Pi-hole

[peterperkins]

As some may know Google is planning to break ad blocking for Chrome in due course.
So things like ad blocker, ublock origin etc etc will fall over and we will be deluged with ste..

I've been reading about the cleverly named 'Pi-hole' project and would welcome PH IT Gurus inputs on it for us mere Windows mortals.

https://docs.pi-hole.net/

What's the best cheapest hardware to run it on?
Any setup tips?
Is it any good?

Thanks for any input..

[peterperkins]

Could anyone recommend exact hardware (part numbers etc) and software to run on it.
I'm a Linux virgin

[peterperkins]

PF62 said:

Good to know, as coincidentally had ordered one to use for this just before this thread started.

Link for the order please?

Thanks for all the contributions to the thread looks like this is the way forward.

[peterperkins]

PF62 said:

For those who don't want to buy a Pi, this guide is well written to allow you to set up a Pi Hole and split tunnel VPN for the DNS for free in Google Cloud -

https://github.com/rajannpatel/Pi-Hole-PiVPN-on-Go...

I tried it this morning and had everything up and running within an hour.

For us mere mortal non linux people that's looks intriguing but incredibly complicated..

[peterperkins]

LordGrover said:

Right. Have just ordered a Raspberry Pi starter kit from Amazon.

I'll be back later asking why I can't get the feckin' thing to effin' work.

This link might help.

https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-hole-ad-pitft-tft-de...

It all looks incredibly complicated to a Linux virgin but we shall see.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ad-Blocking-Kit-for-Pi-...

I have my kit built on the desk ready for the nightmare of actually installing Raspbian & pi-hole etc.

[peterperkins]

OK I'm on with this and perhaps Linux/network gurus could chip in. I'm in Hull OK but on KCOM fibre 100mps.

I have two boxes on the wall, the kcom fibre terminal thingy connected by 1GB LAN cable to the technicolour gateway wifi router.

Product Vendor Technicolor
Product Name MediaAccess TG589vac v2
Software Version 17.2

It seems to me the Pi-hole should sit between the KCOM terminal thingy and the gateway which then sends wifi/lan round the house, so that all internet traffic goes via the pi-hole..

How to configure the PI-hole/router/kcom boxes to do that?

I can log into the technicolour gateway router admin no problem and have lots of information and options.

Anyone...

Edited by peterperkins on Saturday 15th June 18:28

[peterperkins]

Crafty_ said:

Been using pihole for a while, gets a thumbs up from me.

For those on Sky, you may find that Sky don't let you change the DNS server address in your router, thus you can't redirect to the pihole to filter out requests.

There is a solution however, although sky firmware doesn't let you change the DNS address, its still there - so if you back up your settings from the router and open the file in a text viewer and you'll find the DNS address, change it, save and then restore the router settings from this file. It is a bit of additional ballache but worth it.

That's a good idea and might work for other locked down routers..

[peterperkins]

It seems at the moment a Pi-Hole + Ublock Origin combo is best, as neither blocks everything.

With Ublock and Pi-hole active I see Pi-Hole blocking a stubborn 10%, If I turn Ublock Off Pi-Hole % goes up considerably..

[peterperkins]

Zoon said:

I don't understand this, doesn't ublock work at browser level?

Yes UBlock does work at browser level and kills loads of stuff before pi-hole see's it.
Pi-hole then kills some more at the network level that UBlock doesn't filter.