Help optimizing BSD relays – bandwidth issues and Linux vs. BSD value

Support Relay Operator
1

Hi everyone,

I’m running several TOR relays and could use some advice on optimizing performance. My setup includes:

  • 1 Ubuntu relay (maxed out at the 12 MiB bandwidth limit I set).
  • 3 BSD relays (2 FreeBSD, 1 OpenBSD) averaging only ~1.5 MiB each, despite available bandwidth.

Hardware/Deployment:

  • OpenBSD: VM on a home server (virtualized, decent hardware).
  • FreeBSD #1: Contabo VPS (resources confirmed adequate).
  • FreeBSD #2: Lenovo Thin Client at my mother-in-law’s house (low-power but sufficient bandwidth).

What I’ve checked:

  • Bandwidth capacity isn’t the issue (tests confirm higher throughput is possible).
  • No obvious traffic shaping or ISP throttling.
  • Followed the Guides on how to set up BSD available through the TOR website with it’s tweaks.

Questions:

  1. BSD Optimization: Are there known tweaks for FreeBSD/OpenBSD relays? (e.g., sysctls, NIC settings, or Tor configs I might have missed?).
  2. Linux vs. BSD Value: Would replacing the BSD relays with Linux (to potentially hit higher speeds) benefit the network more, or do the BSD relays add diversity that’s worth keeping even at lower speeds?

I’m happy to share configs or test results if helpful. Thanks in advance for any insights!

2

I have seen extremely inconsistent bandwidth measurements between different ISPs even with identical hardware/OS relays behind them.

In fact the relays I run in Poland get higher bandwidth measurements than the ones I run in the US generally, despite being behind a substantially worse network, because I suspect the bandwidth authorities have an unfortunate EU bias :frowning:

So this being said, where is your Ubuntu relay hosted, is it at any of the same places as your BSD relays? If you run an Ubuntu relay instead of OpenBSD on your home server, do you notice the speeds of that relay are faster?

If you’re not comparing relays that are behind the same network I think it’s hard to say what’s going on. Also, how new are these relays? The bandwidth measurements seem to increase over time to some extent.

3

Thank you for your response!

It makes sense, my Ubuntu is hosten on Hetzner in Germany.
I haven’t actually set up a relay on my homeserver with regular Linux, but I might try that to get a better feel if that is the issue, thank you for the hint!

2 of the BSD relays are now roughly a month old, so outside the “growing pain” time.