TOR-INSTANCE-CREAT(8) Tor Manual TOR-INSTANCE-CREAT(8)
NAME
tor-instance-create - Set up a new tor instance
SYNOPSIS
tor-instance-create instance_name
DESCRIPTION
The Tor Debian package supports running multiple instances of the Tor
daemon. This can be useful if you want to run multiple relays or bridge
relays on a single system, of if you want to provide a hidden service
in addition to running a relay.
tor-instance-create is the tool that creates a new instance of Tor on a
Debian system. In particular, it creates a new UNIX user with a home
directory and a mostly empty tor configuration file.
The new user and group are named _tor-instance_name. The user’s home
directory, which is also the DataDirectory of the new tor instance, is
/var/lib/tor-instances/instance_name. The configuration file for that
instance is /etc/tor/instances/instance_name/torrc. Logs go to syslog
by default.
To start this new service, use systemctl start tor@instance_name.
Stopping, restarting, and reloading the config works accordingly.
Stopping/Starting/.. the tor service should affect all instances. The
"main" instance which lives in /var/lib/tor and has /etc/tor/torrc as
its configuration file is known to systemd as tor@default.
There currently is no tor-instance-remove script. To remove an
instance, delete the user and its homedirectory once you are convinced
there are no files or processes on your system still owned by that
user. Then also remove the corresponding directory tree in
/etc/tor/instances.
SEE ALSO
tor(1)
AUTHORS
Peter Palfrader
AUTHOR
Peter Palfrader
Author.
Tor 02/28/2025 TOR-INSTANCE-CREAT(8)
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