What is AdGuard?
Advertising and trackers follow internet users with most websites that are visited using your computers, tablets or smartphones.
AdGuard is a service designed to circumvent and block these ads & trackers automatically . It also has the ability to safeguard your family from adult content or any other content that may be deemed as inappropriate by adding it to a blacklist.
The AdGuard plugin in Home Assistant will operate as a local network DNS server which re-routes tracking domains to what can be described as a "black hole," thus preventing any devices be it mobile or PC from connecting to those servers.
The service also provides reporting on the number of blocked items, top clients, top domains and DNS queries.
AdGuard Installation with Home Assistant
- Select Select Select Supervisor in Home Assistant.
- INSTALL the repository which should take approximately 1 minute to complete.
- Once completed you should have the option to START AdGuard Home
- Select the option to Show in the sidebar for ease of access.
- Open AdGuard from the Sidebar.
- Navigate to the DNS Blocklists and Enable All
AdGuard Home Integration with Home Assistant Dashboard
AdGuard Home can be controlled directly from your Home Assistant Dashboard by carrying out the following steps.
- In Home Assistant select Configuration followed by navigating to Integration.
- Navigate to the AdGuard Home integration option and select the available Service, and select AdGuard Home
- Once the options for AdGuard Home is selected you will have the ability to add the AdGuard available entities to the Lovelace Dashboard
You will have the ability to control AdGuard Home directly from the dashboard without the need to go to the AdGuard web interface.
Enable Adguard Home for you home Network
The final step of the configuration requires changes to the internal network DNS that get assigned by the router to ensure that the devices connected are passing through the newly configured AdGuard Home service before going out to the internet in order to block those unwanted ads & tracking as well as safeguarding the family from specific sites that may have been blocked manually in the service.
Once the configuration is in place all devices such as PC's, tablets and smartphones connected to your network will be forced to pass through the new AdGuard Home service.
Routers differ from house to house but the principal remain the same in changing the preferences of your router. If you aren't comfortable in changing your router setup please consult your local IT professional to assist.
The settings that needs to be setup is the DHCP/DNS settings which all devices in the network receive. Your Primary DNS server need to be changed to the AdGuard service IP address. Once configured this will activate the service and you should see results in the AdGuard service Dashboard.
Additional Resources
https://github.com/Milney-Smart-Automation
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/home-assistant-community-add-on-adguard-home/90684
https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/adguard/