Enhancing Network Security with Pi-hole - Installation and configuration guide

Richard

Richard

— 3 min read
Enhancing Network Security with Pi-hole - Installation and configuration guide

In this post, we'll explore Pi-hole, a powerful network-level ad blocker that improves your browsing experience by blocking advertisements and tracking domains.
We'll cover its capabilities, why it's essential, and provide a step-by-step guide to setting it up in Portainer.
Finally, we'll explain how to configure your router or devices to use Pi-hole as your DNS server.

Why Pi-hole?

Pi-hole acts as a DNS sinkhole, blocking unwanted content and advertisements at the network level.
This means that any device connected to your network benefits from ad-blocking without the need for individual ad-blocking software on each device.

Key Benefits of Pi-hole:

  1. Ad Blocking: Blocks ads on all devices connected to your network.
  2. Enhanced Privacy: Prevents tracking by ad networks.
  3. Network Performance: Reduces bandwidth usage by blocking ads.
  4. Device Agnostic: Works with any device on your network, including smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.

Setting Up Pi-hole in Portainer

Follow these steps to install and configure Pi-hole in Portainer:

  1. Log into Portainer:
    Open your web browser and navigate to your Portainer instance.
  2. Create a New Stack:
    In the Portainer dashboard, go to Stacks and click on Add stack.
  1. Configure the Stack:
    Name your stack (e.g., pihole) and add the following stack configuration:
version: '3'
services:
  pihole:
    container_name: pihole
    image: pihole/pihole:latest
    environment:
      TZ: 'Africa/Johannesburg'
      WEBPASSWORD: 'changethisplease'  # Change this to a secure password
    volumes:
      - pihole_data:/etc/pihole
      - dnsmasq_data:/etc/dnsmasq.d
    ports:
      - "53:53/tcp"
      - "53:53/udp"
      - "83:80"
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  pihole_data:
  dnsmasq_data:
  1. Deploy the Stack:
    Click Deploy the stack to start the Pi-hole service within Portainer.

In Ubuntu, the stub resolver should be disabled with:

 sudo sed -r -i.orig 's/#?DNSStubListener=yes/DNSStubListener=no/g' /etc/systemd/resolved.conf
This will not change the nameserver settings, which points to the stub resolver thus preventing DNS resolution. 

Change the /etc/resolv.conf symlink to point to /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf, which is automatically updated to follow the system's netplan: 

 sudo sh -c 'rm /etc/resolv.conf && ln -s /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf' 

After making these changes, you should restart systemd-resolved using:

systemctl restart systemd-resolved
  1. Verify Installation:
    Check if the Pi-hole container is running by navigating to the Containers section in Portainer.

Configuring Pi-hole

Once Pi-hole is up and running, follow these steps to configure it:

  1. Access Pi-hole Admin Interface:
    Open your web browser and navigate to http://your-server-ip:83/admin. Log in using the password you set in the stack configuration.
  1. Update Block Lists:
    Go to Group Management > Adlists and add or update the block lists as needed to enhance ad-blocking capabilities.
  1. Configure DNS Settings:
    Go to Settings > DNS and configure the upstream DNS providers. By default, Pi-hole uses Google's DNS servers, but you can change this to any preferred provider.

Configuring Your Router or Devices

To use Pi-hole as your DNS server, you need to configure your router or individual devices to point to Pi-hole.
Here's a general guide as instructions many vary due to different device types:

  1. Configure Your Router:
    Access your router's configuration page (usually found at http://192.168.1.1 or a similar address) and look for the DNS settings.
    Set the primary DNS server to the IP address of your Pi-hole server. This will route all DNS queries through Pi-hole.
  2. Configure Individual Devices:
    If you prefer to configure devices individually, go to the network settings of each device and manually set the DNS server to the IP address of your Pi-hole server.

Conclusion

Pi-hole is a valuable addition to any network, providing comprehensive ad-blocking and enhanced privacy. By following this guide, you can easily set up and configure Pi-hole within Portainer and ensure your network is protected from unwanted ads and trackers.

Stay tuned for more posts in this series as we continue to explore powerful open-source tools and how to manage them using Portainer. Happy browsing with fewer ads!

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