# AdGuard Home Technical Document The document describes technical details and internal algorithms of AdGuard Home. Contents: * First startup * Installation wizard * "Get install settings" command * "Check configuration" command * Disable DNSStubListener * "Apply configuration" command * Updating * Get version command * Update command * TLS * API: Get TLS configuration * API: Set TLS configuration * Device Names and Per-client Settings * Per-client settings * Get list of clients * Add client * Update client * Delete client * Enable DHCP server * "Show DHCP status" command * "Check DHCP" command * "Enable DHCP" command * Static IP check/set * Add a static lease * DNS access settings * List access settings * Set access settings * Rewrites * API: List rewrite entries * API: Add a rewrite entry * API: Remove a rewrite entry * Services Filter * API: Get blocked services list * API: Set blocked services list * Statistics * API: Get statistics data * API: Clear statistics data * API: Set statistics parameters * API: Get statistics parameters * Query logs * API: Get query log * API: Set querylog parameters * API: Get querylog parameters * Filtering * Filters update mechanism * API: Get filtering parameters * API: Set filtering parameters * API: Set URL parameters * Log-in page * API: Log in * API: Log out * API: Get current user info ## Relations between subsystems ![](agh-arch.png) ## First startup The first application startup is detected when there's no .yaml configuration file. We check if the user is root, otherwise we fail with an error. Web server is started up on port 3000 and automatically redirects requests to `/` to Installation wizard. After Installation wizard steps are completed, we write configuration to a file and start normal operation. ## Installation wizard This is the collection of UI screens that are shown to a user on first application startup. The screens are: 1. Welcome 2. Set up network interface and listening ports for Web and DNS servers 3. Set up administrator username and password 4. Configuration complete 5. Done Algorithm: Screen 2: * UI asks server for initial information and shows it * User edits the default settings, clicks on "Next" button * UI asks server to check new settings * Server searches for the known issues * UI shows information about the known issues and the means to fix them * Server applies automatic fixes of the known issues on command from UI Screen 3: * UI asks server to apply the configuration * Server restarts DNS server ### "Get install settings" command Request: GET /control/install/get_addresses Response: 200 OK { "web_port":80, "dns_port":53, "interfaces":{ "enp2s0":{"name":"enp2s0","mtu":1500,"hardware_address":"","ip_addresses":["",""],"flags":"up|broadcast|multicast"}, "lo":{"name":"lo","mtu":65536,"hardware_address":"","ip_addresses":["127.0.0.1","::1"],"flags":"up|loopback"}, } } If `interfaces.flags` doesn't contain `up` flag, UI must show `(Down)` status next to its IP address in interfaces selector. ### "Check configuration" command Request: POST /control/install/check_config { "web":{"port":80,"ip":"192.168.11.33"}, "dns":{"port":53,"ip":"127.0.0.1","autofix":false}, } Server should check whether a port is available only in case it itself isn't already listening on that port. Server replies on success: 200 OK { "web":{"status":""}, "dns":{"status":""}, } Server replies on error: 200 OK { "web":{"status":"ERROR MESSAGE"}, "dns":{"status":"ERROR MESSAGE", "can_autofix": true|false}, } ### Disable DNSStubListener On Linux, if 53 port is not available, server performs several additional checks to determine if the issue can be fixed automatically. #### Phase 1 Request: POST /control/install/check_config { "dns":{"port":53,"ip":"127.0.0.1","autofix":false} } Check if DNSStubListener is enabled: systemctl is-enabled systemd-resolved Check if DNSStubListener is active: grep -E '#?DNSStubListener=yes' /etc/systemd/resolved.conf If the issue can be fixed automatically, server replies with `"can_autofix":true` 200 OK { "dns":{"status":"ERROR MESSAGE", "can_autofix":true}, } In this case UI shows "Fix" button next to error message. #### Phase 2 If user clicks on "Fix" button, UI sends request to perform an automatic fix POST /control/install/check_config { "dns":{"port":53,"ip":"127.0.0.1","autofix":true}, } Deactivate (save backup as `resolved.conf.orig`) and stop DNSStubListener: sed -r -i.orig 's/#?DNSStubListener=yes/DNSStubListener=no/g' /etc/systemd/resolved.conf systemctl reload-or-restart systemd-resolved Server replies: 200 OK { "dns":{"status":""}, } ### "Apply configuration" command Request: POST /control/install/configure { "web":{"port":80,"ip":"192.168.11.33"}, "dns":{"port":53,"ip":"127.0.0.1"}, "username":"u", "password":"p", } Server checks the parameters once again, restarts DNS server, replies: 200 OK On error, server responds with code 400 or 500. In this case UI should show error message and reset to the beginning. 