[SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

Altoid · 2021-11-04 14:26:02

Hello:

I have an idle Raspberry Pi3B+ and have been wondering about setting up Pi-Hole and see if I can speed up my ADSL connection.
Then I thought that maybe it could be run from a VM on my Devuan box and have it come up with the OS instead of booting a RPi.

My Devuan Beowulf rig runs on a Core2 Q9550/8Gb. Sun Ultra24 WS,

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

A.

Dutch_Master · 2021-11-04 16:30:37

You still need proprietary boot files from an SD card to boot via the network.

You should be able to have the RPi boot from a server and make it have a session there (thin client model), so the RPi is only a "transport portal" (for want of a better explanation) between your in/output devices (mouse/keyboard/monitor) and the actual system you're running (on the server).

Altoid · 2021-11-04 20:23:41

Hello:

Dutch_Master wrote:

You still need proprietary boot files from an SD card to boot via the network.

Hmmm ...

I am not at all versed in how all this works and maybe don't understand it all well enough.
Please bear with me. 8^)

From what I do (?) understand, the usual way is to run Pi-Hole on a RPi.
The OS on the RPi can be the default one and I understand that it can also be Devuan.
But that's for later ...

My ADSL router (no WiFi, just cable) would use the RPi running Pi-Hole as a DNS instead of using a DNS from the net.
In this way Pi-Hole would filter all the unwanted crap from the web before it gets to my box.
The advantage being that it never gets loaded to then be blocked by uBlock and such.

My rig then would not waste resources (memory/CPU cycles, etc.), my browser would run lighter and as a result the connection is cleaner, safer and faster.

Is this an accurate account?

Thanks in advance.

A.

FM81 · 2021-11-06 11:43:50

But if you're running all that Raspberry-ARM-stuff in a virtual machine on your "Sun Ultra24"-box, then this point

Altoid wrote:

In this way Pi-Hole would filter all the unwanted crap from the web before it gets to my box.

isn't true anymore? It would be only true in case of "using real raspberry-hardware". Or do I understand something wrong at this point?

Best regards, FM_81

Altoid · 2021-11-06 13:27:09

Hello:

FM81 wrote:

... running all that Raspberry-ARM-stuff in a virtual machine on your "Sun Ultra24"-box ...

No.
Sorry if I was not clear.
Too early or too late, can't recall. 8^|

I had a long unused Devuan ascii (VBox) virtual machine on my U24 and managed to install Pi-Hole v5.6 on it.
I found a video on line with instructions on how to do it on Ubuntu Server (roughly same thing) and the run it as a recursive DNS server.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnFtWsZ8IP0

You have to watch it a few times to get a grasp of it, especially if you have not done it before but it is roughly all there.
The chap talks a bit fast, you'll have to do some stop/backwards with the video feed and strain your eyes a bit.

It does involve a no-no: an automated install script from the Pi-Hole website but you have alternatives if that makes you feel unsafe.

Installing Pi-Hole on Devuan ascii was quite straightforward although it is not a supported OS, you just have to override the initial OS check.
Instructions are on-screen when you run the script.

Then you have to install unbound for the DNS server bit.
Find it on the Devuan repository.

I then set the Devuan ascii virtual machine to start at boot and that's about it.
See https://pgaskin.net/linux-tips/configur … autostart/

A small side effect is that my box's boot sequence lags for a shortish while when the system starts the MTA.
This is due to a failed reverse DNS lookup that Exim4 is attempting at boot and happens because the DNS running on the virtual machine is not up yet.

~~Haven't found a suitable solution for that yet.~~

------
EDIT I:
It's an exim4 caused problem.

Solution to that here: https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=4672
------

As for how Pi-Hole works, it seems alright but there are quite a few things that require uBlock to remain in my browser (Pale Moon).
You Tube adds is one of them.

I still have to dive into Pi-Hole fine tuning, just a question of time.

------
EDIT II:
Fine tuning was basically disabling the Pi-hole cache and letting the Unbound DNS do that job on the VM.

See: https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/recurs … a766d4f703

As for You Tube ads, it seems that your best bet would be uBlock.
------

Some things are supposed to be intercepted/sunk by Pi-Hole but they still show up as blocked by uBlock, have to do dome research on that.

------
EDIT III:

The reason to that is that while Pi-hole just blocks requests to ads, uBlock still thinks that there are ads to be blocked, even though they were blocked by Pi-hole. Pi-hole can't modify the web site that you see, so it can't signal to uBlock that an ad is blocked.

The only way for uBlock to know that Pi-hole blocked an ad is to see if the ad's image/resources are missing.
Otherwise, uBlock sees that there's a match against their filter, even if it's already blocked, and tries to block it.
But that means it is blocking an empty element.
ie: already blocked by Pi-Hole.
------

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2021-11-12 21:51:24)

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#1 2021-11-04 14:26:02

[SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

#2 2021-11-04 16:30:37

Re: [SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

#3 2021-11-04 20:23:41

Re: [SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

#4 2021-11-06 11:43:50

Re: [SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

#5 2021-11-06 13:27:09

Re: [SOLVED] Anyone using Pi-Hole?

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