running a normal tox node as tcp relay is not possible

[zoff99]

i tried and it did not work. i can't see why. nothing in the logs.
when using bootstapd on the same server that works fine.

did anybody successfully run a normal toxnode as tcp relay?

[zoff99]

according to my info this is all you need to activate TCP relay:
https://github.com/zoff99/ToxTCP-RelayNode/blob/master/tox_tcp_relay/tox_tcp_relay.c#L531

[nurupo]

1. Do you have the tcp relay option enabled in tox-boostrapd's configuration file?

2. What does tox-boostrapd output in the logs?

3. How do you detect that it's not working?

4. What are the outputs of netstat -nltup and netstat -natup when ran as root?

5. Do you have any firewall configured on the machine you run tox-bootstrapd on, potentially locking it? What is the output of iptables -vL and ip6tables -vL when ran as root?

[zoff99]

@nurupo not tox-boostrapd. tox-boostrapd is working fine as tcp relay.
but a normal tox node (client) should also work as TCP relay. and that i can not get to work.
so i am wondering: is it really possible to use a regular tox node (client) as tcp relay?
if so: exmaple code? proof?

[nurupo]

What exactly did you do (provide code) and how did you verify that it doesn't work? Just saying that you can't get it to work is not very helpful in identifying what the issue may be.

[zoff99]

as stated:
i used this code https://github.com/zoff99/ToxTCP-RelayNode/blob/master/tox_tcp_relay/tox_tcp_relay.c
compiled like this https://circleci.com/gh/zoff99/ToxTCP-RelayNode/26

then used the IP/port and pubkey as a tcp relay in another client. the other client tried to connect but did never go online. there was no useful logging output on both nodes what the problem was

[zoff99]

use pubkey from the logout:

cd tox_tcp_relay ; cat ./tox_tcp_relay.log

E:TCP relay port: 33447
E:setting UDP mode
D:tox_new2:TOX_ERR_NEW = 0
D:local discovery enabled = 1
D:tox = 0x2340fc0
D:nodeslist:1
I:--MyToxID--:E2373460CC671F7C2A7DD63BB3EB05B9DD8FBEDB9FA517E64B58D0B083BF131BCF354BB62B80
I:avatar_set:001
D:avatar_set:002
D:avatar_set:003
D:avatar_set:004
D:avatar_set:099
I:Tox online, took 9 seconds
I:new Tox AV
I:AV iterate Thread successfully createdI:AV video Thread successfully createdI:av_thread_lock created successfully
I:AV Thread #-1331329280: starting
I:av_thread_lock video created successfully
I:AV video Thread #-1339721984: starting

this is just an exmaple log output. not running now!

[zoff99]

@nurupo does the TCP relay node need to be in TCP mode? i used UDP mode.
and i saw (with netstat) that is was listening on port 33447

[nurupo]

Can you provide a minimal example? 3000 lines of code is a bit too much.

[zoff99]

its echobot code basically. i can strip it down. the code works fine as normal node.
has anybody ever used a normal node as tcp realy, is basically what i am asking?

[nurupo]

@nurupo does the TCP relay node need to be in TCP mode?

No, specifying a tcp_port in Tox_Options should be enough.

[zoff99]

hmm. i will make a test setup on CI. to make it reproduceable

[nurupo]

Make sure you are using the correct public key when calling tox_add_tcp_relay(). It should be the same as your DHT key, which is not exposed through the public API.

[zoff99]

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:33447 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 47007/tox_tcp_relay

[zoff99]

what publickey should i use? where do i see it? i only the have normal pubkey of the tcp relay node.

[nurupo]

EDIT: see https://github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore/issues/589#issuecomment-339876412