PfBlockerNG v2.0 w/DNSBL

Panja

Looking forward to this release!
Keep up the good work mate. Awesome! 8)

BBcan177

Great work sir! I'm looking forward to this release. Will there be any special instructions for upgrading?

There should be no concerns in migrating to pfBNG v2.0 from the existing v1.10.

pfSense has two types of DNS Services

DNS Forwarder
DNS Resolver

If you plan on using the DNSBL feature, you will need to use the DNS Resolver for your DNS queries, the DNS Forwarder is not an option for DNSBL. Its probably best to ensure that the DNS Resolver is working before using DNSBL.

The DNS Resolver is developed by NLnet Labs and is named 'Unbound'. It is a validating, recursive and caching DNS resolver. https://www.unbound.net/index.html

Some recommendations:

The DNS Resolver can also be used in 'Forwardering mode'; however its best to not use this 'Forwarding mode' and keep it in 'resolver mode' as this will query the Root DNS servers for the DNS queries instead of relying on an ISPs DNS etc…
If you use the 'DNS Resolver Forwarder mode', only configure 'DNSSEC' if the configured DNS servers support DNSSEC. The enabling of 'DNSSEC' to harden your DNS security is highly recommended.
Disable the two "DHCP registrations" checkboxes, unless you really require those options.

Here is a good primer about the DNS Resolver (Unbound) https://calomel.org/unbound_dns.html

gsiemon

@BBcan177:

If you plan on using the DNSBL feature, you will need to use the DNS Resolver for your DNS queries, the DNS Forwarder is not an option for DNSBL. Its probably best to ensure that the

I'm using the Bind package instead of Unbound. Will V2.0 support that or is it hard coded to use only Unbound? If it only supports Unbound, is it possible to support Bind in the future?

doktornotor

@gsiemon:

I'm using the Bind package instead of Unbound. Will V2.0 support that

No.

fraglord

You doin a great job! I appreciate it and many others do so as well. It is a leightweight alternative to squid when it comes to ad-blocking.
I was allowed ot participate in the beta test program and the DNSBL feature is my favourite. Minor issues have been ironed out with the latest upgdates so it for sure feels ready to be released.

a-a-ron

@fraglord:

You doin a great job! I appreciate it and many others do so as well. It is a leightweight alternative to squid when it comes to ad-blocking.
I was allowed ot participate in the beta test program and the DNSBL feature is my favourite. Minor issues have been ironed out with the latest upgdates so it for sure feels ready to be released.

Same here, it was a pleasure to help BBcan177. Hopefully I wasn't too much of a pain :D

musicwizard

yup the beta one works really nice :)
Running my own DNS server and not from my ISP/google/ etc
so dnsbl is really nice on it also. Keep it up BBcan

cmb

This has been merged, it'll be live in the package repo within at most ~15 minutes of the time of this post.

I largely relied on all your reports here for testing, only checking that the basics function and there isn't anything malicious, or grossly wrong at a glance. If there are issues, BBCan, please follow up with pull requests and I'll make sure one of us gets them merged promptly. Those who were beta testing, it'd help if you can reinstall latest from the standard package repo and report back.

Thanks BBCan!

doktornotor

@cmb:

Those who were beta testing, it'd help if you can reinstall latest from the standard package repo and report back.

Done, all works pretty well (as before). :D

BBcan177

@cmb:

This has been merged, it'll be live in the package repo within at most ~15 minutes of the time of this post.

I largely relied on all your reports here for testing, only checking that the basics function and there isn't anything malicious, or grossly wrong at a glance. If there are issues, BBCan, please follow up with pull requests and I'll make sure one of us gets them merged promptly. Those who were beta testing, it'd help if you can reinstall latest from the standard package repo and report back.

Thanks BBCan!

Thanks Chris! :)

hda

Package update succeeded on the second reinstall from v1.10, after ~11 min. on an Alix pfSense 2.2.5 (ro). Thank you BBcan :)

Update: I followed BBcan's instructions below for starting DNSBL and that worked too. Excellent extension.

