[tor-relays] Question regarding bandwidth ratio on bridges.torproject.org and a few further, small, (probably related) questions

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Hello together,

I'm operating two Tor bridges. When calling bridges.torproject.org, for one of the bridges (set up in March, 2023), there are three outputs:
- obfs4: functional
- a bandwidth ratio
- a "last tested" entry.
But for my second bridge (set up at the beginning of June 2023), bridges.torproject.org does not output a bandwidth ratio.

What does this missing bandwidth ratio output mean, since everything else seems to be normal? When starting nyx on the relays, I see connections there (even more on the bridge with the missing bandwidth ratio output), I can connect to both bridges using the Bridge's IP addresses and ORPorts via Tor browser, and metrics.torproject.org also outputs an advertised bandwidth, which is even much higher (4.87 MiB/s at the moment) than for my other bridge (1.43MiB/s at the momemt) for which bridges.torproject.org outputs a bandwidth ratio.

The bridges run on virtual servers at the same hoster, but in two different countries. Nothing else runs on these virtual servers.

I am honestly not quite sure to what extent the fingerprint of the bridge is information worth protecting, or whether only the port and IP address need to be protected.

By the way, I also don't understand why my two bridges don't have a higher advertised bandwidth - currently, it's 4.87MiB/s for one and 1.43MiB/s for the other relay. I never got the fast flag for either bridge yet, in contrast to my two "normal" relays. On both servers, at least 1.6GiB/s is available, and a monthly data throughput of several terabytes.

As a further issue, nyx doesn't output (in constrast to my two other relays) - not sure if this is a known issue.

And, as a last issue, I didn't specify a distribution mechanism for my bridge, in the hope that the most suitable mechanism will be selected automatically. Initially, for one of my bridges (the one for which bridges.torproject.org outputs a bandwidth ratio) the bridge was assigned distribution mechanism "Moat". But suddenly, "None" is displayed under distribution mechanisms at metrics.torproject.org, which means that apparently the bridge is no longer distributed. What could be the reason that the distribution mechanism suddenly changed?

Kind regards
telekobold

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2

Quoting telekobold (2023-07-05 17:56:35)

I'm operating two Tor bridges. When calling bridges.torproject.org, for one of
the bridges (set up in March, 2023), there are three outputs:
- obfs4: functional
- a bandwidth ratio
- a "last tested" entry.
But for my second bridge (set up at the beginning of June 2023),
bridges.torproject.org does not output a bandwidth ratio.

What does this missing bandwidth ratio output mean, since everything else
seems to be normal?

The bandwidth ratio is measured by onbasca[0]. Is a ratio of how fast is your
bridge compared to the rest of bridges, 1 means average (for some definition of
average), lower than 1 means is slower than others, higher than 1 means is
faster than others. rdsys uses that ratio to decide if some of the bridges
should not be distributed.

This is a recent setup (some months) and we are still testing it. It looks like
some bridges are failing to be tested by onbasca, we need to investigate why[1].

rdsys will do distribute bridges without a bandwidth ratio, so your bridge
without it should be distributed normally as long as is functional.

[0] The Tor Project / Network Health / onbasca · GitLab
[1] Functional bridges without ratio (#157) · Issues · The Tor Project / Network Health / onbasca · GitLab

I am honestly not quite sure to what extent the fingerprint of the bridge is
information worth protecting, or whether only the port and IP address need to
be protected.

You should keep the fingerprint private, as it can be used to retrieve the port
and IP of the bridge. But is ok to publish the hashed fingerprint.

By the way, I also don't understand why my two bridges don't have a higher
advertised bandwidth - currently, it's 4.87MiB/s for one and 1.43MiB/s for the
other relay. I never got the fast flag for either bridge yet, in contrast to
my two "normal" relays. On both servers, at least 1.6GiB/s is available, and a
monthly data throughput of several terabytes.

Bridges can not get a 'fast' flag, those flags are only for relays. The flag
comes from the bandwidth authority, but we don't run one for bridges.

And, as a last issue, I didn't specify a distribution mechanism for my bridge,
in the hope that the most suitable mechanism will be selected automatically.
Initially, for one of my bridges (the one for which bridges.torproject.org
outputs a bandwidth ratio) the bridge was assigned distribution mechanism
"Moat". But suddenly, "None" is displayed under distribution mechanisms at
metrics.torproject.org, which means that apparently the bridge is no longer
distributed. What could be the reason that the distribution mechanism suddenly
changed?

I don't know, as long as your bridge is functional it should have a distribution
mechanism assigned. Do you mind sharing with me the hashed fingerprint of the
bridge to look at it? (it can be in private)

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