How to run multiple Tor processes at once with different exit IPs?

Question

I am brand new to Tor and I feel like multiple Tors should be considered. The multiple tors I mentioned here are not only multiple instances, but also using different proxy ports for each, like what has been done here http://www.howtoforge.com/ultimate-security-proxy-with-tor)

I am trying to get started with 4 Tors. However, the tutorial applies only to Arch Linux and I am using a headless EC2 ubuntu 64bits. It is really a pain going through the differences between Arch and Ubuntu. And here I am wondering is there anyone could offer some help to implement my idea simplicitly.

1. Four Tors running at the same time each with an individual port, privoxy or polipo or whatever are ok once it works. Like: 8118 <- Privoxy <- TOR <- 9050 8129 <- Privoxy <- TOR <- 9150 8230 <- Privoxy <- TOR <- 9250 8321 <- Privoxy <- TOR <- 9350

2. In this way, if I try to return the ip of 127.0.0.1:8118, 8129, 8230 and 8321, they should return four different ips, which indicates there are four different Tors running at the same time. Then, a few minutes later, check again, all four of them should have a new ips again.

I know my simple 'dream' could come true in many ways, however... I am not only new to Tor, but even also to bash and python... That is why I come here and see whether some of you could light me up.

These links might be useful:

http://blog.databigbang.com/distributed-scraping-with-multiple-tor-circuits/ https://www.torservers.net/wiki/setup/server#multiple_tor_processes Best,

btw, if I run $ ps -A | grep 'tor' i have several instances there, however with "?" under the tty column, what does that mean since I know tty means terminals?

Answer 1

Create four torrc files, say /etc/tor/torrc.1 to .4.

In each file, edit the lines:

SocksPort 9050
ControlPort 9051
DataDirectory /var/lib/tor

to use different resources for each torrc file, e.g. for for torrc.1:

SocksPort 9060
ControlPort 9061
DataDirectory /var/lib/tor1

for torrc.2,

SocksPort 9062
ControlPort 9063
DataDirectory /var/lib/tor2

and so on.

A configuration file containing only the above lines will work: you can delete every other line from the default template if you feel like it.

DataDirectory can also be relative to the current directory where tor is launched, e.g.:

DataDirectory d1

Then start tor like this:

tor -f /etc/tor/torrc.1  
tor -f /etc/tor/torrc.2

and so on for the other two files.

This will create four different Socks5 servers on the four ports. Each one will open a different circuit, which is what you want.