[Release] AB-Solution 3 - The Ad Blocking Solution

[thelonelycoder]

"How to start AB-Solution when installed
Log into your router with an SSH client.
If you are in /home/root, start AB-Solution with:
./ab-solution.sh"
This lead me to believe this is what starts it, not automatically. I apologize and will not post in this section again to refrain from stepping on toes.
Thanks
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

You talk about starting the User Interface.
The underlying functions of the UI, blocking ads, updating the blocking file 'hosts-adblock', sending stats, starting Entware and pixelserv-tls is done through the /jffs/ files you quoted and cron jobs that trigger sub scripts.

 

[bryantjopplin]

Apology accepted.
You talk about starting the User Interface.
The underlying functions of the UI, blocking ads, updating the blocking file 'hosts-adblock', sending stats, starting Entware and pixelserv-tls is done through the /jffs/ files you quoted and cron jobs that trigger sub scripts.

Looking back I see what you were taking about. I quoted wrongly. I used it to reply to you. Post 114 was not meant to be about what you wrote. Apologies on the mixup. I should have just posted and not quoted. I don't use or even know what entware or pixelserv is.



Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Makaveli]

Just a quick question going to assume AB solution doesn't survive a firmware update?

And I have to reinstall from scratch after doing so?

 

[tomsk]

Just a quick question going to assume AB solution doesn't survive a firmware update?

And I have to reinstall from scratch after doing so?

I just did a firmware upgrade....AB solution lives!
It mostly lives on the external device....same precautions have to be taken for the scripts on jffs as always

 

[Makaveli]

I just did a firmware upgrade....AB solution lives!
It mostly lives on the external device....same precautions have to be taken for the scripts on jffs as always

what precautions are those?

And thank you for the quick reply.

 

[tomsk]

what precautions are those?

And thank you for the quick reply.

In the Advanced settings administration section there is a "Restore/Save/Upload Setting" tab.
You should back up you jffs partition from there before doing a firmware update.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Looking back I see what you were taking about. I quoted wrongly. I used it to reply to you. Post 114 was not meant to be about what you wrote. Apologies on the mixup. I should have just posted and not quoted. I don't use or even know what entware or pixelserv is.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

I see, apology from my side. Removing my posts.

 

[Makaveli]

In the Advanced settings administration section there is a "Restore/Save/Upload Setting" tab.
You should back up you jffs partition from there before doing a firmware update.

Thank you I did the backup just incase and upgraded to 380.63 and it made it over without me having to do anything

 

[tomsk]

Thank you I did the backup just incase and upgraded to 380.63 and it made it over without me having to do anything

I have updated firmware several times and always backed up both the jffs partition as well as the nvram setting using johns script
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521/
Fortunately i have never had to use either to recover any functionality after the upgrade. But doesn't hurt to be prepared

 

[omacronp]

This is all kinds of awesome. Was running adblocking on a raspberry pi but this is much better.

One quick thing: How do we change the IP address used for pixelserv after setup? I don't see an option for that in the menus. Does it have to be done manually and if so can you let me know which files need to be edited.

Thanks.

 

[thelonelycoder]

This is all kinds of awesome. Was running adblocking on a raspberry pi but this is much better.

One quick thing: How do we change the IP address used for pixelserv after setup? I don't see an option for that in the menus. Does it have to be done manually and if so can you let me know which files need to be edited.

Thanks.

Changing the PS IP is planned for an update of the pixelserv-tls.add addon. But it may be weeks until I do it.

But changing the IP is fairly easy and does not require to reboot the router.
Here's how:
- In the AB-Solution UI enter (ps), select 1 and set pixelserv-tls to off.
- Exit (e) the AB-Solution UI
- Edit the two instances of the IP address in /jffs/scripts/wan-start
- Edit the IP address in variable psIPv4 in /adblocking/.config/ab-solution.cfg
- Start the AB-Solution UI and enable PS again.
Done.

 

[thelonelycoder]

This is all kinds of awesome. Was running adblocking on a raspberry pi but this is much better.

