i2p

Now you have a website, why not offer it in a private alternative such as the Invisible Internet?

Setting up I2P

There are 2 main I2P implementations, I2P and i2pd, we are using i2pd in this guide because it's easier to use in servers.

Installing I2P

i2pd is in most repos, in debian/ubuntu you can install it simply with

apt install i2pd

Enabling I2P

We are going to create a user for i2pd, because i2pd finds the configuration files in its home directory. And it's easier (and more tidy) to have it in a separate user:

useradd -m i2p -s /bin/bash
su -l i2p
mkdir ~/.i2pd
cd ~/.i2pd

Now that you're in ~/.i2pd, you have to create a file named "tunnels.conf". Which is the config file for every hidden service you're offering over I2P, the content should be like this:

[example]
type = http
host = 127.0.0.1
port = 8080
keys = example.dat

Optional: Generating a Vanity Address

If you run i2pd with the configuration above, it will generate a random private key (example.dat) for your website in example.dat with a matching address made up of 52 random characters, derived from this same key.

If you instead pre-generate a private key for your website, you can use brute-force computation to make a “vanity” address, such as the following:

chadaor3jc08ht340c30mg5cf340j395gj095kuazj5tokipr34f.32.i2p

To accomplish this, a set of tools named i2pd-tools can be installed.

Begin by cloning their repository:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/purplei2p/i2pd-tools

The repository comes with a dependency installation script included. Run this to list the compilation dependencies you’ll need, and install them:

cd i2pd-tools
sh dependencies.sh

Then compile using the make command:

make -j$(nproc)

This will build a variety of useful tools for i2p, with vain being the command of interest to generate an address:

./vain chad

This command will begin running and output a new set of private keys named private.dat to the same directory it’s ran from. Copy this file to your i2p configuration and you’ll have your vanity address:

cp private.dat /home/i2p/.i2pd/example.dat

Optional: Authentication Strings for Registrars

I2P has various registrars that let users link their long I2P addresses to shorter, more memorable ones, like example.i2p. To actually register your site on one of these registrars, you will need an authentication string. Luckily, i2pd-tools includes such a tool in their repository:

./regaddr private.dat example.2ip > auth_string.txt

The command above will save the string to a file named auth_string.txt. You will have to place the text contained in that file on a registration page like http://reg.i2p/add or http://stats.i2p/i2p/addkey.html.

Getting your I2P Hostname

Then, run /usr/sbin/i2pd --daemon to start i2pd and we can retreive our I2P hostname.

This can be done in lynx or a command-line browser by going to http://127.0.0.1:7070/?page=i2p_tunnels to get your I2P hostname.

You can also run these commands to find your hostname:

printf "%s.b32.i2p
" $(head -c 391 /home/i2p/.i2pd/example.dat |sha256sum|xxd -r -p | base32 |sed s/=//g | tr A-Z a-z)

(If you’ve generated your own keys to obtain a vanity address, now’s a good time to make sure i2pd is properly reading those keys by verifying the address is the same as the one generated with the vain command.)

Adding the Nginx Config

From here, the steps are almost identical to setting up a normal websitenconfiguration file. Follow the steps as if you were making a new website on the webserver tutorial up until the server block of code. Instead, paste this:

server {
	listen 127.0.0.1:8080 ;
	root /var/www/example ;
	index index.html ;
}

Clarifications

Nginx will listen in port 8080, but i2pd will forward your port 8080 to the i2p site port 80. This way you don't have to deal with server names or anything like that.

From here we are almost done, all we have to do is enable the site and reload nginx which is also covered in the webserver tutorial.

Update regularly!

Make sure to update I2P on a regular basis by running:

apt update && apt install i2pd

Contributor - qorg11