.</p>
<p>Windows users should follow the <a
href="http://tor.eff.org/doc/tor-doc-win32.html">Windows
howto</a>, OS X users should follow the <a
href="http://tor.eff.org/doc/tor-doc-osx.html">OS
X howto</a>, and Linux/BSD/Unix users should follow the <a
href="http://tor.eff.org/doc/tor-doc-unix.html">Unix howto</a>.
</p>
<p>Once you've got Tor and Privoxy installed and configured,
you can see hidden services in action by following this link to <a
href="http://6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion/">the hidden wiki</a>.
It will typically take 10-60 seconds to load
(or to decide that it is currently unreachable). If it fails
immediately and your browser pops up an alert saying that
"www.6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion could not be found, please check the name and
try again" then you haven't configured Tor and Privoxy correctly; see <a
href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#ItDoesntWork">this
FAQ entry</a> for some help.
</p>
<hr />
<a id="one"></a>
<h2><a class="anchor" href="#one">Step One: Configure an example hidden service</a></h2>
<br />
<p>In this step, you're going to configure a hidden service that points
to www.google.com. This way we can make sure you have this step
working before we start thinking about setting up a web server locally.
</p>
<p>First, open your torrc file in your favorite text editor. (See <a
href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#torrc">this
FAQ entry</a> to learn what this means.) Go to the middle section and
look for the line</p>
<pre>
############### This section is just for location-hidden services ###
</pre>
<p>
This section of the file consists of groups of lines, each representing
one hidden service. Right now they are all commented out (the lines
start with #), so hidden services are disabled. Each group of lines
consists of one HiddenServiceDir line, and one or more HiddenServicePort
lines:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>HiddenServiceDir</b> is a directory where Tor will store information
about that hidden service. In particular, Tor will create a file here named
<i>hostname</i> which will tell you the onion URL. You don't need to add any
files to this directory.</li>
<li><b>HiddenServicePort</b> lets you specify a virtual port (that is, what
port people accessing the hidden service will think they're using) and an
IP address and port for redirecting connections to this virtual port.</li>
</ul>
<p>In this example, we're going to set up a hidden service that points to
Google. So add the following lines to your torrc:
</p>
<pre>
HiddenServiceDir /Library/Tor/var/lib/tor/hidden_service/
HiddenServicePort 80 www.google.com:80
</pre>
<p>You're going to want to change the HiddenServiceDir line, so it points
to an actual directory that is readable/writeable by the user that will
be running Tor. The above line should work if you're using the OS X Tor
package. On Unix, try "/home/username/hidserv/" and fill in your own
username in place of "username". On Windows you might pick:</p>
<pre>
HiddenServiceDir C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\hidden_service\
HiddenServicePort 80 www.google.com:80
</pre>
<p>Now save the torrc, shut down
your Tor, and then start it again. (See <a
href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#Restarting">this
FAQ entry</a> for tips on restarting Tor.)
</p>
<p>If Tor starts up again, great. Otherwise, something is wrong. Look
at your torrc for obvious mistakes like typos. Then double-check
that the directory you picked is writeable by you. If it's still
not working, you should look at the Tor logs for hints. (See <a
href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#Logs">this
FAQ entry</a> if you don't know how to enable or find your log file.)
</p>
<p>When Tor starts, it will automatically create the HiddenServiceDir
that you specified (if necessary), and it will create two files there.
First, it will generate a new
public/private keypair for your hidden service, and write it into a
file called "private_key". Don't share this key with others -- if you
do they will be able to impersonate your hidden service.
</p>
<p>The other file it will create is called "hostname". This contains
a short summary of your public key -- it will look something like
<tt>6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion</tt>. This is the public name for your service,
and you can tell it to people, publish it on websites, put it on business
cards, etc. (If Tor runs as a different user than you, for example on
OS X, Debian, or Red Hat, then you may need to become root to be able
to view these files.)
</p>
<p>Now that you've restarted Tor, it is busy picking introduction points
in the Tor network, and generating what's called a "hidden service
descriptor", which is a signed list of introduction points along with
the service's full public key. It anonymously publishes this descriptor
to the directory servers, and other people anonymously fetch it from the
directory servers when they're trying to access your service.
