I used to have one on my network. Then I wanted to use my RPi for some other experimentation and just kind of forgot about it. I run adblockers on my browsers anyway, but been feeling the need to start using pi-hole again recently.
The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
161–170 of 211 posts
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#162I run PiHole for years in my home network, I cannot live without it. With the years, I have made small changes to increase my control over it. I have a recursive DNS setup, PiHole filters everything, and what is left is processed locally via Unbound which in turn, contacts the 13 root nameservers for DNS resolution. I don't use any third party DNS. Add PiHole/Unbound caching capabilities, surfing on the internet is b…
> Devices trying to use DoT or DoH??? Blocked, PiHoles take over. How? I can see you only allowing some ports through the firewall, but presumably TCP 443 is one of those. According to Cloudflare [0] DoH uses that. What if Samsung uses that, or figures DoT on port 443 works better? Do you only allow specific destinations for these devices? I actually use a similar setup, only I removed pihole and just use some lists…
I followed this blog to get the firewall dynamic firewall in place: https://labzilla.io/blog/force-dns-pihole
Like you said, you cannot just block 443, the dynamic firewall uses a public list, which contains all the public DNS known to man ( the last bit was just to sound a little dramatic haha )
So OPNSense will block anything within that list in both 443 and 853.
So my Samsung QLED TV can no longer use Google:443 for DNS resolution. OPNSense blocks it and redirect it to PiHole, a NAT is also required to avoid devices getting mad.
I didn't pay a kidney for that smartTV back in 2019 to make it dumb, when it is on, PiHole logs goes brrrrrrrr
It is also one of the reason why my whole network was going down, it was making too much request exhausting PiHole 150 concurrent DNS requests, there is a flag to increase that and no more issues.
Google:443: DNS request only, not actual 443 request gets blocked
Cloudflare:443: DNS request only, no actual 443 request gets blocked
etc etc Read that blog I shared to understand it.
If I run a dig google.com @8.8.8.8, PiHole terminal shows the request
If I run 8.8.8.8:443 on the browser, OPNSense firewall log shows access denied, the same msg when my TV turns on or my Home Assistant goes on.
DoT on 853 is simple to block on its own, no much secret there.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
I watch YouTube on my TV. Using Firefox, with uBlock Origin. We have a laptop plugged into the TV, with a bluetooth keyboard. It is a vastly superior experience to any smart TV I have ever seen.
And also more than most people want to have setup in the living room. My wife would rather have ads on YouTube occasionally than an ugly computer plugged in all the time. It’s also more difficult to deal with than a remote you can work one handed.
It's not ugly, it's hidden inside the cabinet that the TV stands on.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#164I run PiHole for years in my home network, I cannot live without it. With the years, I have made small changes to increase my control over it. I have a recursive DNS setup, PiHole filters everything, and what is left is processed locally via Unbound which in turn, contacts the 13 root nameservers for DNS resolution. I don't use any third party DNS. Add PiHole/Unbound caching capabilities, surfing on the internet is b…
While there is absolutely value in doing what you are doing and I commend you for fighting the good fight, the fact that 61% of your queries are still going through means your data is still getting out there. Maybe to a lesser degree but that doesn't mean the marketing target isn't being painted it just means you are an impressionistic painting rather than a modernist with straight, accurate lines. I want to know how…
I see your point, I have no need to block 99% of everything.
For instance, many apps like bank apps use Google to delivery notification (there is a name for it), so if you start blocking everything, you won't use anything.
To your credit, I can block more stuff but I haven't bothered. I have spent many nights blocking stuff haha
Reddit doesn't work atm home because I blocked static.reddit.com Since the API drama, I never used it again, I used to waste hours of my life everyday there. Couldn't be happier to be honest haha
The only fight I gave up is YouTube, I do see value into YouTube Premium. Spotify is dogshit, YouTube Music allows to me listen to music available nowhere else like DJ remix, old music and the the offline music works which Spotify gave me the finger.
I watch YT only, TV News are complete useless nowadays. There are solid news channels so anyway, I do pay for it over trying to block its ADs from the free version. I mean, try listening music with ADs, nah thanks haha
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#165I did this in March:
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/08/pi_hole_6_flyby/
TBH I was surprised how easy it was, how unobtrusive it is, and how a bit of borderline e-waste that was in my spares box now helps every device on the network, including things like phones where I can’t so easily add ad-blocking.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#166Some years ago I used Privoxy on my computer to filter unecessary request.
It worked great and is an alternative to consider if you don't want a computer plugin 24/24 on your network.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#167it's a good post, however I agree with the comments there and here that a raspberry pi 5 with 8gb ram is an overkill for just running pihole. a good old Raspberry Pi 3 Model B with 1gb ram it's enough and it will still have capacity to run other things there. And of course pihole can run on an old laptop or desktop box you already have so no need to buy a device just for the sake of it. I would rather not run it as a…
Yup, I am using a Pi 3B as well. Silent, passive-cooling case, 16GB µSD card which is at least twice as big as it needs to be, and it uses about 10% of RAM and 10% of CPU.
I enabled `unattended-upgrades` and set it to do all types of update. I've never caught it in a reboot but it's always current. It swaps to ZRAM for less load on the µSD card.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some people like to watch YouTube on their TV
I watch YouTube on my TV. Using Firefox, with uBlock Origin. We have a laptop plugged into the TV, with a bluetooth keyboard. It is a vastly superior experience to any smart TV I have ever seen.
Do you honestly not understand why some people don't want that setup?
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#169Disclaimer: The below is not a complaint about the pi-hole itself, but the ways in which companies integrate ads into their online presence. I've found my complaint about having a pi-hole is there are a number of services I use that expect/depend on ads existing in order to function. Things like, some shows on paramount+ (as an example) will fail to play (hang indefinitely) if an ad hasn't run before one of their sho…
Edge browser + uBlock Origin, and YouTube works perfectly without ads.
Plus staying logged out of YouTube, which seems to avoid their ad-blocker-blocking for now.
Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just don't connect those devices to any internet.
You don't connect your phone to the internet?
Smartphone doesn't inherently mean telemetry and ads.