If you are running a relay from home and have one static IP, you may want to consider running a bridge instead so that your non-Tor traffic doesn't get blocked as though it's coming from Tor. Guard and middle relays usually do not receive abuse complaints.Īll relays will be listed in the public list of Tor relays, so may be blocked by certain services that don't understand how Tor works or deliberately want to censor Tor users. To become a guard, a relay has to be stable and fast (at least 2MByte/s) otherwise it will remain a middle relay. Guard and middle relaysĪ guard relay is the first relay in the chain of 3 relays building a Tor circuit.Ī middle relay is neither a guard nor an exit, but acts as the second hop between the two. Understanding the different kinds of nodes is the first step to learning which one is right for you. All nodes are important, but they have different technical requirements and legal implications.