</p>
<p>Try it now: paste the contents of the hostname file into your web
browser. If it works, you'll get the google frontpage, but the URL in your
browser's window will be your hidden service hostname. If it doesn't work,
look in your logs for some hints, and keep playing with it until it works.
</p>
<hr />
<a id="two"></a>
<h2><a class="anchor" href="#two">Step Two: Now install a web server locally</a></h2>
<br />
<p>Now that you have hidden services working on Tor, you need to
set up your web server locally. Setting up a web server is tricky,
so we're just going to go over a few basics here. If you get stuck
or want to do more, find a friend who can help you. We recommend you
install a new separate web server for your hidden service, since even
if you already have one installed, you may be using it (or want to use
it later) for an actual website.
</p>
<p>If you're on Unix or OS X and you're comfortable with
the command-line, by far the best way to go is to install <a
href="http://www.acme.com/software/thttpd/">thttpd</a>. Just grab the
latest tarball, untar it (it will create its own directory), and run
./configure && make. Then mkdir hidserv, cd hidserv, and run
"../thttpd -p 5222 -h localhost". It will give you back your prompt,
and now you're running a webserver on port 5222. You can put files to
serve in the hidserv directory.
</p>
<p>If you're on Windows, ...what should we suggest here? Is there
a good simple <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">free software</a> (not
just "freeware") web server for Windows? Please
let me know what we should say here. In the meantime,
check out <a href="http://httpd.apache.org/">apache</a>,
and be sure to
configure it to bind only to localhost. You should also figure out
what port you're listening on, because you'll use it below.
</p>
<p>(The reason we bind the web server only to localhost is to make
sure it isn't publically accessible. If people could get to it directly,
they could confirm that your computer is the one offering the hidden
service.)
</p>
<p>Once you've got your web server set up, make sure it works: open your
browser and go to <a
href="http://localhost:5222/">http://localhost:5222/</a>. Then
try putting a file
in the main html directory, and make sure it shows up when you access
the site.
</p>
<hr />
<a id="three"></a>
<h2><a class="anchor" href="#three">Step Three: Connect your web server to your hidden service</a></h2>
<br />
<p>This part is very simple. Open up your torrc again, and change the
HiddenServicePort line from "www.google.com:80" to "localhost:5222".
Then <a
href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#Restarting">restart
Tor</a>. Make sure that it's working by reloading your hidden
service hostname in your browser.
</p>
<hr />
<a id="four"></a>
<h2><a class="anchor" href="#four">Step Four: More advanced tips</a></h2>
<br />
<p>If you plan to keep your service available for a long time, you might
want to make a backup copy of the private_key file somewhere.
</p>
<p>We avoided recommending Apache above, a) because many people might
already be running it for a public web server on their computer, and b)
because it's big
and has lots of places where it might reveal your IP address or other
identifying information, for example in 404 pages. For people who need
more functionality, though, Apache may be the right answer. Can
somebody make us a checklist of ways to lock down your Apache when you're
using it as a hidden service?
</p>
<p>If you want to forward multiple virtual ports for a single hidden
service, just add more HiddenServicePort lines.
If you want to run multiple hidden services from the same Tor
client, just add another HiddenServiceDir line. All the following
HiddenServicePort lines refer to this HiddenServiceDir line, until
you add another HiddenServiceDir line:
</p>
<pre>
HiddenServiceDir /usr/local/etc/tor/hidden_service/
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:8080
HiddenServiceDir /usr/local/etc/tor/other_hidden_service/
HiddenServicePort 6667 127.0.0.1:6667
HiddenServicePort 22 127.0.0.1:22
</pre>
<p>There are some anonymity issues you should keep in mind too:
</p>
<ul>
<li>As mentioned above, be careful of letting your web server reveal
identifying information about you, your computer, or your location.
For example, readers can probably determine whether it's thttpd or
Apache, and learn something about your operating system.</li>
<li>If your computer isn't online all the time, your hidden service
won't be either. This leaks information to an observant adversary.</li>
<!-- increased risks over time -->
</ul>
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href="/contact">send them to us</a>. Thanks!</p>
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