Diversion Diversion - the Router Ad-Blocker

[dave14305]

It is ok to run Diversion along with Skynet on RT-AC68U RAM-wise? Asking because currently i have about 40MB RAM free on my router and i am not sure is this enough since Diversion runs a webserver in addition to scripts.
I have 2GB swap file set on USB, but a bit concerned about excessive swapping which might slow my router.

Yes, it is fine. The only practical constraint will be the size of the blocking list. The "Large" option in Diversion is probably too large for the AC68U (in my experience). Go into ssh and run the "free" command to see how much is really free on the "-/+ buffers/cache" line.

 

[thelonelycoder]

It is ok to run Diversion along with Skynet on RT-AC68U RAM-wise? Asking because currently i have about 40MB RAM free on my router and i am not sure is this enough since Diversion runs a webserver in addition to scripts.
I have 2GB swap file set on USB, but a bit concerned about excessive swapping which might slow my router.

Perfectly fine, even with the large blocking list. Create a swap file, Skynet requires it anyway.

 

[pirx73]

Yes, it is fine. The only practical constraint will be the size of the blocking list. The "Large" option in Diversion is probably too large for the AC68U (in my experience). Go into ssh and run the "free" command to see how much is really free on the "-/+ buffers/cache" line.

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        255676     215952      39724          0       5128      59512
-/+ buffers/cache:     151312     104364
Swap:      2097148      19424    2077724

 

[dave14305]

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        255676     215952      39724          0       5128      59512
-/+ buffers/cache:     151312     104364
Swap:      2097148      19424    2077724

So really you have almost 102 MB available for use (104364 / 1024), because the OS would give up most of that cached memory if a program needed it.

 

[pirx73]

Thanks! Stats after installing Diversion:

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        255676     220216      35460          0       7780      56460
-/+ buffers/cache:     155976      99700
Swap:      2097148      18100    2079048

 

[Bogey]

I'm going insane...
There's this website that I use that uses helpshelf.co service. The contents (a small script and a few icons) are located at s3.amazonaws.com/wherever
Even though I whitelisted s3.amazonaws.com in Diversion and Skynet, I stillfind it's blocked.
If I disable Diversion (or bypass via VPN) it just works. If I open the image link directly it works too, so my guess it's not the s3 bucket.
Is it that this script is somehow wrapped inside or linked with a gtm.js script of googletagmanager.com?
If I add googletagmanager to the whitelist to, then it works -- but this is NOT what Diversion intended right?
Shouldn't I be able to access a website without tracking if I' wasn'tt presented with a GDPR consent option?

 

[CriticJay]

I'm going insane...
There's this website that I use that uses helpshelf.co service. The contents (a small script and a few icons) are located at s3.amazonaws.com/wherever
Even though I whitelisted s3.amazonaws.com in Diversion and Skynet, I stillfind it's blocked.
If I disable Diversion (or bypass via VPN) it just works. If I open the image link directly it works too, so my guess it's not the s3 bucket.
Is it that this script is somehow wrapped inside or linked with a gtm.js script of googletagmanager.com?
If I add googletagmanager to the whitelist to, then it works -- but this is NOT what Diversion intended right?
Shouldn't I be able to access a website without tracking if I' wasn'tt presented with a GDPR consent option?

I find that googletagmanager is required for a lot of things. [ www.googletagmanager.com ]

I have it permanently whitelisted on my network. Otherwise I'd get frequent complaints from my wife, mother, etc.

 

[Bogey]

My wife's been complaining too

 

[PeterR]

The NULL address 0.0.0.0 tells the clients, apps or OS to abandon any further requests to it immediately, as opposed to the localhost 127.0.0.1 which usually runs a service behind the selected port.
That is the theory, some browsers or apps may not follow that or stray from that behaviour. That directive has been agreed on since the keyboard is a device to enter characters into a computing device and not meant to produce sounds.

I started using computers when teletype machines and punch tape were used for input - I doubt if anyone had thought about tcp/ip back then!

 

[thelonelycoder]

I started using computers when teletype machines and punch tape were used for input - I doubt if anyone had thought about tcp/ip back then!

I’m sure the ads sharks back then were already preparing to sneak in phrases when a certain key combination was typed

 

[Wolfschiesst]

Is diversion supporting DUAL WAN configurations (for example WAN and LAN3)?
If not, would you recommend to turn it off on a DUAL WAN config?

