Ad blocking with dnsmasq
Table of Contents
1 Why
Some people just hate adblockers like ublock other can't install them because 'reasons'. If you consider pi-hole bloated and sketchy you can use this as an alternative. Dns blackholing is much faster than any modern browser adblocker, ofcourse it blocks far less ads than any specialised tool.
2 Installation
First you'll need to install dnsmasq.
yum install dnsmasq yum enable --now dnsmasq
3 Configuration
# Make sure that line conf-dir=/etc/dnsmasq.d/,… is uncommented conf-dir=/etc/dnsmasq.d/,*.conf # Include all files in a directory which end in .conf
In /etc/dnsmasq.d create two config files 10-config.conf and 20-block.conf
domain-needed bogus-priv no-resolv server=4.2.2.2 # Change dns servers to your liking or leave as is server=1.1.1.1 interface=enp7s0 # Change network interface name listen-address=127.0.0.1 cache-size=10000 log-queries log-facility=/var/log/dnsmasq-adblock.log local-ttl=300 log-async
conf-file=/etc/dnsmasq.d/domains.txt addn-hosts=/etc/dnsmasq.d/hostnames.txt
Make sure you've configured logrotate. /var/log/dnsmasq-adblock.log can become huge.
/var/log/dnsmasq-adblock.log {
monthly
missingok
rotate 5
compress
copytruncate
sharedscripts
postrotate
systemctl reload dnsmasq.service || true
endscript
}
Now for the last and most important part block lists. I am using notracking/hosts-blocklists, they are generated daily from multiple sources and they are compatible with dnsmasq. You'll need to create lists-update.sh and make it executable.
#!/bin/bash # Logger entries are just for fun and you can remove them without any consequince cd /etc/dnsmasq.d/ logger --journald <<end MESSAGE_ID=b5390cad8d054b79b5edc97cc9758bc5 MESSAGE=[AD BLOCK] Removing old lists PRIORITY=6 end rm /etc/dnsmasq.d/*.txt logger --journald <<end MESSAGE_ID=b5390cad8d054b79b5edc97cc9758bc5 MESSAGE=[AD BLOCK] Updating dnsmasq ad blocking lists PRIORITY=6 end for URL in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/notracking/hosts-blocklists/master/domains.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/notracking/hosts-blocklists/master/hostnames.txt do wget -q $URL done logger --journald <<end MESSAGE_ID=b5390cad8d054b79b5edc97cc9758bc5 MESSAGE=[AD BLOCK] Applying updated lists PRIORITY=6 end systemctl reload dnsmasq
Now check config file for errors and restart dnsmasq.
dnsmasq --test systemctl restart dnsmasq
4 Usage
You will need to configure your wifi ac or router or network connection locally and select your server with installed dnsmasq as first dns server.
To test if everything is working as intended:
$ drill <domain from blocklist> … ;; ANSWER SECTION: blocked.domain.com. 300 IN A 0.0.0.0 … $ drill i.ua … ;; ANSWER SECTION: i.ua. 4023 IN A 91.198.36.14 … # Next queries will be much faster
That's it.
Most pages will load MUCH faster, some (one in a thousand for me) will become broken but why would you want to visit site which wouldn't even work without some ads or trackers.