Installation

Pharos Advanced Blocking (pab) is a lightweight, compiled binary designed to integrate safely with your existing Technitium host.

Installing Pharos Advanced Blocking (pab) is designed to be straightforward across different Linux environments.

Quick Install Script

The fastest way to get started is by using our installation script:

curl -sSL https://iamrichardd.com/pharos-advanced-blocking/install.sh | bash

Debian/Ubuntu (.deb)

If you prefer to manage the installation via apt or dpkg, download the .deb package matching your architecture from the latest GitHub release. Release assets follow the pattern pharos-advanced-blocking_<version>_linux_<amd64|arm64>.deb.

With the GitHub CLI installed:

gh release download --repo iamrichardD/pharos-advanced-blocking --pattern '*_linux_amd64.deb'
sudo dpkg -i pharos-advanced-blocking_*_linux_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f # To resolve any missing dependencies

No gh CLI? Download the matching .deb file directly from the Releases page and run dpkg -i on it.

Post-Installation

After installation, the pab command will be available in your path. Verify the installation by running:

pab --version

Why Pharos Instead of Technitium’s Web UI?

Technitium’s web interface is excellent for interactive browsing and manual configuration. Pharos complements it with:

Use Technitium’s web UI for one-off changes and exploration. Use Pharos when you need repeatability, automation, and integration with your deployment pipeline.

Getting Started

Now that you have Pharos Advanced Blocking installed, point it at your running Technitium server — no copy-paste, no blank JSON file.

Your First Command

Start by exploring what pab can do:

pab --help

This shows you all available commands and options.

Bootstrap Your Configuration

If you don’t already have a local dnsApp.config, run:

pab init

pab init resolves your Technitium credentials (environment variables for a single node, or secrets.json for two or more — prompting you for them interactively if neither is set up yet), fetches the live Advanced Blocking configuration from your server, previews what it found, and asks you to confirm before writing anything to disk. If your server has no Advanced Blocking configuration yet, pab init falls back to a minimal starter template instead of leaving you with nothing.

Interactive Walkthrough

The fastest way to see pab in action is to open the interactive TUI:

  1. Launch the TUI — Open your terminal in the directory containing your Technitium dnsApp.config file and run:

    pab

  2. Explore with Slash Commands — Once the TUI is open, type /help to see available commands, then try:

    • /view groups — See all your blocking groups
    • Search for an IP address to view its group mapping
    • /exit to close the TUI

  3. Next, Read the Full Guide — Head over to the User Guide for detailed walkthroughs of the TUI, slash commands, and how to map client IPs to blocking groups.

Common Next Steps

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, here’s the natural progression to more advanced usage:

Setting Up Client Mapping

Map client IPs to blocking groups using the command line:

pab map --ip 192.0.2.50 --group Kids

This assigns all DNS queries from 192.0.2.50 to the “Kids” blocking group. Learn more in the User Guide.

Configuring Groups and Policies

Work with your Technitium blocking groups to:

Refer to the CLI Reference for command syntax and examples.

Automating Deployments

Once your configuration is working, consider automating client mapping or deployments through scripts or CI/CD pipelines. The pab command-line interface integrates easily into shell scripts and automation workflows. Chain pab verify --domain <domain> after pab deploy to confirm blocking actually took effect before your pipeline moves on.

Learn More