[tor-relays] Call for discussion: turning funding into more exit relays

[Andy Isaacson]

On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 11:48:16PM -0700, Sriakhil Gogineni wrote:
> Ball park quotes we got were 99$ / 100 Mbps or $599 / 1000 Mbps for transit
> for a single 1U... we'll see if we can get something better...

That's a good quote for 1Gbps.

> Would this be helpful / viable option for a Tor exit node ?

Yes.

> I also had just one question: what are the specs required for a Tor node?
> It does not seem too resource intensive but I have not been able to find
> any minimum system requirements. Would a current / last-generation quad
> core with 8GB + would suffice?

A quad-core Xeon X3350 at 2.66 GHz can easily push 500 Mbps of Tor
throughput (500 Mbps up, 500 Mbps down).  CPU is a fairly limiting
factor.  Having AES-NI is a benefit.  8GB RAM is reasonable; there's no
reason to have more, but less is a tight squeeze.

-andy