Sidekick: Would you recommend to turn off FreshJR'S script then as well (as QOS will be disabled in DUAL WAN configs).

Please no philosophic comments about the sense of DUAL WAN configurations on Asus Routers.

PS: I needed to do disable SKYNET on a DUAL WAN config as it has led to weird effects (Downloads not working, blocking of clients using the other WAN line...) and a huge decrease in throughput on first WAN line.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Is diversion supporting DUAL WAN configurations (for example WAN and LAN3)?
If not, would you recommend to turn it off on a DUAL WAN config?

Sidekick: Would recommend to turn off FreshJR'S script then as well (as QOS will be disabled in DUAL WAN configs).

Please no philosophic comments about the sense of DUAL WAN configurations on Asus Routers.

PS: I needed to do disable SKYNET on a DUAL WAN config as it has led to weird effects (Downloads not working, blocking of clients using the other WAN line...) and a huge decrease in throughput on first WAN line.

I forget things so let me double check. If Dnsmasq handles the Dual WAN, then it’ll work, if not, I’ll find out.

 

[Wolfschiesst]

I forget things so let me double check. If Dnsmasq handles the Dual WAN, then it’ll work, if not, I’ll find out.

Thank you. I tried to temporary disable it and received dsnmasq errors:

May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
Ma

So I renabled Diversion again and the error messages in System log disappeared.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Thank you. I tried to temporary disable it and received dsnmasq errors:

May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: connect error: No such file or directory
May  2 11:35:05 RT-DG dnsmasq-script[3869]: [SEND_AMAS_NODE_EVENT:(4684)] ERROR connecting:No such file or directory.
Ma

So I renabled Diversion again and the error messages in System log disappeared.

Your RT-DG dnsmasq-script script may not work but Diversion works seamless with Dual WAN, I tested it with fail over.
Your messages disappear from the System Log because Diversion directs Dnsmasq messages to the dnsmasq.log, when logging is enabled (l).

 

[thelonelycoder]

@Wolfschiesst (shooting Wolf, or Wolf (a German first name) shoots), even with Dual WAN load balancing Diversion works flawless.

 

[Wolfschiesst]

@Wolfschiesst (shooting Wolf, or Wolf (a German first name) shoots), even with Dual WAN load balancing Diversion works flawless.

Yep. Correct translation
Thank you very much for looking into it in short term. Great work you are doing for us all!

PS: Now I will try to find out where the dnsmasq error was coming from. Does anyone has any hints in addition to this thread (just ignore them): https://www.snbforums.com/threads/s...r-connecting-no-such-file-or-directory.62407/?

 

[KGB7]

I installed Merlins latest firmware 384.17 on Asus AC68U router, and now none of the Youtube ads are being blocked. Every single video has ads. Im seeing new type of transparent ads in the YouTube videos them selfs, but they are partly blanked out and transparent.
I did a "dirty flash", or what ever its called, from 384.16 firmware.

Besides reinstalling everything from scratch, is there a simpler solution?

 

[Asad Ali]

I installed Merlins latest firmware 384.17 on Asus AC68U router, and now none of the Youtube ads are being blocked. Every single video has ads. Im seeing new type of transparent ads in the YouTube videos them selfs, but they are partly blanked out and transparent.
I did a "dirty flash", or what ever its called, from 384.16 firmware.

Besides reinstalling everything from scratch, is there a simpler solution?

YouTube ads have nothing to do with router firmware and no router (DNS) based ad blocker can block YouTube video ads. If you weren't seeing them before then you must just be lucky.

 

[ugandy]

Diversion is blocking one of my local clients .
my top blocked domain is "BrotherPrinter1.homelan"
obviously it is not found in the block list.
but it is blocked. i can access host via IP but name resolution is blocked.
how can i debug this further?
it does not happen with any other client names, so it must be some partial string match on this particular name?
thanks

 

[dave14305]

Diversion is blocking one of my local clients .
my top blocked domain is "BrotherPrinter1.homelan"
obviously it is not found in the block list.
but it is blocked. i can access host via IP but name resolution is blocked.
how can i debug this further?
it does not happen with any other client names, so it must be some partial string match on this particular name?
thanks

A wildcard blacklist? Find some entries in /opt/var/log/dnsmasq.log showing the query and response. Then post your dnsmasq.conf (or parts of it).