AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[Butterfly Bones]

What can i learn from Pixelserv stats? everything is greek to me

kvic's Wiki will explain.
https://github.com/kvic-z/pixelserv-tls/wiki
See this one - pixelserv‑tls Servstats Page
https://github.com/kvic-z/pixelserv-tls/wiki/pixelserv‑tls-Servstats-Page

 

[Goobi]

Unfortunately due to iptables limitations the only way for Skynet to collect stats in its “debug” mode is for them to be printed to the syslog directly. If there was another alternative I’d be all over it. These logs are purged hourly into Skynet’s personal log file.

There is the possibility of modifying the syslog.conf file, not entirely sure if that’s possible on these devices much like other config files. Will look into it once my internet is restored.

Got ya, totally understand. I was hoping to keep the syslog a bit cleaner to be able to note other messages of interest. If you do find out if the modification of the syslog is feasible let me know. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Aswoosh]

So i cant log into the facebook via the app. it says something like no internet connection (blocking).
...
update: per log it was blocking a few more facebook domains. Added those and it seems to be working fine now

Thank you so much for this, @MatrixGeeker. Would you mind posting a complete list of the Facebook domains you needed to whitelist in order to get everything working?

@thelonelycoder, would you consider adding this info to the FAQ or other relevant location on your website?

I really like having AB-solution on my Asus RT-AC86U, but I had basically given up on using any level higher than medium because of this: quite a few childrens and adult mobile games use the Facebook API in order to save the state of the game (or restore the state of the game in case of loss, theft or erasure of the mobile device), and every level higher than Medium blocks this ability. I have no love of Facebook, but I'm not sure why the domain(s) that allow this service are blocked by default at levels higher than medium.

Again, many thanks for the info, and to thelonelycoder for a great useful program.

 

[M@rco]

Would you mind posting a complete list of the Facebook domains you needed to whitelist in order to get everything working?

I think that depends on what client on what OS you are using, or whether you're using a browser on a desktop, as Facebook uses different domains for different platforms. And I've noticed over time that they don't mind switching or adding domains, so I personally think it's not up to @thelonelycoder to maintain such a list. He's probably surely got better things to do. As soon as my wife starts complaining about 'social' limitations, I know Facebook has probably changed something again, sigh...

@thelonelycoder, would you consider adding this info to the FAQ or other relevant location on your website?

The process of following the logfile (option f in the main menu) and whitelisting (or blacklisting, both option el in the main menu) are both explained in detail at the website (and on several occasions in this thread). If you enable AB-Solution (a script that has the possibility to block part of your internet traffic) and you suddenly find that an (internet dependent) app has stopped working or has limited functionality, following the logfile using option f is the first thing to look at. It's really that simple.

And yes, you might have to repeat those steps in order to get everything back to work, depending on which blocking file you're using. It helps to have a quiet network and to know which IP is assigned to the device (phone, tablet, pc etcetera) you're using the app or browser on, so it's easier to distinguish which device has tried to connect to a blocked domain. Once you've whitelisted all the required domains, you're all set and done. Until Facebook throws in a couple of new domains, that's when you get back to the f option in the main menu...

 

[thelonelycoder]

I think that depends on what client on what OS you are using, or whether you're using a browser on a desktop, as Facebook uses different domains for different platforms. And I've noticed over time that they don't mind switching or adding domains, so I personally think it's not up to @thelonelycoder to maintain such a list. He's probably surely got better things to do. As soon as my wife starts complaining about 'social' limitations, I know Facebook has probably changed something again, sigh...



The process of following the logfile (option f in the main menu) and whitelisting (or blacklisting, both option el in the main menu) are both explained in detail at the website (and on several occasions in this thread). If you enable AB-Solution (a script that has the possibility to block part of your internet traffic) and you suddenly find that an (internet dependent) app has stopped working or has limited functionality, following the logfile using option f is the first thing to look at. It's really that simple.

And yes, you might have to repeat those steps in order to get everything back to work, depending on which blocking file you're using. It helps to have a quiet network and to know which IP is assigned to the device (phone, tablet, pc etcetera) you're using the app or browser on, so it's easier to distinguish which device has tried to connect to a blocked domain. Once you've whitelisted all the required domains, you're all set and done. Until Facebook throws in a couple of new domains, that's when you get back to the f option in the main menu...

I usually run a smaller blocking file on my primary router as it blocks enough for my LAN, along with a well curated white and blacklist.

For Novice users of AB-Solution I would think that they start with a small blocking file and then work their way up if the result is not satisfying enough.
You'd have to learn the white and blacklisting as you go and figure out how to use f option 1.
As with any new software one uses, there is a learning curve to get to know it. AB-Solution is no exception.

As for the blocked Facebook and other popular social media domains, this might be the reason why some are blocked.
See Steven Blacks comment at bottom. His and the adblock.mahakala.is hosts file in blocking file AdsBeGone! (4) adds these.
https://gist.github.com/thomasbilk/1506210/2d20f47bbcca75b2f78d6909c1637501000d846f
Now don't go and whitelist these blindly. Make an educated guess first!

 

[sentinelvdx]

@thelonelycoder does ab-solution supports merlin's 384.3 firmware? I'm right now using 380.69_2 and I'm planning on switching now that is stable enough

 

[JacquesR]

@thelonelycoder does ab-solution supports merlin's 384.3 firmware? I'm right now using 380.69_2 and I'm planning on switching now that is stable enough

I'm using Ab-Solution on 384.3 without any problems. There were Skynet issues with a 384 Alpha, but those are resolved, and there haven't been any AB-Solution problems I've encountered.

