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Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

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Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#51

Post by noisy_boy »

hnarn wrote: post #24

I've been using https://nextdns.io/ for a while and I really like it. You can do DNS over HTTPS through Firefox (sadly not on an OS level in Windows for example, but that's fine -- I'm sure OS level support works better on Linux), and it supports a lot of user-level customization. You can add and remove entire blocklists, you can black/white-list specific domains, see logs of your blocks, some analytics, create your…

Thanks for mentioning it - I just started using it and seems great. I particularly like being able to setup multiple profiles that lets me have strong parental control configuration for kids - ability to view logs is also good though the search can do with some improvements.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#52

Post by imglorp »

martimarkov wrote: post #44
imglorp wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome, for example, has banned some adblockers. Makes sense to me.

Out of curiosity which ones and is there a common pattern in their blockage philosophy?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-brave-vivaldi-to-ignore-...

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#53

Post by op00to »

littleweep wrote: post #31
swinglock wrote: post #29

Who is this for, what's the point? If you're using a computer on which installing this software is an alternative, you can install a web browser with an ad blocker, which performs much better than DNS based filters. If you're not using such a computer, Pi-Hole proves DNS filtering and this software doesn't. What's the use-case between these two that isn't already covered?

A lot of websites (news sites especially) detect in-browser ad blockers and urge users to whitelist the site before continuing to read the article. This is a good workaround for that use case.

No, the websites detect that a resource wasn't loaded which triggers the annoying stuff. This happens with a pihole, adblocker, maza, or plain ol' hosts file. Ad blockers aren't magic.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#54

Post by ignoramous »

noisy_boy wrote: post #51
hnarn wrote: post #24

I've been using https://nextdns.io/ for a while and I really like it. You can do DNS over HTTPS through Firefox (sadly not on an OS level in Windows for example, but that's fine -- I'm sure OS level support works better on Linux), and it supports a lot of user-level customization. You can add and remove entire blocklists, you can black/white-list specific domains, see logs of your blocks, some analytics, create your…

Thanks for mentioning it - I just started using it and seems great. I particularly like being able to setup multiple profiles that lets me have strong parental control configuration for kids - ability to view logs is also good though the search can do with some improvements.

> setup multiple profiles that lets me have strong parental control configuration for kids

I've been using it too, but I've found nextdns go down from time to time. How are you dealing with explaining how to change the DNS setting to people at home because "internet doesn't work"? I wish DoH client implementations had support for primary and secondary endpoints [0]. I've seen people straight up uninstall DoH clients from their devices in frustration.

I must point out that the Android implementation for DoT does fallback to OS or network provided DNS resolver (usually, dns.google), and that's a saving grace [1]. And so, I have no reservations setting up nextdns for everyone on the Androids.

Fwiw, I've found running DoH with Stackpath Edge Engine and Cloudflare Workers to be quite trouble-free, but it isn't for everyone: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22414433

---

[0] Nebulo (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frostnerd....) is the only Android DoH client I've seen support this.

[1] Speaking of DoH instead: Google's https://getintra.org falls back to last-known good DoH resolver, but then, never (?) switches back to primary unless restarted, from what I can recall.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#56

Post by jlkuester7 »

darkteflon wrote: post #39
hnarn wrote: post #24

I've been using https://nextdns.io/ for a while and I really like it. You can do DNS over HTTPS through Firefox (sadly not on an OS level in Windows for example, but that's fine -- I'm sure OS level support works better on Linux), and it supports a lot of user-level customization. You can add and remove entire blocklists, you can black/white-list specific domains, see logs of your blocks, some analytics, create your…

I’ve just looked into this - it looks excellent. Can I ask: is this an all-round superior solution to running your own pi-hole? I set up dual redundant pi-holes on raspberry pi 4s on my home network but switching all devices to NextDNS would give me access to filtered DNS even when away from home, plus save me the trouble of running two raspis (including two Ubuntu instances) just for that purpose. Could anyone knowl…

I recently spent a bunch of time comparing NextDNS vs PiHole. The reality is their features-sets are pretty close, but I eventually settled on NextDNS and here were some of my takeaways:

  NextDNS Pros:
  * Can use NextDNS on any network (thanks to their apps or just regular DNS-over-HTTP/TLS).
    * (Could get similar functionality on PiHole with a remote hosted PiHole + VPN, but much more complex to setup)
  * NextDNS allows for multiple different configuration setups per account (so you can fine-tune your blocking/filtering differently for different devices).
    * (PiHole AFIK only supports a single configuration)
  * NextDNS IMHO had the superior UI. With more powerful config options.
    * In reality with some extra manual config/coding you could probably get PiHole to do most of what is in the config for NextDNS, but it would take some work.

  PiHole Pros:
  * PiHole is open source.
    * The NextDNS server code is closed-source, but they do have an open-source CLI client.
  * PiHole is self-hosted (much better from a privacy perspective).
    * But you do get all the downsides of being responsible for hosting something as central as a DNS server yourself...

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#58

Post by ignoramous »

op00to wrote: post #45
huhtenberg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just for the sake of argument - to block trackers that are built into other software, eg. chat clients and some such.

I mean, ok. But you're allowing a chat client to run code on your PC... in the case I saw it was sudo. You can do a shitload more with sudo than you can with a browser extension. I still don't get it.

> I still don't get it.

Think of it like a DNS-layer firewall. Plenty ways to get circumvent it, but works wonderfully, nonetheless.

> in the case I saw it was sudo

This isn't an all-in-one security product. Just one way to firewall trackers, ads, and whatever else one wants.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#59

Post by donclark »

jlkuester7 wrote: post #56
darkteflon wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve just looked into this - it looks excellent. Can I ask: is this an all-round superior solution to running your own pi-hole? I set up dual redundant pi-holes on raspberry pi 4s on my home network but switching all devices to NextDNS would give me access to filtered DNS even when away from home, plus save me the trouble of running two raspis (including two Ubuntu instances) just for that purpose. Could anyone knowl…

I recently spent a bunch of time comparing NextDNS vs PiHole. The reality is their features-sets are pretty close, but I eventually settled on NextDNS and here were some of my takeaways: NextDNS Pros: * Can use NextDNS on any network (thanks to their apps or just regular DNS-over-HTTP/TLS). * (Could get similar functionality on PiHole with a remote hosted PiHole + VPN, but much more complex to setup) * NextDNS allows…

Another PiHole pro is that it can work for every device in your house (if you set it up that way).

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#60

Post by technovader »

jlkuester7 wrote: post #56
darkteflon wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve just looked into this - it looks excellent. Can I ask: is this an all-round superior solution to running your own pi-hole? I set up dual redundant pi-holes on raspberry pi 4s on my home network but switching all devices to NextDNS would give me access to filtered DNS even when away from home, plus save me the trouble of running two raspis (including two Ubuntu instances) just for that purpose. Could anyone knowl…

I recently spent a bunch of time comparing NextDNS vs PiHole. The reality is their features-sets are pretty close, but I eventually settled on NextDNS and here were some of my takeaways: NextDNS Pros: * Can use NextDNS on any network (thanks to their apps or just regular DNS-over-HTTP/TLS). * (Could get similar functionality on PiHole with a remote hosted PiHole + VPN, but much more complex to setup) * NextDNS allows…

-NextDNS is a product with a free tier. It will always be limited in that sense.

+Pihole is free and open. It is also yours to build,manage,customize as you please.

-NextDNS is also further away, meaning there will be much more latency for all your DNS queries. It is usually best to run your own resolver, or have a local DNS server in your network.

+Pihole sits on a device on your network. You can also enable recursion directly on the pihole by installing Unbound on the same device.

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