Setup ad blocking on HDA

sfalkiner
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Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby sfalkiner » Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:16 am

Now I know this can be a touchy subject, but I hope you guys feel like you'd be able to offer some support.

Currently, my ddwrt router handles ad blocking through effective poison DNS and pixelserv. It handles it for all the network, and gives me the option of changing what I put on the whitelist, and control over the blacklist. Obviously, as the HDA will be taking over DNS it stops this working and I do keep turning the HDA off because of this.

Would someone be able to guide me through how to set such a process up on the HDA? I'm not a complete newbie when it comes down to Linux, but fedora is new to me as well as dealing with DNS so be gentle!

If I do end up with a working solution, I would create a full write up for others to use (maybe on the wiki?).

I'm currently on fedora 21 for interest - not sure if the DNS implementation differs between that and 19. I can easily drop back to 19 as I'm still testing/trialling.

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bigfoot65
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby bigfoot65 » Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:18 am

Hello,

By default the HDA uses OpenDNS as the DNS provider. You can register on their website and do similar controls that you have mentioned.

I have used it before and worked fine for me.

There is no other such documented process that I am aware for the HDA.
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My HDA: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz on MSI board, 16GB RAM, 1TBx1+2TBx2+4TBx2

sfalkiner
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby sfalkiner » Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:16 am

Thanks, completely overlooked doing it that way.

I've seen mentions of it - but does Amahi definitely use BIND to handle DNS resolution? I'll try and have a go at piecing together how it works!

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bigfoot65
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby bigfoot65 » Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:09 am

The OpenDNS guidance in the wiki might help.
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sfalkiner
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby sfalkiner » Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:39 pm

I do like the fact I can take care of ads with OpenDNS, but where possible I'd like to leave it local and I can retain a bit more local control.

So far, regarding ad-blocking done directly on the HDA, I've setup a new interface on the HDA with a separate IP address which is now hosting pixelserv (a webserver hosting a 1x1 pixel). It was a bit new to me as it's done slightly differently in Fedora. Also had to change apache and bind it to the HDAs IP address (in my case 192.168.1.2) - does anyone know if this will cause issues?

Next steps are to get a suitable blocklist, and get it talking to the BIND config - redirecting to pixelserv on 192.168.1.3.

Would anyone be interested in a write up once complete?


Just been looking - not sure if this is a new change or an old one that I've not found mentioned, but Amahi doesn't use BIND - it uses DNSMasq.

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bigfoot65
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby bigfoot65 » Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:27 pm

Also had to change apache and bind it to the HDAs IP address (in my case 192.168.1.2) - does anyone know if this will cause issues?
Not sure, but time will tell.
Would anyone be interested in a write up once complete?
Yes this would be something good to document in the wiki. I am sure there are other users who would appreciate it.
ßîgƒσστ65
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My HDA: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz on MSI board, 16GB RAM, 1TBx1+2TBx2+4TBx2

sfalkiner
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby sfalkiner » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:03 am

Managed to get it running last night! Want to make sure there's no bugs, but I'll start writing things up ready for a wiki entry! One thing to note is this was on Fedora 21, it might not work on 19.

Any chance of a credit for IPSec vpn? :lol:

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bigfoot65
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby bigfoot65 » Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:26 am

Keep in mind that the officially supported version of Amahi is Fedora 19. Fedora 21/Amahi 8 is in ALPHA status undergoing testing. It's not recommended anyone use this for a production system until we release it to the community in BETA status.

There are potential changes that could require a complete reinstall, changes that might break your current system, or potential data loss due to a bug . We do not have all the appropriate pieces in place and testing completed for this to be considered production ready.

Just thought I would mention it.
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sfalkiner
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby sfalkiner » Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:57 am

I'm gonna have a go on Fedora 19 now... one thing I've noticed is that the virtual ethernet interface doesn't survive a reboot - not sure if this is a quirk of Fedora or something else.

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bigfoot65
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Re: Setup ad blocking on HDA

Postby bigfoot65 » Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:11 pm

Hard to say. I have never had any issues with any of my installs. I run them mostly virtual and have had great success.

Will be interested to hear about your progress.
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