400 Bad Request ERROR MESSAGE ## Updating Algorithm of an update by command: * UI requests the latest version information from Server * Server requests information from Internet; stores the data in cache for several hours; sends data to UI * If UI sees that a new version is available, it shows notification message and "Update Now" button * When user clicks on "Update Now" button, UI sends Update command to Server * UI shows "Please wait, AGH is being updated..." message * Server performs an update: * Use working directory from `--work-dir` if necessary * Download new package for the current OS and CPU * Unpack the package to a temporary directory `update-vXXX` * Copy the current configuration file to the directory we unpacked new AGH to * Check configuration compatibility by executing `./AGH --check-config`. If this command fails, we won't be able to update. * Create `backup-vXXX` directory and copy the current configuration file there * Copy supporting files (README, LICENSE, etc.) to backup directory * Copy supporting files from the update directory to the current directory * Move the current binary file to backup directory * Note: if power fails here, AGH won't be able to start at system boot. Administrator has to fix it manually * Move new binary file to the current directory * Send response to UI * Stop all tasks, including DNS server, DHCP server, HTTP server * If AGH is running as a service, use service control functionality to restart * If AGH is not running as a service, use the current process arguments to start a new process * Exit process * UI resends Get Status command until Server responds to it with the new version. This means that Server is successfully restarted after update. * UI reloads itself ### Get version command On receiving this request server downloads version.json data from github and stores it in cache for several hours. Example of version.json data: { "version": "v0.95-hotfix", "announcement": "AdGuard Home v0.95-hotfix is now available!", "announcement_url": "", "download_windows_amd64": "", "download_windows_386": "", "download_darwin_amd64": "", "download_linux_amd64": "", "download_linux_386": "", "download_linux_arm": "", "download_linux_arm64": "", "download_linux_mips": "", "download_linux_mipsle": "", "selfupdate_min_version": "v0.0" } Server can only auto-update if the current version is equal or higher than `selfupdate_min_version`. Request: POST /control/version.json { "recheck_now": true | false // if false, server will check for a new version data only once in several hours } Response: 200 OK { "new_version": "v0.95", "announcement": "AdGuard Home v0.95 is now available!", "announcement_url": "http://...", "can_autoupdate": true } If `can_autoupdate` is true, then the server can automatically upgrade to a new version. Response with empty body: 200 OK It means that update check is disabled by user. UI should do nothing. ### Update command Perform an update procedure to the latest available version Request: POST /control/update Response: 200 OK Error response: 500 UI shows error message "Auto-update has failed" ## Enable DHCP server Algorithm: * UI shows DHCP configuration screen with "Enabled DHCP" button disabled, and "Check DHCP" button enabled * User clicks on "Check DHCP"; UI sends request to server * Server may fail to detect whether there is another DHCP server working in the network. In this case UI shows a warning. * Server may detect that a dynamic IP configuration is used for this interface. In this case UI shows a warning. * UI enables "Enable DHCP" button * User clicks on "Enable DHCP"; UI sends request to server * Server sets a static IP (if necessary), enables DHCP server, sends the status back to UI * UI shows the status ### "Show DHCP status" command Request: GET /control/dhcp/status Response: 200 OK { "config":{ "enabled":false, "interface_name":"...", "gateway_ip":"...", "subnet_mask":"...", "range_start":"...", "range_end":"...", "lease_duration":60, "icmp_timeout_msec":0 }, "leases":[ {"ip":"...","mac":"...","hostname":"...","expires":"..."