[ Request ] Pi-Hole on Asuswrt-Merlin

[emax.b]

It's possible ?!?

 

[Jack Yaz]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ab-solution-the-ad-blocking-solution-v3-9-2.37511/

 

[Xentrk]

It's possible ?!?

Yes, it will work. I have tested it. But AB Solution has a lot more features and is a much better fit for Asus WRT Merlin Firmware. TLC is working on a new release that will have a web GUI similar to Pi Hole.

 

[emax.b]

Hi Xentrk

can you explain how install step-by-step Pi-hole on Asus WRT Merlin ? Thanks

 

[Vexira]

Yes, it will work. I have tested it. But AB Solution has a lot more features and is a much better fit for Asus WRT Merlin Firmware. TLC is working on a new release that will have a web GUI similar to Pi Hole.

Wish I could get adb working on a pi lol, since pihole hasn't been updated in awhile.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Wish I could get adb working on a pi lol, since pihole hasn't been updated in awhile.

You mean AB-Solution on a Raspberry Pi?
If you are the developer, anything is possible. It works with some tweaks off of the AB4.0 code.
With AB3.9.x that's nearly impossible.

 

[Xentrk]

Hi Xentrk

can you explain how install step-by-step Pi-hole on Asus WRT Merlin ? Thanks

I installed it on a Raspberry Pi 3 using the curl command:

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Instructions here https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole

Software
Pi-hole will run on most Debian-based distro's and is the preferred platform for it.

We officially support the following:

• Raspbian: Jessie (lite / with pixel)
• Ubuntu: 14.04 / 16.04 / 16.10
• Fedora: 24 / 25
• Debian: 8.6
• CentOS: 7.2.1511 / 7.3.1611

 

[thelonelycoder]

I installed it on a Raspberry Pi 3 using the curl command:

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Instructions here https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole

Software
Pi-hole will run on most Debian-based distro's and is the preferred platform for it.

We officially support the following:

• Raspbian: Jessie (lite / with pixel)
• Ubuntu: 14.04 / 16.04 / 16.10
• Fedora: 24 / 25
• Debian: 8.6
• CentOS: 7.2.1511 / 7.3.1611

That's on a Raspberry Pi, OP asks for installation on Asuswrt-Merlin.
This is also possible with tweaks and is not really recommended as the Web UI will be slow.
There are better ad-blocker(s) for Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[Vexira]

You mean AB-Solution on a Raspberry Pi?
If you are the developer, anything is possible. It works with some tweaks off of the AB4.0 code.
With AB3.9.x that's nearly impossible.

I'm not the developer

 

[wh7qq]

Running pi-hole on an RPi has a number of advantages. As it grabs and kills DNS requests for ad sites before they ever leave your network, it saves bandwidth and speeds your browsing because it never loads the material in the first place. It works on every device on your network. An RPi Zero is pretty cheap and all you really must have is the zero and it's 5 volt supply and a micro SD card greater than 4G...not much of an investment. It uses about 1 watt so it can stay on forever and you will never see it on your electric bill. Mine sits behind my router. All that you have to do with the router is to direct its first DNS querry to the RPi's IP address...oh, and it helps to make that a static address. Among other things, if you are troubled by ersatz bandwidth consumption by IoT junk calling home and spying on you, or guests with busy "smart phones", you can quickly see and blacklist the offenders with the handy web interface pages. How about an ad-free Olympic games?

If your router has USB ports that will support more than the minimum 200ma, you might even get away without a power brick...just plug a USB charging cord with a micro USB termination into your router.

An alternate instruction site that may help: https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-hole-ad-blocker-with-pi-zero-w/install-pi-hole

 

[sfx2000]

Pi Zero W pulls about 360ma at full load - so one could power the Pi Zero W from the USB port. If AsusWRT had USB gadget support would be perfect - but it doesn't...

That being said, a Pi3 connecting via ethernet, with its own PS, can be a great addition for things like PiHole, Transmission, etc... as an adjunct machine.

 

[sfx2000]

That being said, a Pi3 connecting via ethernet, with its own PS, can be a great addition for things like PiHole, Transmission, etc... as an adjunct machine.

And one can always keep things in the Asus family - TinkerBoard... nice little SBC

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-tinkerboard.36685/

 

[Blind@Spot]

As it grabs and kills DNS requests for ad sites before they ever leave your network, it saves bandwidth and speeds your browsing because it never loads the material in the first place. It works on every device on your network.

aren't ab-solution doing the same in term of bandwidth saving ? @thelonelycoder

I know ab solution not the DNS based, but both gets same saving of bandwidth? isn't @wh7qq

 

[thelonelycoder]

aren't ab-solution doing the same in term of bandwidth saving ? @thelonelycoder

I know ab solution not the DNS based, but both gets same saving of bandwidth? isn't @wh7qq

Pi-hole and AB-Solution work the same way. While Pi-hole has a web interface and needs to run on a separate device, AB-Solution has pixelserv-tls, properly blocking https requests and runs directly on the most central device in every LAN - the router.
The missing web interface is part of the next major release.