BBcan177

Here are some basic instructions to get started with DNSBL.

Open the pfBNG "DNSBL" Tab:

(Use the defaults unless you have a need to use otherwise)
Enter the DNSBL VIP as 10.10.10.1
Enter the DNSBL Listening Port as 8081
Enter the DNSBL SSL Listening port as 8443
Select the DNSBL Listening Interface as Lan

For the DNSBL Firewall Rule select all of the LAN subnets that access the DNS Resolver.
Ensure that all Devices that use the DNS Resolver, have the Resolver as its only DNS setting for DNSBL to function properly.

DNSBL IP Firewall Rule Settings:
Select Deny outbound or as per your requirements
select Enable logging

Alexa (is optional, you can skip this until later if you wish)
Select Top 1K
Select the TLD Inclusions as ca,co,com,io,me,net,org or as required.

In the Custom List you may enter any domain you wish to Whitelist.

Save your settings

Open the "DNSBL Feeds" Tab:

Create a new DNSBL Alias

Enter DNS Group Name as ADs
Enter Description as DNSBL ADverts

DNSBL:

Enter the Header/Label and Source URL as follows:
(Use copy/paste as plain text for the URL)

Format Auto and State ON

yoyo
http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=hosts&mimetype=plaintext

hpHosts_ads
http://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt

Adaway
https://adaway.org/hosts.txt

Cameleon
http://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts

Select List Action as Unbound
Select Update Frequency as Once a day

Alexa:
Do not enable the Alexa Whitelist for this ADverts based alias, as Alexa also posts the top ADvert servers. So using Alexa whitelist, will interfere with ADvert Blocking.

Add any other domains that you wish to block in the Custom List.

Save your settings

Open the "DNSBL" Tab:

Click DNSBL Enable checkbox.
Save your settings

Open the "Update" Tab:

Select Force Update

You should now see the DNSBL Feeds being downloaded and parsed. Once that is complete, goto the Dashboard, and confirm that the widget is populated correctly.

Goto the pfBlockerNG "Alerts" Tab:

Any domain that is blocked will be reported here. For HTTPS alerts, the SRC IP and URL are not captured due to Browser security measures.

As a test, goto www.aol.com and www.yahoo.com and see some alerts populate.

There are several other DNSBL Feeds that can be used with pfBNG DNSBL. I will post that at a later date, once users get their basic configurations working. There is also an ADBlock Easylist tab, which is pretty self-explanatory.

n3by

@cmb:

…

I largely relied on all your reports here for testing, only checking that the basics function and there isn't anything malicious, or grossly wrong at a glance.
...
Those who were beta testing, it'd help if you can reinstall latest from the standard package repo and report back.

Thanks BBCan!

uninstalled test 77 DEV and installed 2.0 from official on 2 boxes v2.2.4 & v2.2.5

At first look it was ok, up and running but I see that I have to manual start service```
dnsbl pfBlockerNG DNSBL Web Server

This service not running after update is something that I had before when beta testing on all boxes.

ntct

I also update from dev to 2.0, it work properly, a powerful package

Thanks! BBcan177

wcrowder

@cmb:

Those who were beta testing, it'd help if you can reinstall latest from the standard package repo and report back.

Thanks BBCan!

Done, ran the standard tests, all good. Thanks for all the work BB!

pfcode

Work like a charm, Thanks! For some reason, First attempt stuck at the 'Downloading MaxMind databases' part. Second attempt worked.

vito

@pfcode:

Work like a charm, Thanks! For some reason, First attempt stuck at the 'Downloading MaxMind databases' part. Second attempt worked.

I had this also, second time worked fine
prior, i was on the latest build of PFB 1.x

BBcan177

Looks like I have a file caching issue with the download function. I will get that resolved asap and add the relevant download code directly to the install code.

Bastion

Installed and configured with DNSBL, all went smoothly and working flawlessly since.

Great package by great people ! Many thanks BBcan177

Wolf666

After months of testing I just installed pfBlockerNG 2.0 from official repository, everything is ok.
Thanks BBCan, ottimo lavoro amico mio!