} ... ], "static_leases":[ {"ip":"...","mac":"...","hostname":"..."} ... ] } ### "Check DHCP" command Request: POST /control/dhcp/find_active_dhcp vboxnet0 Response: 200 OK { "other_server": { "found": "yes|no|error", "error": "Error message", // set if found=error }, "static_ip": { "static": "yes|no|error", "ip": "", // set if static=no } } If `other_server.found` is: * `no`: everything is fine - there is no other DHCP server * `yes`: we found another DHCP server. UI shows a warning. * `error`: we failed to determine whether there's another DHCP server. `other_server.error` contains error details. UI shows a warning. If `static_ip.static` is: * `yes`: everything is fine - server uses static IP address. * `no`: `static_ip.ip` contains the current dynamic IP address which we may set as static. In this case UI shows a warning: Your system uses dynamic IP address configuration for interface . In order to use DHCP server a static IP address must be set. Your current IP address is . We will automatically set this IP address as static if you press Enable DHCP button. * `error`: this means that the server failed to check for a static IP. In this case UI shows a warning: In order to use DHCP server a static IP address must be set. We failed to determine if this network interface is configured using static IP address. Please set a static IP address manually. ### "Enable DHCP" command Request: POST /control/dhcp/set_config { "enabled":true, "interface_name":"vboxnet0", "gateway_ip":"192.169.56.1", "subnet_mask":"255.255.255.0", "range_start":"192.169.56.3", "range_end":"192.169.56.3", "lease_duration":60, "icmp_timeout_msec":0 } Response: 200 OK OK ### Static IP check/set Before enabling DHCP server we have to make sure the network interface we use has a static IP configured. #### Phase 1 On Debian systems DHCP is configured by `/etc/dhcpcd.conf`. To detect if a static IP is used currently we search for line interface eth0 and then look for line static ip_address=... If the interface already has a static IP, everything is set up, we don't have to change anything. To get the current IP address along with netmask we execute ip -oneline -family inet address show eth0 which will print: 2: eth0 inet 192.168.0.1/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global eth0\ valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever To get the current gateway address: ip route show dev enp2s0 which will print: default via 192.168.0.1 proto dhcp metric 100 #### Phase 2 This method only works on Raspbian. On Ubuntu DHCP for a network interface can't be disabled via `dhcpcd.conf`. This must be configured in `/etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml`. Fedora doesn't use `dhcpcd.conf` configuration at all. Step 1. To set a static IP address we add these lines to `dhcpcd.conf`: interface eth0 static ip_address=192.168.0.1/24 static routers=192.168.0.1 static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 * Don't set 'routers' if we couldn't find gateway IP * Set 'domain_name_servers' equal to our IP Step 2. If we would set a different IP address, we'd need to replace the IP address for the current network configuration. But currently this step isn't necessary. ip addr replace dev eth0 192.168.0.1/24 ### Add a static lease Request: POST /control/dhcp/add_static_lease { "mac":"...", "ip":"...", "hostname":"..." } Response: 200 OK ### Remove a static lease Request: POST /control/dhcp/remove_static_lease { "mac":"...", "ip":"...", "hostname":"..." } Response: 200 OK ## TLS ### API: Get TLS configuration Request: GET /control/tls/status Response: 200 OK { "enabled":true, "server_name":"...", "port_https":443, "port_dns_over_tls":853, "certificate_chain":"...", "private_key":"...", "certificate_path":"...", "private_key_path":"..." "subject":"CN=...", "issuer":"CN=...", "not_before":"2019-03-19T08:23:45Z", "not_after":"2029-03-16T08:23:45Z", "dns_names":null, "key_type":"RSA", "valid_cert":true, "valid_key":true, "valid_chain":false, "valid_pair":true, "warning_validation":"Your certificate does not verify: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority" } ### API: Set TLS configuration Request: POST /control/tls/configure { "enabled":true, "server_name":"hostname", "force_https":false, "port_https":443, "port_dns_over_tls":853, "certificate_chain":"...", "private_key":"...", "certificate_path":"...", // if set, certificate_chain must be empty "private_key_path":"..." // if set, private_key must be empty } Response: 200 OK ## Device Names and Per-client Settings When a client requests information from DNS server, he's identified by IP address. Administrator can set a name for a client with a known IP and also override global settings for this client. The name is used to improve readability of DNS logs: client's name is shown in UI next to its IP address. The names are loaded from 3 sources: * automatically from "/etc/hosts" file. It's a list of `IP<->Name` entries which is loaded once on AGH startup from "/etc/hosts" file. * automatically using rDNS. It's a list of `IP<->Name` entries which is added in runtime using rDNS mechanism when a client first makes a DNS request. * manually configured via UI. It's a list of client's names and their settings which is loaded from configuration file and stored on disk. ### Per-client settings UI provides means to manage the list of known clients (List/Add/Update/Delete) and their settings. These settings are stored in configuration file as an array of objects. Notes: * `name`, `ip` and `mac` values are unique. * `ip` & `mac` values can't be set both at the same time. * If `mac` is set and DHCP server is enabled, IP is taken from DHCP lease table. * If `use_global_settings` is true, then DNS responses for this client are processed and filtered using global settings. * If `use_global_settings` is false, then the client-specific settings are used to override (enable or disable) global settings. * If `use_global_blocked_services` is false, then the client-specific settings are used to override (enable or disable) global Blocked Services settings. ### Get list of clients Request: GET /control/clients Response: 200 OK { clients: [ { name: "client1" ip: "..." mac: "..." use_global_settings: true filtering_enabled: false parental_enabled: false safebrowsing_enabled: false safesearch_enabled: false use_global_blocked_services: true blocked_services: [ "name1", ... ] whois_info: { key: "value" ... } } ] auto_clients: [ { name: "host" ip: "..." source: "etc/hosts" || "rDNS" whois_info: { key: "value" ... } } ] } Supported keys for `whois_info`: orgname, country, city. ### Add client Request: POST /control/clients/add { name: "client1" ip: "..." mac: "..." use_global_settings: true filtering_enabled: false parental_enabled: false safebrowsing_enabled: false safesearch_enabled: false use_global_blocked_services: true blocked_services: [ "name1", ... ] } Response: 200 OK Error response (Client already exists): 400 ### Update client Request: POST /control/clients/update { name: "client1" data: { name: "client1" ip: "..." mac: "..." use_global_settings: true filtering_enabled: false parental_enabled: false safebrowsing_enabled: false safesearch_enabled: false use_global_blocked_services: true blocked_services: [ "name1", ... ] } } Response: 200 OK Error response (Client not found): 400 ### Delete client Request: POST /control/clients/delete { name: "client1" } Response: 200 OK Error response (Client not found): 400 ## DNS access settings There are low-level settings that can block undesired DNS requests. "Blocking" means not responding to request. There are 3 types of access settings: * allowed_clients: Only these clients are allowed to make DNS requests. * disallowed_clients: These clients are not allowed to make DNS requests. * blocked_hosts: These hosts are not allowed to be resolved by a DNS request. ### List access settings Request: GET /control/access/list Response: 200 OK { allowed_clients: ["127.0.0.1", ...] disallowed_clients: ["127.0.0.1", ...] blocked_hosts: ["host.com", ...] } ### Set access settings Request: POST /control/access/set { allowed_clients: ["127.0.0.1", ...] disallowed_clients: ["127.0.0.1", ...] blocked_hosts: ["host.com", ...] } Response: 200 OK ## Rewrites This section allows the administrator to easily configure custom DNS response for a specific domain name. A, AAAA and CNAME records are supported. ### API: List rewrite entries Request: GET /control/rewrite/list Response: 200 OK [ { domain: "..." answer: "..." } ... ] ### API: Add a rewrite entry Request: POST /control/rewrite/add { domain: "..." answer: "..." // "1.2.3.4" (A) || "::1" (AAAA) || "hostname" (CNAME) } Response: 