 

[Clark Griswald]

@sentinelvdx I've been using AB-Solution with 384.3 without issues.

 

[MatrixGeeker]

so i install ab solution and its running. Now give the command to pull up ab solution it says not found...

I installed absolution in /entware folder. What gives?

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root# ab-solution

-sh: ab-solution: not found

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root# ab solution

-sh: ab: not found

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root# ab-solution

-sh: ab-solution: not found

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root# ./ab-solution.sh

-sh: ./ab-solution.sh: not found

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root# /ab-solution.sh

-sh: /ab-solution.sh: not found

admin@RT-AC68U-9588:/tmp/home/root#

 

[elorimer]

at root, just ab and tab. If it doesn't spell out the rest,it isn't installed correctly.

The first and third commands should have worked. Also, if you ls you should see ab-solution.sh output.

 

[MatrixGeeker]

at root, just ab and tab. If it doesn't spell out the rest,it isn't installed correctly.

The first and third commands should have worked. Also, if you ls you should see ab-solution.sh output.

Hi, this is what my folder looks like. its ext4 . with one folder entware and primary and the other /other and primary as well

 

[MatrixGeeker]

at root, just ab and tab. If it doesn't spell out the rest,it isn't installed correctly.

The first and third commands should have worked. Also, if you ls you should see ab-solution.sh output.

Thanks . The Ab then tab worked! When I type in it now as ab-solution it works now along with ab then tab as well

 

[MatrixGeeker]

My case I'm using bf 3, because with bf4 facebook and instagram does not load.

Sent from my SM-G935FD using Tapatalk

How is bf 3 working for you? Does it block most ads?

 

[brambil]

On RT-AC68U witch Merlin 384.3 I noticed about 100MB of RAM usage by AB-Solution. Is this ok?

dnsmasq uses 27,3% of memory (seen in top)

RAM usage:
AB-Solution OFF: 131MB used
AB-Solution ON no-log: 220MB used, 'dnsmasq --log-async' uses 27,3% of memory (top)
AB-Solution ON with-log: 230MB used, 'dnsmasq --log-async' uses 27,3% of memory (top)

I installed 384 with a hard reset following RMerl documentation. Already tried to reinstall AB-Solution redownloading files.
AB-Solution 3.11.1 Large+ file, at the moment 4 clients connected.

Before the upgrade the RAM usage was about 30MB less in the same condition, I didn't make any other mod, but I didn't remember the RAM consumption of dnsmasq.

 

[thelonelycoder]

On RT-AC68U witch Merlin 384.3 I noticed about 100MB of RAM usage by AB-Solution. Is this ok?

dnsmasq uses 27,3% of memory (seen in top)

RAM usage:
AB-Solution OFF: 131MB used
AB-Solution ON no-log: 220MB used, 'dnsmasq --log-async' uses 27,3% of memory (top)
AB-Solution ON with-log: 230MB used, 'dnsmasq --log-async' uses 27,3% of memory (top)

I installed 384 with a hard reset following RMerl documentation. Already tried to reinstall AB-Solution redownloading files.
AB-Solution 3.11.1 Large+ file, at the moment 4 clients connected.

Before the upgrade the RAM usage was about 30MB less in the same condition, I didn't make any other mod, but I didn't remember the RAM consumption of dnsmasq.

RT-AC1900P, same hardware, same firmware, same blocking file:
dnsmasq --log-async: 21.6%
adblocking on: RAM used 123MB, 48%
adblocking off: RAM used 68MB, 27%

Yours kooks normal to me. I have set Tools > Other Settings: Memory Management: Regularly flush caches (default: Yes) to yes.

BTW: Logging on or off should not make a noticable difference as dnsmasq only writes to the logfile if set to on. This will not use noticeable memory unless you have a very slow USB device plugged in.

 

[sentinelvdx]

How is bf 3 working for you? Does it block most ads?

I must say I'm really happy with bf3, it blocks several ads. Bf4 I'll try later because it requires some whitelisting.
Bf3 is quite good to start with in my opinion

Sent from my SM-G935FD using Tapatalk

 

[john9527]

Yours kooks normal to me. I have set Tools > Other Settings: Memory Management: Regularly flush caches (default: Yes) to yes.

You really should set that to 'No' so that linux memory management can work the way it was intended.

 

[skeal]

You really should set that to 'No' so that linux memory management can work the way it was intended.

Thank you for this @john9527 I have been wondering about the default setting to yes. Your knowledge is deep sir this is a great recommendation. Especially those concerned about memory usage on network map.

 

[vesda]

I'm looking to get some help on why my install of pixelserv-tls is not serving the 1x1 transparent gif.

So far the servstats page functions properly. My server IP as well as http://doubleclick.net/ both serve up a completely blank page. AB-Solution is indicating that pixelserv is running. Client pc's have the ca certs installed. Yet, gaps on webpages where ads are being blocked, still remain visible. Isn't pixelserv intended to eliminate gaps left behind by ads?

 

[M@rco]

Isn't pixelserv intended to eliminate gaps left behind by ads?

Not in every scenario, I guess. If the size of an ad is 'hardcoded' in the webpage you're visiting, it will show the transparent pixel, yet in the space that has been reserved for the ad. My guess is that it depends on whether the webdesigner specifies the size upfront or lets the ad service decide how much space the ad served to the page will use when loaded.