## General introduction to Mix Servers

The AN.ON/JonDonym anonymity service is based on so called Mix cascades: A cascade consists of several consecutive single Mix servers (a first Mix, zero or more middle Mixes and a last Mix) and one terminating web-proxy. For a working Mix cascade at least two Mixes and the web-proxy are needed. Each Mix opens a port where users (in case of the first Mix) or the previous Mix (in case of a middle or last Mix) may connect to. The users send their web requests to the first Mix that passes them on to the next one and so on until they have reached the last mix and the web proxy, respective. The web response takes the same way back. Many users use the cascade to send messages at the same time, and all message packets are encrypted for each mix. Therbeby no one, even the Mixes and their operators themselves, knows which user requests which information. Only if the operators of all Mixes work together, the conenctions of a user may be uncovered. This provides a high level of anonymity.

The AN.ON/JonDonym network provides information about presently working Mix cascades, the number of connected users on a cascade and the amount of data they send. This is useful, as it gives the users the possibility to find active cacades to connect to and information about their relative anonymity. This information is distributed to the user clients by distributed server components called InfoService. They collect the data from the Mixes and act as a distributed and redundant information database.

### What is this document about?

What you're reading right now is about how to run an AN.ON/JonDonym Mix as an anonymity provider, in the following called Operator .

### What this document is not about

It's explicitly not an introduction or documentation about how to use the AN.ON/JonDonym service or the JAP/JonDo program for anonymisation. If you're seeking just for how to use the client you're wrong here. For information about the client program called JAP or JonDo, respective, please refer to the information on the sites of its maintainers (TU Dresden, JonDos GmbH).

If you want to participate in the further development you're also wrong here. You find detailed information about all development topics on the sites of the code maintainers (TU Dresden, JonDos GmbH).