AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[Xentrk]

Hi @thelonelycoder,

I had issues after flashing 380.66 on my router with OpenVPN All Traffic. I lost WAN connectivity last night and this morning, my OpenVPN speeds were in the kilobit range. So I did a factory reset and restore for the gui configs and jffs partition using @john9527 nvram backup and restore utility. OpenVPN speeds are now some of the best I've had.

Upon trying to run ab-solution from the command line, it is stuck on this line.

+ wget -q --tries=6 --retry-connrefused -O /tmp/servstats.txt 192.168.3.2/servstats.txt

The file /tmp/servstats.txt is there. But contents are null.
There is the verbose output leading up to the above wget line

+ echo  Entware running, looks good
+ [ -L /tmp/opt ]
+ echo  /tmp/opt looks good
+ [ on == on ]
+ [ on == on ]
+ echo -e \n checking /opt/etc/init.d/S80pixelserv-tls
+ [ -f /opt/etc/init.d/S80pixelserv-tls ]
+ echo  file found
+ grep -wq # DO NOT EDIT /opt/etc/init.d/S80pixelserv-tls
+ echo  content looks good
+ [ on == on ]
+ [ on == on ]
+ switchesFile=/tmp/mnt/absolution/adblocking/.config/pixelserv-tls.switches
+ grep -wq p /tmp/mnt/absolution/adblocking/.config/pixelserv-tls.switches
+ echo -e \n checking pixelserv-tls
+ ping -c 2 192.168.3.2
+ echo -e  192.168.3.2 did not respond, restarting
+ ifconfig br0:pixelserv 192.168.3.2 up
+ sleep 2
+ ping -c 2 192.168.3.2
+ echo -e  \033[0;31m192.168.3.2 did not respond\033[00m
+ appCheck=1
+ wget -q --tries=6 --retry-connrefused -O /tmp/servstats.txt 192.168.3.2/servstats.txt

Should I do a fresh reinstall of ab-solution or is there some text I can enter in the servstats.txt file to get it up and running again? As always, thank you for the awesome ad blocking solution and great support!

 

[thelonelycoder]

Pixelserv is not running on your assigned IP.
Check the syslog why it won't start.

And be patient, the timeout is set very high.

 

[redhat27]

Where did you put that ? Firewall script ?

firewall-start

 

[Chiny91]

Is it possible to access the various (set of 3) stats ? I'd like to slurp the data into a test display on my computer but I can't see the data anywhere, not even in the (apparently empty) .../adblocking/stats directory.

Nice script btw, I'm giving it a whirl in place of Pihole at the moment.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Is it possible to access the various (set of 3) stats ? I'd like to slurp the data into a test display on my computer but I can't see the data anywhere, not even in the (apparently empty) .../adblocking/stats directory.

Nice script btw, I'm giving it a whirl in place of Pihole at the moment.

Look at the options again.
Weekly stats runs half an hour before the blocking file update day/time.
Current stats compiles the stats since last blocking file update day/time.
Options 'sent to email' saves the stats as email.
Options 'safe to file' saves it to /adblocking/stats/
The option 'to terminal' prints directly to your current SSH session.

 

[steelskinz]

firewall-start

Thanks. Will it bypass the exception through parental control in GUI ?

 

[Chiny91]

Look at the options again.
Weekly stats runs half an hour before the blocking file update day/time.
Current stats compiles the stats since last blocking file update day/time.
Options 'sent to email' saves the stats as email.
Options 'safe to file' saves it to /adblocking/stats/
The option 'to terminal' prints directly to your current SSH session.

Ah yes, noted. That is not quite what I had in mind, actually I'm not sure what I had in mind, perhaps hourly updates of the 3 total figures. Anyway, just an idea.

Nevertheless, the router stats look useful. I see that my 6 IP security cams are all reporting back to their Chinese manufacturer were reporting back. I think I set up a dynamic IP thingy aeons ago, that needs unfixing. Thanks for the stats.

 

[Xentrk]

Pixelserv is not running on your assigned IP.
Check the syslog why it won't start.

And be patient, the timeout is set very high.

I got the menu to finally come up. Something was hung up on my pixelserv-tls IP address. A grep showed it was running and pinned to the IP:

11793 nobody    3812 S    pixelserv-tls 192.168.3.2
11794 admin     3812 S    pixelserv-tls 192.168.3.2

A removal of abs, combined with reformatting of the entware partition and a reinstall of ab-solution and pixelserv-tls using the option on the menu ended up being the fix.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Ah yes, noted. That is not quite what I had in mind, actually I'm not sure what I had in mind, perhaps hourly updates of the 3 total figures. Anyway, just an idea.
Nevertheless, the router stats look useful. I see that my 6 IP security cams are all reporting back to their Chinese manufacturer were reporting back. I think I set up a dynamic IP thingy aeons ago, that needs unfixing. Thanks for the stats.

now I see, you meant the blocking stats in the header.
Those numbers are in the config file and are auto-updated daily at 5:20, and manually when you start the UI or run ac.

 

[Chiny91]

now I see, you meant the blocking stats in the header.
Those numbers are in the config file and are auto-updated daily at 5:20, and manually when you start the UI or run ac.