Out of curiosity, what ad blocker were you running on the PI?

 

[akb]

Clearing your disk does not completely remove AB-Solution or Entware from your system.
A standalone AB-Solution will place two files into /jffs/scripts/:
- dnsmasq.postconf
- post-mount
Entware, using the (ps) option or a direct install, additionally places three more files into it, not counting the post-mount:
- services-start
- services-stop
- wan-start (when installed with (ps), for pixelserv-tls)

Delete these files as well, reboot and install again.

Ok, so i deleted my disks, and I wiped all those files. when i reinstall i always get to the same point where pixelserver ip is already taken with this output to log.

Nov 4 22:19:30 USER: Started pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution) from .
Nov 4 22:19:30 pixelserv[16289]: Listening on :192.168.1.253:80
Nov 4 22:19:30 pixelserv[16289]: Abort: Address already in use - :192.168.1.253:443

I do see that 192.168.1.253 is pingable while ps is in enabled state, but I am not able to visit 192.168.1.253 from the browser even though I see in my top " pixelserver-tls 192.168.1.253 -l. I tried various IP's and it always gets to the same point.

I guess i am just not lucky with this, and will have to run without pixelserver, the ad blocking from just the hosts file is already great. thanks for your efforts in getting me to get pixelserver working

 

[elradix]

Ok, so i deleted my disks, and I wiped all those files. when i reinstall i always get to the same point where pixelserver ip is already taken with this output to log.

Nov 4 22:19:30 USER: Started pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution) from .
Nov 4 22:19:30 pixelserv[16289]: Listening on :192.168.1.253:80
Nov 4 22:19:30 pixelserv[16289]: Abort: Address already in use - :192.168.1.253:443

I do see that 192.168.1.253 is pingable while ps is in enabled state, but I am not able to visit 192.168.1.253 from the browser even though I see in my top " pixelserver-tls 192.168.1.253 -l. I tried various IP's and it always gets to the same point.

I guess i am just not lucky with this, and will have to run without pixelserver, the ad blocking from just the hosts file is already great. thanks for your efforts in getting me to get pixelserver working

can you try this url 192.168.1.253/servstats to check if you can read the stats html page

 

[john9527]

Nov 4 22:19:30 pixelserv[16289]: Abort: Address already in use - :192.168.1.253:443

Are you running AICloud services? Maybe it's not the address, but the port. AICloud grabs port 443 by default.

 

[akb]

Are you running AICloud services? Maybe it's not the address, but the port. AICloud grabs port 443 by default.

You got it, that was it. I was pulling my hair out, I forgot about that damn AICloud, changed that default port and I am good now.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Are you running AICloud services? Maybe it's not the address, but the port. AICloud grabs port 443 by default.

Aargh, another thing to check...

 

[john9527]

You got it, that was it. I was pulling my hair out, I forgot about that damn AICloud, changed that default port and I am good now.

Happy to be of service

@thelonelycoder - if you want to add a check for this the nvram vars are
webdav_https_port
enable_webdav
and maybe
webdav_aidisk

 

[omacronp]

Out of curiosity, what ad blocker were you running on the PI?

I was running PiHole on a Raspberry Pi 2.

Changing the PS IP is planned for an update of the pixelserv-tls.add addon. But it may be weeks until I do it.

But changing the IP is fairly easy and does not require to reboot the router.
Here's how:
- In the AB-Solution UI enter (ps), select 1 and set pixelserv-tls to off.
- Exit (e) the AB-Solution UI
- Edit the two instances of the IP address in /jffs/scripts/wan-start
- Edit the IP address in variable psIPv4 in /adblocking/.config/ab-solution.cfg
- Start the AB-Solution UI and enable PS again.
Done.

You're a legend... Thanks for the quick reply. I'll edit those manually later tonight.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Happy to be of service

@thelonelycoder - if you want to add a check for this the nvram vars are
webdav_https_port
enable_webdav
and maybe
webdav_aidisk

You're a champ, thanks.