About Reseed Hosts
Reseed hosts are needed for new routers to integrate with the I2P network. During the bootstrapping process, reseed hosts provide an initial set of nodes for a new router to make connections with. Occasionally an already integrated router may need to go through the reseed process if it is experiencing connection issues with the network. This is most often caused by its known nodes not being available.
Reseeding is done over an encrypted connection and all of the bootstrap information is signed by the reseed host you connect to. This makes it impossible for an unauthenticated source to provide false information.
Running a Reseed host
Operating a reseed server will be familair for most sysadmins who have experience with I2P. More reseed hosts result in more resilient I2P network connections for new participating routers. It also makes it harder to prevent new routers from connecting to the I2P network.
Other Ways Of Reseeding
Other options for reseeding include file-based reseeds, where a user with a running I2P router generates a reseed file for a friend and transfers it to them as a .zip file. Using cloud-based infrastructure helps to resist censorship, which aids people in situations where reseeds may be restricted.
Thank You Reseed Operators
If you are running a reseed server, thank you for helping to make the I2P network stronger and more resilient than ever.
Grazie.