AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[heysoundude]

http://www.algissalys.com/how-to/format-and-partition-usb-asuswrt-routers

this is an AWESOME tutorial/walkthrough!!!!!!!!! somebody with mod/admin permissions should sticky it, or maybe @thelonelycoder could move it to/place it in the first post of this thread

 

[Beherit]

this is an AWESOME tutorial/walkthrough!!!!!!!!! somebody with mod/admin permissions should sticky it, or maybe @thelonelycoder could move it to/place it in the first post of this thread

With respect, I disagree. Most users have no need to split the USB drive into partitions. Most importantly, there's no point in formatting it to ext2. Use ext4 with no journaling instead to get all the pros of ext4 and none of the cons of using journaling on a memory device: mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/sda

 

[Asad Ali]

With respect, I disagree. Most users have no need to split the USB drive into partitions. Most importantly, there's no point in formatting it to ext2. Use ext4 with no journaling instead to get all the pros of ext4 and none of the cons of using journaling on a memory device: mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/sda

You don't need to follow the instructions step by step, you can use it as a guide and alter it for your needs.
That guide can be used without making extra partitions and the format command can be altered for EXT3 or EXT4.
And I assume anyone who is knowledgeable enough to follow that instructions, he can also alter it for his own use by just doing a little more research.

 

[Asad Ali]

You don't need to follow the instructions step by step, you can use it as a guide and alter it for your needs.
That guide can be used without making extra partitions and the format command can be altered for EXT3 or EXT4.
And I assume anyone who is knowledgeable enough to follow that instructions, he can also alter it for his own use by just doing a little more research.

P.S I'm not the author of that article, I just happened to find it while doing some Googling a while back.

 

[Xentrk]

With respect, I disagree. Most users have no need to split the USB drive into partitions. Most importantly, there's no point in formatting it to ext2. Use ext4 with no journaling instead to get all the pros of ext4 and none of the cons of using journaling on a memory device: mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/sda

This web page explains the different ext formats and when one should choose ext2 vs ext3 vs ext4.
https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2011/05/ext2-ext3-ext4/?utm_source=feedburner

• On flash drives, usb drives, ext2 is recommended, as it doesn’t need to do the over head of journaling.
• Ext4 best for large file system and drives

 

[elorimer]

And something else I discovered:

I run one of my 2 OpenVPN servers on Port 443, and noticed the server was stopped during my messing about with pixelserv.

To get it going again, I disabled pixelserv then hit Apply for the Port 443 VPN server, which got it running, and only then restarted pixelserv. Not tested for repeatability, but on the face of it, if you have an OpenVPN server on Port 443 and the daemon won’t start, disable pixelserv, start the server, then re-enable pixelserve.

I think you will run into problems again. It used to be, and maybe still is, that OpenVPN would bind to all interfaces, so you have both OpenVPN and pixelserv listening on the LAN at port 443. If pixelserv already sits on that port, OpenVPN won't start--or restart.

Insert the line "local your.ddns.address" in the custom configuration box, and then OpenVPN will only listen on the WAN side, and pixelserv only on the LAN side.

Also, probably obvious, but you don't want to insert your WAN IP address if there is any possibility it might change. I don't know if it would even start if your WAN IP address has changed, but the client would never try that IP address. It should be your ddns.

 

[martinr]

I think you will run into problems again. It used to be, and maybe still is, that OpenVPN would bind to all interfaces, so you have both OpenVPN and pixelserv listening on the LAN at port 443. If pixelserv already sits on that port, OpenVPN won't start--or restart.

Insert the line "local your.ddns.address" in the custom configuration box, and then OpenVPN will only listen on the WAN side, and pixelserv only on the LAN side.

Many thanks, elorimer. That line was in my custom config, and when I updated the 384 firmware the other day, I didn’t put it back after the reversion to factory fefault settings. Can I add a comment in that box (beginning with #) so that next time I wonder what that does, there’ll be a memory-refressing explanation?

 

[elorimer]

Many thanks, elorimer. That line was in my custom config, and when I updated the 384 firmware the other day, I didn’t put it back after the reversion to factory fefault settings. Can I add a comment in that box (beginning with #) so that next time I wonder what that does, there’ll be a memory-refressing explanation?

Me too.
On the comments, dunno. That's the OpenVPN syntax, but I don't know whether Merlin's box would choke. The only other thing I have in the box is something to wake up a local server when the connection starts, so there isn't all that much.

 

[Martineau]

Can I add a comment in that box (beginning with #) so that next time I wonder what that does, there’ll be a memory-refressing explanation?

Yes

# Bind to a specific IP address - useful for Dual-WAN and also if pixelserv-tls is used!
#local xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
# or
#local ddns.domain.whatever
# or
#use openvpnserverX.postconf to translate pseudo command and update this GUI with actual bind time
local wan0 # 201805171108 Last BIND to 89.xxx.xxx.xxx via wan0

 

[heysoundude]

You don't need to follow the instructions step by step, you can use it as a guide and alter it for your needs.
That guide can be used without making extra partitions and the format command can be altered for EXT3 or EXT4.
And I assume anyone who is knowledgeable enough to follow that instructions, he can also alter it for his own use by just doing a little more research.

