BridgeHerder: A tool to manage bridges
I am working on a tool that will make it easier to manage bridges on systems with multiple addresses. The tool currently detects the IP networks available on a system, configures addresses and ports and launches a configurable number of bridge instances.
Eventually the tool will be able to reconfigure the listening ports and addresses periodically and provide an interactive user nterface.
The idea is to make it easy to rent a dedicated server or VPS, add some IP networks, and use this tool to rotate addresses periodically (or in response to censorship events). I have a box from a provider who claims "Unlimited Free IP Addresses*" and started writing this tool so I could easily use all the addresses available, and then use this as justification for more addresses; rinse and repeat.
With a handful of people running a similar configuration we should be able to double the number of number of listening ports advertised by BridgeDB.
Some things to consider:
What frequency of address:port rotation helps the most people? Do frequently rotating bridges (e.g. home users with dynamic IPs) see significant usage? Should this tool be a component of TorCloud? What other features would be useful?
Comments welcome!
*with justification