 

[wh7qq]

@sfx2000: Who said anything about running the RPi at full load? This is just intended as a single purpose device and not a desktop. Running headless with HDMI turned off and no non-essentials and no USB loads, it actually is about 200 ma. It can remain on 24/7 indefinitely. It isn't supposed to be your Desktop PC but the 3B is quite usable for that. I am running an old B+ for the pi-hole as it already has an ethernet port so hookup is easy and performance is plenty fast enough for my ISP. As there is no wireless device, it may use a bit less than the wireless version of the Zero but even at your 360 ma for "full load" that is still only 1.8 watts...few night-lights do that well. We only wish your Asus router or mine was that thrifty.

The Pi-hole requires only the zero, a power source and a uSD card. The firmware and software are all free for the download. It has a very nice web interface that allows full control and access to logs. Its only requirements for the router is that it can set the DNS to the RPi's IP address and make that address static...any decent router will do that, not just Asuswrt-Merlin.

The requirements for the AB-Solution are as follows: (from their web page)

• A supported router1) running Asuswrt-Merlin firmware2)
• JFFS custom scripts enabled
• A permanently plugged in USB device3) on the router, formatted with ext2, ext3 or ext4 file system (ext4 ARM devices only), ext2 highly recommended
• SSH enabled on the router4)
• SSH client to access router, use same credentials as the router Web-UI
• Very basic understanding of terminal commands
• Simple guided installation

As far as router based solutions, I have used the built-in adblock function in TomatoUSB but it does not work as well. I have not used AB-Solution as I do not run Merlin's firmware on my RTN-66. TomatoUSB fits my needs better.

Support from Asus for the Tinker board has been spotty and the community is small but it is a nice concept. It is also much more costly than a Zero.

None of this is meant to criticize the AB-Solution as I really cannot speak to it at all but it is another option and the OP mentioned wanting to run pi-hole on his router.

 

[thelonelycoder]

None of this is meant to criticize the AB-Solution as I really cannot speak to it at all but it is another option and the OP mentioned wanting to run pi-hole on his router.

And neither do I. I just point out the obvious: Why use a separate device when the one you already have and use is perfectly capable to do it.
AB-Solution is about as easy to install as Pi-hole. And the feature list is impressive, for both.
To complete the list, the requirements for Pi-hole are:
- A Raspberry Pi
- An sdcard
- A power supply
- Network cable
- Initially, a keyboard, monitor, mouse
- Simple guided installation through the terminal
- A static IP address
- A place to set it down
- Maybe more

 

[petya]

I don't use any of the two mentioned here but I have a Pi zero attached to my AC56 running in usb gadget mode.
Minimal list in my case is Pi, usb cable and sd card. It is used as a low power test server for work and sometimes thinkering.
Speed is much better than wifi. It worked also on my AC66 running John's fork. I must admit that setup is not trivial but there are nice tutorials and on each boot usb0 interface must be added to br0.
I do plan to install AB on a site where monthly traffic is limited and I'm looking forward for version 4.

 

[maurer]

install chrooted debian then you can install pi-hole
https://www.hqt.ro/how-to-install-debian-wheezy-mipsel/ - unfortunately it's almost EOL
or for ARM
https://www.hqt.ro/how-to-install-debian-jessie-arm/

 

[wh7qq]

@'coder: Obvious only to those of us fortunate to have certain Asus routers and Merlin firmware. My backup router is an RTN-56 that Merlin does not support and I normally prefer TomatoUSB on my RTN-66 so I can't use it at present and the 66 is old...probably will die at some point... and it will take several weeks to get a replacement to me where I live (and it may or may not run Merlin firmware). So the pi-hole will still work with the 56 and even the old e1000 I have tucked away or the even older wrt54 or any new router I would purchase. Besides, I would be surprised if many of us did not have a network cable, keyboard, monitor or mouse available and I repeat, any decent router will provide a static IP address. As @petya has shown, the RPi zero requires very little in the way of support hardware...itself and a uSD card on newer Asus routers. Pi-hole is a higly viable alternative.

 

[sfx2000]

A Raspberry Pi
- An sdcard
- A power supply
- Network cable

Pi Zero/Pi Zero W - one can get idle loads down quite a bit - turning off the gui, disabling tvservices (HDMI)

The pi device - and a USB OTG cable along with an SDCard - 8GB is good enough... so that's what - 20 bucks?

The OTG cable can power the Pi Zero/Zero W as well as provide connectivity with USB Gadget support... USB gadget is a 100Mb/Sec connection, similar to Fast Ethernet...

Big win for the Pi Zero/W is that one has a full Debian repo of SW to work with, yes 512MB of RAM is a bit tight, that can be dealt with as well, as the factory kernel supports ZRAM.

So as a Pi-Hole or SSH jump box, pretty handy stuff... and as a toy-box/sandbox - nice for scripting and whatever - Raspbian has python2/3, perl, gcc, etc to do fun things with if code is not already in the repo's as a package.

Pi-Zero's are cool... and a good augment to AsusWRT