Exactly...for instance, I've been running entware/ab-s/pixelserv off a 8GB USB2.0 thumb drive for quite some time. The last time I walked into the computer shop, they had 120GB USB3.0 external SSDs on sale for a very good price, so I traded some of my money for one of them (I probably shouldve bought 2 at the price and made a small RAID0+1, but...) to put on my router as a network drive, and update all of the scripts on the thumb drive to current and move them on to the SSD, which would require the partition.
but the really key point that rang my big bell @Beherit was the part of naming the partition/drive...it saves so much aggravation in the long run for people who don't like to fool around with their machines after they're set up and running, and aren't making their living coding or on the command line; it's fairly esoteric and quite easily forgotten by that segment...and I'm one of them.

 

[Beherit]

This web page explains the different ext formats and when one should choose ext2 vs ext3 vs ext4.
https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2011/05/ext2-ext3-ext4/?utm_source=feedburner

• On flash drives, usb drives, ext2 is recommended, as it doesn’t need to do the over head of journaling.
• Ext4 best for large file system and drives

The article is incorrect, whoever wrote it lacks insight in how filesystems work and the differences in versions of ext2/3/4. The claim that ext4 is best only for large drives is false. There are no changes in ext4 compared to ext2 that in any way makes ext2 preferable on small drives.

I already adressed in my previous post how to disable journaling when using ext4. It has nothing to do with drive size, and is preferable for memory based devices (USB drives or SSD drivers) as it writes less data to the drive, thus creating less wear and tear.

There's more general information on this on the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext4 or, more in-depth information on the mechanics of ext2/3/4: https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions

TLDR: Regardless of drive type, size or interface you won't gain any performance by using ext2 instead of ext4. All you do is lose features, stability and data recovery. Use ext4 with no journaling instead of ext2.

 

[blueshark]

Why pixelserv are not updated to last ver i have 2.0.1

 

[martinr]

Why pixelserv are not updated to last ver i have 2.0.1

Probably, like me,

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ab-solution-the-ad-blocking-solution.37511/page-153#post-404974



your firmware version is too okd.

 

[blueshark]

I have lasted version firmware 384.5

Ab-solution 3.11.2

 

[RMerlin]

TLDR: Regardless of drive type, size or interface you won't gain any performance by using ext2 instead of ext4. All you do is lose features, stability and data recovery. Use ext4 with no journaling instead of ext2.

The big difference between ext2 and ext4 is journaling. ext2 has no journaling, so on slow mediums or those with a limited amount of allowed P/E cycles, you might be better off using ext2 (or ext4 with journaling disabled).

 

[punkinduster]

Why pixelserv are not updated to last ver i have 2.0.1

Just select to install the beta version. 2.1.1 has been out since April 15th.

 

[XIII]

I would like to reformat an ext2 flash drive to ext4 without journaling.

The drive is currently in use for swap, AB-Solution, and SkyNet.

How can I achieve this without ever physically unplugging it?

(the router is hard to reach)

 

[Asad Ali]

I would like to reformat an ext2 flash drive to ext4 without journaling.

The drive is currently in use for swap, AB-Solution, and SkyNet.

How can I achieve this without ever physically unplugging it?

(the router is hard to reach)

You can do it directly from the router SSH terminal and without losing any data ( but as a safety make a backup first )

First of all check your current USB filesystem and make note of your USB path I.e /dev/xyz ( where xyz can be anything ) by this command:

df -hT | awk '{print $1,$2,$NF}' | grep "^/dev"

After that unmount your USB drive, you can do that by disabling scripts and jffs partition on the router and then reboot it, then simply unmount the USB from the web GUI or use terminal command umount /dev/xyz ( you'll change xyz with the correct drive path here )

When the drive is successfully unmounted use this command to convert it to EXT 4 from EXT 2 without losing any data:

tune2fs -O dir_index,has_journal,uninit_bg /dev/xyz ( here again change xyz with the correct path name )

Next do a complete file system check with e2fsck command to fix and repair:

e2fsck -pf /dev/xyz

At this time your USB is converted to EXT4, now just issue this command to turn journaling off:

tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/xyz

Do a file system check once more:

e2fsck -pf /dev/xyz

And you're done.

Now just enable jffs and scripts on the router, reboot it and you're done.

You can test your converted file system by running this command once again:

df -hT | awk '{print $1,$2,$NF}' | grep "^/dev"

To check if journaling is properly disabled issue this command:

tune2fs -l /dev/xyz | grep features

If you don't see has_journal in the list , journaling is successfully turned off.

 

[JaimeZX]

Is there a quick way to temporarily disable ABS? Since most of my computers are on the guest computer and (until I figure out the solution) can't access the pixelserv IP, running ABS means lots of pages take forever to load because the expected ads never show up. I can go amtm -> uninstall ABS but I'd rather just temporarily turn it off if possible.

Edit: looks like I can just hit "a" at the main menu...

 

[DonnyJohnny]

Is there a quick way to temporarily disable ABS? Since most of my computers are on the guest computer and (until I figure out the solution) can't access the pixelserv IP, running ABS means lots of pages take forever to load because the expected ads never show up. I can go amtm -> uninstall ABS but I'd rather just temporarily turn it off if possible.

Edit: looks like I can just hit "a" at the main menu...

Don’t know what problem you having, but isn’t importing ca cert as easy as browsing “pixelserv’s ip/ca.crt”

Never mind.. say your problem.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/p...bserver-for-adblock.26114/page-95#post-405721