ad blocking on the router

[Txdk]

something like this tutorial

is it possible to get some one to write a tutorial about how to do it on asuswrt-merlin as i dont know anything about linux commands or systems at all

or might it be possible to intergrate the function in the firmware so you only need to activate it if you want to use it

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Txdk

something like this tutorial

is it possible to get some one to write a tutorial about how to do it on asuswrt-merlin as i dont know anything about linux commands or systems at all

or might it be possible to intergrate the function in the firmware so you only need to activate it if you want to use it

Have you thought about using OpenDNS in order to block ad-sites etc ? (It's my own choice over any other method)

[mromero]

Originally Posted by Apex

Have you thought about using OpenDNS in order to block ad-sites etc ? (It's my own choice over any other method)

But don't they also serve up their own ads when the URL is wrong?

Also, unless you are located in the country where it operates it may make the lookup even longer I think.

[Txdk]

OpenDNS is not an option as they serve there own ads and redirect you if you type wrong and they are slow as hell and blocks access to some pages that they are forced to block.

i don't want that.
why do that if what i want is no ads when surfing the net as it stands now im using ad-block plus on all my computers but it would be more easy if it was done by the router

[ryzhov_al]

Originally Posted by Txdk

something like this tutorial

is it possible to get some one to write a tutorial about how to do it on asuswrt-merlin as i dont know anything about linux commands or systems at all

or might it be possible to intergrate the function in the firmware so you only need to activate it if you want to use it

The ad blocking method from tutorial is based on hosts blacklist. I'll describe how to do it, but IMHO, it's a simplest and worst one. Later I tell you why.

You'll need to create two files. A first one is /jffs/scripts/wan-start:

#!/bin/sh
wget -O - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt | grep 127.0.0.1 | sed '2,$s/127.0.0.1/0.0.0.0/g; s/[[:space:]]*#.*$//g;' | grep -v localhost | tr ' ' '\t' |tr -s '\t' | tr -d '\015' | sort -u > /tmp/hosts0
killall dnsmasq && dnsmasq --log-async

The second one is /jffs/configs/dnsmasq.conf.add with this content:

addn-hosts=/tmp/hosts0

Make first one executable:

chmod +x /jffs/scripts/wan-start

and reboot router.

[AnthonyArmato]

If I can figure out how to do this it would be great considering I have several iPads and a MacBook on my network.

Any chance you could create the files and attach them in a zip ? Then I assume we just run those commands ?

[RogerSC]

Originally Posted by AnthonyArmato

If I can figure out how to do this it would be great considering I have several iPads and a MacBook on my network.

Any chance you could create the files and attach them in a zip ? Then I assume we just run those commands ?

It looks like the wan-start command that goes out on the internet and downloads the host blacklist gets run when the router boots (assuming that you put it where it is suggested to put it).

Seems like it'll be fun to play with, might give it a go and see if can improve things for devices that don't have ad blocking, like my Android phone. Curious if it'll slow things down much.

Anthony, I did get the "Atomic" browser for my iPad that does have an ad blocker, cost $0.99 as I recall *smile*. Works well for that, the only problem is that when you click on a URL in email, etc., it brings up Safari. But when I read this forum on my iPad, or go looking for stuff, I use the "Atomic" browser, and it blocks most all ads. I don't know if Safari for MacBook has an ad blocker or not, but it might.

[ryzhov_al]

Originally Posted by RogerSC

Seems like it'll be fun to play with, might give it a go and see if can improve things for devices that don't have ad blocking, like my Android phone.

As for me, I redirect all http traffic from Android tablet to privoxy transparent proxy on router with original AdBlock rules.
For what? The embedded browser is real fast but can't use plugins, a firefox got AdBlock plugin but it's slow as hell.

If someone interested, I'll write How-to about that. This solution is quite universal: no matter iOS or Android devices will be used.

Originally Posted by RogerSC

Curious if it'll slow things down much.

Yes, all DNS "improvements" needs to be benchmarked. As for DD-WRT variant above, there is

# wget -O - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt | grep 127.0.0.1 | wc -l
...
14316

strings in blacklist. It will not slow down dnsmasq. But if blacklist will be greater, taken from adsuck for example:

$ wc -l /opt/etc/adsuck/Hosts.pub
130063 /opt/etc/adsuck/Hosts.pub

then dnsmasq will consume +8MB RAM and will add delays to DNS resolving.

The second disadvantage of dnsmasq + hosts blacklist is following: every time browser "asks" for blacklisted domain, dnsmasq returns "127.0.0.1", which means "this PC" so every time browser will wait for answer from local PC, where no web server is installed.

There is another solution for hosts-based blacklists: adsuck. Adsuck is a DNS server which immediately returns NXDOMAIN (non existent domain) answer for black listed domains. So browser caches it's answer and not trying to get blocked elements again and again.

[Txdk]

Originally Posted by ryzhov_al

The ad blocking method from tutorial is based on hosts blacklist. I'll describe how to do it, but IMHO, it's a simplest and worst one. Later I tell you why.

You'll need to create two files. A first one is /jffs/scripts/wan-start:

The second one is /jffs/configs/dnsmasq.conf.add with this content:

Make first one executable:

and reboot router.

i cant make that work

first of all i dont think that wan-start is even run when the router boots
in the log it says that there is no file or folder /tmp/hosts0

and if i run wan-start manually it downloads the hostfile and then says something about wrong paramaters for dnsmasq and to look in --help

im a total noob dealing with linux but i did what you said these is the files i created adblock
do i need to create the files on the router with the vi editor.
i created them under windows and notepad with copy paste.


if there is i better way to block ads i dont mind if you post a how to for that

adsuck sounds promising

[Txdk]

it seens adblock can be installed from entware so a toturial about how to do that at set it up would be great