200 OK ### API: Remove a rewrite entry Request: POST /control/rewrite/delete { domain: "..." answer: "..." } Response: 200 OK ## Services Filter Allows to quickly block popular sites globally or for specific client only. UI manages these settings via global or per-client API. UI and server have the same list of the services supported and this list must always be in synchronization. UI code also contains icons for each service: `client/src/components/ui/Icons.js`. How it works: * UI presents the list of services which user may want to block * Admin clicks on the checkboxes in front of the services to block and presses Save * UI sends `Set blocked services list` or `Update client` message * Server updates the internal configuration * When a user sends a DNS request for a host which is blocked by these settings, he won't receive its IP address * Query log will show that this request was blocked by "Blocked services" Internally, all supported services are stored as a map: service name -> list of rules ### API: Get blocked services list Request: GET /control/blocked_services/list Response: 200 OK [ "name1", ... ] ### API: Set blocked services list Request: POST /control/blocked_services/set [ "name1", ... ] Response: 200 OK ## Statistics Load (main thread): . Load data from the last bucket from DB for the current hour Runtime (DNS worker threads): . Update current unit Runtime (goroutine): . Periodically check that current unit should be flushed to file (when the current hour changes) . If so, flush it, allocate a new empty unit Runtime (HTTP worker threads): . To respond to "Get statistics" API request we: . load all units from file . load current unit . process data from all loaded units: . sum up data for "total counters" output values . add value into "per time unit counters" output arrays . aggregate data for "top_" output arrays; sort in descending order Unload (main thread): . Flush current unit to file ### API: Get statistics data Request: GET /control/stats Response: 200 OK { time_units: hours | days // total counters: num_dns_queries: 123 num_blocked_filtering: 123 num_replaced_safebrowsing: 123 num_replaced_safesearch: 123 num_replaced_parental: 123 avg_processing_time: 123.123 // per time unit counters dns_queries: [123, ...] blocked_filtering: [123, ...] replaced_parental: [123, ...] replaced_safebrowsing: [123, ...] top_queried_domains: [ {host: 123}, ... ] top_blocked_domains: [ {host: 123}, ... ] top_clients: [ {IP: 123}, ... ] } ### API: Clear statistics data Request: POST /control/stats_reset Response: 200 OK ### API: Set statistics parameters Request: POST /control/stats_config { "interval": 1 | 7 | 30 | 90 } Response: 200 OK ### API: Get statistics parameters Request: GET /control/stats_info Response: 200 OK { "interval": 1 | 7 | 30 | 90 } ## Query logs When a new DNS request is received and processed, we store information about this event in "query log". It is a file on disk in JSON format: { "Question":"..."," Answer":"...", "Result":{ "IsFiltered":true, "Reason":3, "Rule":"...", "FilterID":1 }, "Time":"...", "Elapsed":12345, "IP":"127.0.0.1" } ### Adding new data First, new data is stored in a memory region. When this array is filled to a particular amount of entries (e.g. 5000), we flush this data to a file and clear the array. ### Getting data When UI asks for data from query log (see "API: Get query log"), server reads the newest entries from memory array and the file. The maximum number of items returned per one request is limited by configuration. ### Removing old data We store data for a limited amount of time - the log file is automatically rotated. ### API: Get query log Request: GET /control/querylog ?older_than=2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999Z07:00 &filter_domain=... &filter_client=... &filter_question_type=A | AAAA &filter_response_status= | filtered If `older_than` value is set, server returns the next chunk of entries that are older than this time stamp. This setting is used for paging. UI sets the empty value on the first request and gets the latest log entries. To get the older entries, UI sets this value to the timestamp of the last (the oldest) entry from the previous response from Server. If "filter" settings are set, server returns only entries that match the specified request. For `filter.domain` and `filter.client` the server matches substrings by default: `adguard.com` matches `www.adguard.com`. Strict matching can be enabled by enclosing the value in double quotes: `"adguard.com"` matches `adguard.com` but doesn't match `www.adguard.com`. Response: [ { "answer":[ { "ttl":10, "type":"AAAA", "value":"::" } ... ], "client":"127.0.0.1", "elapsedMs":"0.098403", "filterId":1, "question":{ "class":"IN", "host":"doubleclick.net", "type":"AAAA" }, "reason":"FilteredBlackList", "rule":"||doubleclick.net^", "status":"NOERROR", "time":"2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999Z07:00" } ... ] The most recent entries are at the top of list. ### API: Set querylog parameters Request: POST /control/querylog_config { "enabled": true | false "interval": 1 | 7 | 30 | 90 } Response: 200 OK ### API: Get querylog parameters Request: GET /control/querylog_info Response: 200 OK { "enabled": true | false "interval": 1 | 7 | 30 | 90 } ## Filtering ### Filters update mechanism Filters can be updated either manually by request from UI or automatically. Auto-update interval can be configured in UI. If it is 0, auto-update is disabled. When the last modification date of filter files is older than auto-update interval, auto-update procedure is started. If an enabled filter file doesn't exist, it's downloaded on application startup. This includes the case when installation wizard is completed and there are no filter files yet. When auto-update time comes, server starts the update procedure by downloading filter files. After new filter files are in place, it restarts DNS filtering module with new rules. Only filters that are enabled by configuration can be updated. As a result of the update procedure, all enabled filter files are written to disk, refreshed (their last modification date is equal to the current time) and loaded. ### API: Get filtering parameters Request: GET /control/filtering/status Response: 200 OK { "enabled": true | false "interval": 0 | 1 | 12 | 1*24 || 3*24 || 7*24 "filters":[ { "id":1 "enabled":true, "url":"https://...", "name":"...", "rules_count":1234, "last_updated":"2019-09-04T18:29:30+00:00", } ... ], "user_rules":["...", ...] } ### API: Set filtering parameters Request: POST /control/filtering/config { "enabled": true | false "interval": 0 | 1 | 12 | 1*24 || 3*24 || 7*24 } Response: 200 OK ### API: Set URL parameters Request: POST /control/filtering/set_url { "url": "..." "enabled": true | false } Response: 200 OK ## Log-in page After user completes the steps of installation wizard, he must log in into dashboard using his name and password. After user successfully logs in, he gets the Cookie which allows the server to authenticate him next time without password. After the Cookie is expired, user needs to perform log-in operation again. All requests without a proper Cookie get redirected to Log-In page with prompt for name and password. YAML configuration: users: - name: "..." password: "..." // bcrypt hash ... Session DB file: session="..." user=name expire=123456 ... Session data is SHA(random()+name+password). Expiration time is UNIX time when cookie gets expired. Any request to server must come with Cookie header: GET /... Cookie: session=... If not authenticated, server sends a redirect response: 302 Found Location: /login.html ### Reset password There is no mechanism to reset the password. Instead, the administrator must use `htpasswd` utility to generate a new hash: htpasswd -B -n -b username password It will print `username:` to the terminal. `` value may be used in AGH YAML configuration file as a value to `password` setting: users: - name: "..." password: ### API: Log in Perform a log-in operation for administrator. Server generates a session for this name+password pair, stores it in file. UI needs to perform all requests with this value inside Cookie HTTP header. Request: POST /control/login { name: "..." password: "..." } Response: 200 OK Set-Cookie: session=...; Expires=Wed, 09 Jun 2021 10:18:14 GMT; Path=/; HttpOnly ### API: Log out Perform a log-out operation for administrator. Server removes the session from its DB and sets an expired cookie value. Request: GET /control/logout Response: 302 Found Location: /login.html Set-Cookie: session=...; Expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT ### API: Get current user info Request: GET /control/profile Response: 200 OK { "name":"..." } If no client is configured then authentication is disabled and server sends an empty response.