The purpose of this project was to get a deeper understanding of DNS and networking. It also helped with many unix commands.
What is a PiHole?
The Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects your devices from unwanted content, without installing any client-side software. It can be installed as a docker component or on a raspberry pi.
I had a old raspberry pi sitting around that I had configured for the kids as a retropi, but they were not using it so I decided to do this project to learn something as well as increase the privacy of the entire house. Since getting people to be secure is hard, I’m trying instead to keep the place that they do most of their internet browsing to be more secure.
How to set up a PiHole
I primary used this video and the documentation that they put together. It worked without issue.
This was a fun and education project because not only did I learn more about DNS. I got to play with setting up DHCP reservations, customizing my DNS servers on the DHCP server. I also never attached the raspberry pi to a monitor or keyboard, I used SSH to connect to it and do all the operations for this tutorial.
I highly recommend this project for fun and for a chance to educate yourself with a hands on project! After setting this all up I learned that my smart TV (Samsung) was sending out 7k request an hour. I wasn’t even using the smart features! We have a AppleTV hooked up to the TV so I just unplugged the Ethernet cable on our TV. It is amazing and surprising to see what request are flowing across your network.