Create simple Tor hidden service

In this article I want to share how simple it is to create a service in Onion web (Tor network). We will create simple web page that would be accessible via Tor browser. I will show the example for CentOS 7 (RHEL).

Make sure that your have configured your server as a webserver (nginx is assumed).

Next install tor package

1 2	$ yum install epel-release $ yum install tor

and configure it cp /usr/share/tor/defaults-torrc /etc/tor/torrc

Now edit config that was copied and make sure lines below are uncommented

RunAsDaemon 1

DataDirectory /var/lib/tor

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/my_hidden_site
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:8333

Skip all the lines intented for relays and modify only the one for location-hidden services

Now update nginx configuration to point to your hidden resource vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/my_hidden_site.conf

Paste sample configuration in that file

server {
    listen       8333 default_server;
    listen       [::]:8333 default_server;
    server_name  _;
    root         /usr/local/my_hidden_site;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Make sure you have created same sample html page at /usr/local/my_hidden_site directory

<html>
  <head>
    <title>My hidden service</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hey there from Tor!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Now just restart nginx and tor services for changes to take effect

1 2	$ nginx -t && nginx -s reload $ systemctl restart tor.service

Check content of /var/lib/tor/my_hidden_service/hostname, open Tor browser and point it to the url generated. That’s it.

Notes

This is simplified tutorial assuming that you have SELinux disabled. To check current status and disable it if not yet execute following

1 2	$ sestatus $ setenforce 0

The other issue that might prevent tor service from start is permissions on directories. So make sure that you have proper access rights on folder /var/lib/tor/my_hidden_service (or any other folder that you’ve specified)

1	$ sudo chmod -R toranon:toranon /var/lib/tor/my_hidden_service

Create simple Tor hidden service

Notes

Resources