* obfs4: dysfunctional
Error: timed out waiting for bridge descriptor
Last tested: 2023-09-05 16:00:16.040172317 +0000 UTC (15h18m32.726072356s ago)
Have you tried to connect to your own bridge and see if it works?
Here is how you build your obfs4 bridge line (note: it's your bridge
fingerprint and not your hashed bridge fingerprint):
Which obfs4 port are you using? Can you check if it's externally reachable?
Here is how you can test it: Tor Project | TCP Reachability Test
On Wed, Sep 06, 2023 at 02:27:07AM +0000, BridgeOverStyx via tor-relays wrote:
My bridge styxVortex is up and running. I know this because the Nyx monitor shows activity. However, a search of metrics.torproject.org shows it down. It has been in this state for at least a month. Do you have any suggestions of what could be the possible cause of this?
I am using pfblockerng on my network, but the machine that is running Tor bridge is not filtered by it. I do have a couple of TOR feed enabled in pfblockerng but only incoming traffic is filtered.
I have no idea how the bridge stats are passed to metrics.torproject.org so it is very challenging for me to tamp down on the cause.
Any suggestion, at this point, will be helpful.
Have you tried to connect to your own bridge and see if it works?
Here is how you build your obfs4 bridge line (note: it's your bridge
fingerprint and not your hashed bridge fingerprint): Tor Project | Post-install
there seems to be a mismatch between the description linked above and the Tor browser UI to manually add a Tor bridge: If one starts the Tor browser, click on "Configure Tor connections" and then on "Add a Bridge Manually" (seems to be the only possibility to test your own Bridge directly in the Tor browser), there is only the option to provide the bridge's IP address and the obfs4 port, but not, as mentioned in the description linked above the fingerprint and the obfs4 certificate. When I try to add the fingerprint and the obfs4 certificate of my bridges, no connection is established.
So, where is the advantage on additionally providing the fingerprint and the obfs4 certificate when connecting to Tor (I can imagine that it has something to do with authenticity)? And how can one do that using the Tor software respectively the Tor browser bundle?
> Have you tried to connect to your own bridge and see if it works?
> Here is how you build your obfs4 bridge line (note: it's your bridge
> fingerprint and not your hashed bridge fingerprint):
> Tor Project | Post-install
there seems to be a mismatch between the description linked above and the
Tor browser UI to manually add a Tor bridge: If one starts the Tor browser,
click on "Configure Tor connections" and then on "Add a Bridge Manually"
(seems to be the only possibility to test your own Bridge directly in the
Tor browser), there is only the option to provide the bridge's IP address
and the obfs4 port, but not, as mentioned in the description linked above
the fingerprint and the obfs4 certificate. When I try to add the fingerprint
and the obfs4 certificate of my bridges, no connection is established.
Yes, there is a mismatch in Tor Browser UI. See these tickets:
So, where is the advantage on additionally providing the fingerprint and the
obfs4 certificate when connecting to Tor (I can imagine that it has
something to do with authenticity)? And how can one do that using the Tor
software respectively the Tor browser bundle?
If you add just IP:ORPort (**ORPort** and not the OBFS4 Port) you have a
"vanilla" Tor bridge: a bridge that doesn't obfuscate your Tor traffic.
So it may not work in countries/ISPs doing DPI.
To use your own obfs4 bridge, you need to build the "complete bridge line"[1].
If you add just IP:ORPort (**ORPort** and not the OBFS4 Port) you have a
"vanilla" Tor bridge: a bridge that doesn't obfuscate your Tor traffic.
So it may not work in countries/ISPs doing DPI.
To use your own obfs4 bridge, you need to build the "complete bridge line"[1].