Pi-hole installation, blocklist management, DNS-over-HTTPS setup, DHCP integration, local DNS records, and troubleshooting broken DNS resolution on a home network. Use when the task explicitly involves Pi-hole — installing it, managing blocklists, configuring DoH or DHCP, adding local DNS records, o

Homelab Pi hole DNS Pi hole is a network wide DNS ad blocker that runs on a Raspberry Pi or any Linux host. Every device on your network gets ad and malware domain blocking automatically — no browser extension needed. When to Use Installing Pi hole on a Raspberry Pi or Linux host Configuring Pi hole as the DNS server for a home network Adding or managing blocklists Setting up DNS over HTTPS (DoH) upstream resolvers Creating local DNS records (e.g. nas.home.lan , pi.home.lan ) Troubleshooting devices that lose internet access after Pi hole is installed Running Pi hole alongside or instead of DHCP How Pi hole Works Installation Docker (Recommended) Docker is the easiest way to install Pi hole and makes updates and backups straightforward. Replace <pinned release tag with a current Pi hole release tag before deploying. Avoid latest for long lived DNS infrastructure so upgrades are deliberate and reviewable. Set PIHOLE WEBPASSWORD in a .env file next to docker compose.yml , chmod it to 600 , and keep it out of git — do not put the password directly in the compose file. Access web admin at: http://<pi ip /admin Bare Metal Install (Raspberry Pi OS / Debian / Ubuntu) Pi hole requires a static IP before installing. Pointing Your Network at Pi hole Blocklist Management DNS over HTTPS Upstream DNS over HTTPS encrypts your DNS queries so your ISP cannot see what sites you resolve. Local DNS Records Make your services reachable by name (e.g. nas.home.lan , grafana.home.lan ). Domain name note: .home.lan is widely used in homelabs and works in practice. The IETF reserved suffix for local use is .home.arpa (RFC 8375) — use that to follow the standard. Avoid .local for Pi hole DNS records as it conflicts with mDNS/Bonjour. Troubleshooting Anti Patterns Best Practices Give the Pi a static IP or DHCP reservation before installing Pi hole Use Pi hole as primary DNS; for redundancy, add a second Pi hole instead of a public resolver if you need strict blocking Enable DoH (DNS over HTTPS) with cloudflared for encrypted upstream queries Set home.lan as your local domain and create DNS records for all your services Review the Query Log occasionally — blocked queries show you what devices are doing Related Skills homelab network setup homelab vlan segmentation homelab wireguard vpn

homelab-pihole-dns