Now that could do it. Perhaps I could hourly run .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add and direct the resulting output to my bespoke Python string handling, looking for this piece of output:

7,505       ads in total blocked
 350         ads this week, since last Monday
 25          new ads, since May 15 13:21

A test run seemed to work OK; don't think I have missed anything. Yes all my fault if my router melts

 

[thelonelycoder]

Now that could do it. Perhaps I could hourly run .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add and direct the resulting output to my bespoke Python string handling, looking for this piece of output:

7,505       ads in total blocked
 350         ads this week, since last Monday
 25          new ads, since May 15 13:21

A test run seemed to work OK; don't think I have missed anything. Yes all my fault if my router melts

You could grep it from the syslog after the run or from the config file.

 

[Chiny91]

Of course, syslog... quick check of my Raspberry Pi logserver... yes, nicely copied across. That's good because it is somewhat easier to run extra s/w on an R Pi than hack about with the router, although obviously I still need to cronjob .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add on the router. What could possibly go wrong

 

[redhat27]

Thanks. Will it bypass the exception through parental control in GUI ?

I would think not. The time-allowed PControl rules would still apply. I've disabled dns based filtering. All dns requests on my lan are channeled the same way.

 

[jpdsc]

@thelonelycoder, question. When I whitelist a domain, will it also be whitelisted for the domains filtered by pixelserv-tls?

 

[thelonelycoder]

@thelonelycoder, question. When I whitelist a domain, will it also be whitelisted for the domains filtered by pixelserv-tls?

It's all the same, if you have pixelserv enabled, every blocked domain is handled by it. When you disable ps, all is handled by the dead-end IP 0.0.0.0.
So, yes, whitelisted domains are not piped through pixelserve/0.0.0.0 but are resolved by dnsmasq to it's effective IP by whatever upstream DNS server resolves them for you.

 

[jpdsc]

It's all the same, if you have pixelserv enabled, every blocked domain is handled by it. When you disable ps, all is handled by the dead-end IP 0.0.0.0.
So, yes, whitelisted domains are not piped through pixelserve/0.0.0.0 but are resolved by dnsmasq to it's effective IP by whatever upstream DNS server resolves them for you.

Great, this answeres my question. Thank you very much. Cheers

 

[Chiny91]

You could grep it from the syslog after the run or from the config file.

Of course, syslog... quick check of my Raspberry Pi logserver... yes, nicely copied across. That's good because it is somewhat easier to run extra s/w on an R Pi than hack about with the router, although obviously I still need to cronjob .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add on the router. What could possibly go wrong

OK... 2 Python scripts later and I now have the number of ads updating every minute with the router still functioning and no need to call the fire brigade yet. The weekly number displays on my Mac menu bar and a click brings up this pic: .

Probably every minute is excessive updating but the router appears to survive. I need to check whether .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add is nice'd, as this frivolity on my part should not be allowed to stress the router.

I realised after my last post that both the scripts could be run from my Mac, including the cronjob so no need to fiddle with cru/jffs and so on.

<UK>Chuffed</UK>

 

[thelonelycoder]

OK... 2 Python scripts later and I now have the number of ads updating every minute with the router still functioning and no need to call the fire brigade yet. The weekly number displays on my Mac menu bar and a click brings up this pic:View attachment 9351.

Probably every minute is excessive updating but the router appears to survive. I need to check whether .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add is nice'd, as this frivolity on my part should not be allowed to stress the router.

I realised after my last post that both the scripts could be run from my Mac, including the cronjob so no need to fiddle with cru/jffs and so on.

<UK>Chuffed</UK>

Add none as a parameter to the cron job, this way, the log file will not be rotated every time you run it.
Every minute is indeed excessive, make that 5 or 10 minutes, because it sends dnsmasq a SIGUSR every time. This taxes your routers performance a tad.
The SIGUSR is issued because the script writes a marker to the logfile to know where to start the count.

Your command with the none parameter should then look like this:

/tmp/mnt/<your device>/adblocking/addon/rotate-logs.add none

 

[thelonelycoder]

Probably every minute is excessive updating but the router appears to survive. I need to check whether .../adblocking/addon/log-stats.add is nice'd, as this frivolity on my part should not be allowed to stress the router.

Don't run log-stats.add, compiling takes from 1 -5 minutes per job and is very processing intensive.
Use rotate-logs.add as in above post, this updates the blocking counters.

 

[Xentrk]

For my 500th milestone post on the Small Net Builders Forum site, I thought of no better place than to post in the AB-Solution thread.

I not only want to thank @RMerlin for the great firmware and support he provides. But I also want to thank @thelonelycoder for the awesome product known as AB-Solution. ASUS Merlin Firmware, when combined with AB-Solution, have super charged my router and have provided a more enjoyable web surfing experience for myself, family members and the individuals at the sites I support. In addition, @thelonelycoder provides excellent support, not only in this thread, but in others as well. If you have AB-Solution installed on your router, I encourage you to express your gratitude and appreciation by making a donation to the @thelonelycoder via PayPal, no matter what amount. A link to the donation page can be found on the AB-Solution website https://www.ab-solution.info/. And while you are at it, make a donation to @RMerlin as well!