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O1.12 Work with directory authority operators to plan transition from C to Arti

This ticket is a placeholder for all the tickets related to the activity 1.12 of objective 1 for project 141.

In this Activity, we will plan a parallel phase-in/phase-out approach for directory authorities, in close collaboration with these operators, to transition to Arti. This requires communication and careful coordination with the directory authorities to facilitate a smooth transition. Transitioning directory authorities involves multiple delicate, critical components that need to be carefully handled in a well-coordinated way. As part of this process, we will gather feedback from the directory authorities, who have significant experience running Tor relays, in order to make improvements that ease transition.

Administration of directory authorities is substantially more complex than administration of relays: there are a number of tools that only authority operators use or require. Further, Tor's design means that the directory authorities cannot be arbitrarily reconfigured as independently as relays can: if the authorities do not agree exactly about certain key behaviors, they will not reach a consensus, and the network won't work. Therefore, the problem of planning and supporting an authority transition is substantially different from the problem of doing so for relay transitions.

In this Activity, we will first develop a phased transition plan to switch the network from C authorities to Arti authorities. Then we will consult with the authority operators, adjusting the plan as needed, to ensure that they believe the plan is achievable, sensible, and robust. If during this Activity we identify new necessary tooling for migration that we have not yet identified, we will develop those tools as part of O1.9. (We have not currently identified any such tooling, but any planning activity carries the possibility of finding unexpected second-order requirements.)

  • Deliverable: Documented feedback from directory authorities (testing and production) about migration.

  • Deliverable: Plan for parallel phase in of Arti and phase out of C for directory authorities.

  • Estimation: through the whole project for 1 person at 5% of their time

  • Timeline: start on September 2024 and ends on July 2027

Next

  • Create tickets to complete this activity.
  • Add tickets to this 'parent' ticket as "linked items".
  • Estimate each of those tickets.

@gk

Edited by Gaba