Role of Whonix-Gateway in Creating Tor Circuits

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1

Hello, I have a lack of understanding regarding the Whonix-Gateway.

Let’s say I have two Whonix-Workstations (anon-whonix, anon-whonix-2) both running the Tor browser. I understand that there is Stream Isolation for them in place. That means Tor browser in anon-whonix uses a different Tor circuit than Tor browser in anon-whonix-2.

Is it right that the Whonix-Workstations send a message to the Whonix-Gateway so that the Whonix-Gateway can connect to Tor by creating different Tor Circuits for them?

If yes, does this happen when starting a Whonix-Workstation or only when starting an application like the Tor browser on a Whonix-Workstation which needs a Tor connection?

Why does the Whonix-Gateway state on the Tor Control Panel that I am connected to the Tor network even if no Whonix-Workstation is opened therefore no active Tor circuit is needed?

2

IsolateSOCKSAuth is the search term, what you need to study.

Because you are.

If you install Tor on Debian it starts creating circuits for further use. That’s just Tor’s default operation.

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3

IsolateSOCKSAuth

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4

Does that mean Whonix-Gateway creates several Tor circuits immediately on start and when I start Whonix-Workstations they will use these circuits?

5

Yes.

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