3 How to run a local Dash Tor hidden service (advanced setup, high privacy, own onion address)

[elan]

Guide: How to run a local Dash hidden service?!?

Setup: Advanced (TL;DR install Tor, configure hidden service, reconfigure Dash, etc.)
Time: ~45 minutes
Privacy: High (hides you completely behind other Tor nodes, you operate your own node)​

It's recommended to do the previous tutorial first: 2 How to run Dash with Tor nodes connected only - this will speed things up. This tutorial is quite similar but with some extra steps.

Step by step:

1. Get the latest version of the Tor Browser Bundle from the tor project website: https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
   Make sure you get the latest version, chose any language you like but I recommend en-US. Some operating systems like linux may have the tor browser in their repositories, check them out, this simplyfies upgrades. But make sure they always offer the latest version.
2. Install the browser bundle, start it and hit connect. You will see a window popping up which shows the status of the Tor connection and it will open the browser as soon as it is connected.
3. Navigate to http://darkcoinie7ghp67.onion/ with the Tor browser. If you see the website of the Dash relay, your Tor was set up correctly!
4. Shut down the Tor browser. We need it later, but have to configure the hidden service first.
5. Create a directory for your hidden service, this will store the keys and hostname for your onion address later. For example:
   $ mkdir -p /home/elan/onion/dash
   Make sure you create it with normal user permissions (here: elan), meaning the same user as the one who will run the Tor browser bundle.
   
6. Now you have to configure the torrc file of the Tor browser. Search it. Mine is located at:
   /home/elan/.tor-browser-en/INSTALL/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc
   Open it and add the following lines at the end:
   HiddenServiceDir /home/elan/opt/onion/dash
   HiddenServicePort 9999 127.0.0.1:9999
   This will map your hidden service port :9999 to your local Dash instance at port :9999.
7. Start the Tor browser again. This will generate an onion address in the background. If the browser starts correctly and Tor is connected, verify the generate address:
   $ cat /home/elan/onion/dash/hostname
   cbz5ymdvhfysxrwa.onion
   Note that address, you will tell Dash later that this is your "external ip".
   
8. The Tor browser includes a SOCKS proxy listening on port :9150 which allows you to dip into the deep web. Now we are going to set up Dash.
9. Tell Dash to use the Tor proxy by adding this line to your config file onion=127.0.0.1:9150.
10. Tell Dash to only use Tor nodes to connect to by adding onlynet=tor to the config file.
11. Find some onion addnodes. The first one could be my relay at http://darkcoinie7ghp67.onion/. Pass the nodes like that addnode=darkcoinie7ghp67.onion to the config file. Use a search engine to find more nodes. Here is a thread to share Dash onion nodes: Looking for dash onion nodes. Or on the hub: http://thehub7gqe43miyc.onion/index.php?topic=7128.0
12. Tell Dash it's external address which was created in step 7 with externalip=cbz5ymdvhfysxrwa.onion in the config file.
13. Last but not least, re-enable the listen=1 flag. You'll need to enable listening for incoming connections, or else your hidden service wont be any service at all.

A sample Dash config file for a Dash local hidden service looks like that:

rpcuser=rpcuser
rpcpassword=rpcpassword!1337
server=1  # yes we run a hidden server now
maxconnections=128  # allow some traffic incoming

onion=127.0.0.1:9150  # tell dash to use tor browser proxy
onlynet=tor  # tell dash to only use tor nodes (no ipv4/6)
discover=0  # disable discovering of your local ip address
listen=1  # enable incoming connections to your address
externalip=cbz5ymdvhfysxrwa.onion  # broadcast your hidden service onion address

addnode=darkcoinie7ghp67.onion  # required addnodes to find some connections
addnode=drktalkwaybgxnoq.onion  # more addnodes
addnode=drkcoinooditvool.onion  # ...
addnode=darkcoxbtzggpmcc.onion  # try to find some own nodes
addnode=ssapp53tmftyjmjb.onion  # ...
addnode=j2dfl3cwxyxpbc7s.onion  # the more the better
addnode=vf6d2mxpuhh2cbxt.onion  # ...

Here are some screenshots of what to expect:

Read more:

• Full Dash Tor documentation: http://darkcoinie7ghp67.onion/tor.txt
• Clearnet mirror on official github: https://github.com/darkcoin/darkcoin/blob/master/doc/tor.md

 

[tungfa]

:grin: