Tor client performance (was Re: URGENT: patch needed ASAP for authority bug)

[Scott Bennett]

     On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:47:36 +0200 Hans Schnehl <torvallenator at gmail.com>
wrote:
>On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 12:03:58AM -0400, Roger Dingledine wrote:
>> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 06:59:18AM -0400, Roger Dingledine wrote:
>> 
>> I expect this will be a miraculous solution for everybody involved. Please
>> let me know either way. ;)
>> 
>
>Hi, indeed miraculous.
>
>Working till now, after about one hour uptime.
>
>Particularily like watching circuits' getting 'wasted'. Yes, please !
>
>Starting here:
>@vallenator# grep empty /usr/local/etc/tor/debug.log | head -1
>Apr 22 06:04:05.492 [info] circuit_expire_old_circuits_serverside():
>Closing circ_id 12394 (empty 60 secs ago) (yes)
>
>to here:
>@vallenator# grep empty /usr/local/etc/tor/debug.log | tail -1
>Apr 22 06:34:05.565 [info] circuit_expire_old_circuits_serverside():
>Closing circ_id 59251 (empty 69 secs ago) (yes)
>
>so almost  exactly 30 min have passed, and:
>
>@vallenator# grep empty /usr/local/etc/tor/debug.log | wc -l
>   34361
>   ^^^^^
>wow.
>
>Connections/states have a growing tendency at a 'normal' rate, right now
>around 4000. This is just fine.
>
>If nothing weird happens, you may call this a node again.
>
>Thanks for the brilliant patch.
>
     Well, Roger's patch may provide some relief until the next tor release
comes out, but lest anyone get too excited, it would be well to keep in mind
that it is a patch to treat symptoms.  It is not at all clear yet, AFAIK,
what the cause of the recent troubles has been.  Wiping out connections that
might otherwise remain available for use, thereby making it necessary for
clients to make new SSL connections sooner than they might otherwise have
needed does have a cost.  At some point, I hope that cause will be found and
dealt with.  Having a way to close idle OR connections based upon a timeout
specified by the authorities in the consensus, but overridable by a torrc
line by individual relay operators, looks to me like a good thing to have
henceforward.  That way attentive relay operators can decrease or increase
the timeout period according to their needs, but the authorities would still
have a possibility of adjusting the timeout period on NORDO relays on all
the other relays.
     Thanks for making the patch available, Roger.  Circuit build times have
climbed here from ~26 s a few days ago to 97 s at the moment.  It will be
good to see those times fall again.


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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