pihole Installation Guide Installation Guide

pihole is a free and open-source network-wide ad blocker. Pi-hole acts as a DNS sinkhole to block ads and trackers network-wide, providing privacy and performance benefits

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 512MB minimum

Storage: 200MB for installation

Network: DNS and web interface

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 53 (default pihole port)

Port 80/443 for admin

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install pihole
sudo dnf install -y pihole

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pihole-FTL

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=53/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install pihole
sudo apt install -y pihole

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pihole-FTL

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 53

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Install pihole
sudo pacman -S pihole

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pihole-FTL

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Install pihole
apk add --no-cache pihole

# Enable and start service
rc-update add pihole-FTL default
rc-service pihole-FTL start

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Install pihole
sudo zypper install -y pihole

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pihole-FTL

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=53/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install pihole

# Start service
brew services start pihole

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install pihole

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'pihole-FTL_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service pihole-FTL start

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install pihole

# Or using Scoop
scoop install pihole

# Verify installation
pihole -v

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/pihole

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
pihole -v

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable pihole-FTL

# Start service
sudo systemctl start pihole-FTL

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop pihole-FTL

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart pihole-FTL

# Check status
sudo systemctl status pihole-FTL

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u pihole-FTL -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add pihole-FTL default

# Start service
rc-service pihole-FTL start

# Stop service
rc-service pihole-FTL stop

# Restart service
rc-service pihole-FTL restart

# Check status
rc-service pihole-FTL status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'pihole-FTL_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service pihole-FTL start

# Stop service
service pihole-FTL stop

# Restart service
service pihole-FTL restart

# Check status
service pihole-FTL status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start pihole
brew services stop pihole
brew services restart pihole

# Check status
brew services list | grep pihole

powershell

# Start service
net start pihole-FTL

# Stop service
net stop pihole-FTL

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service pihole-FTL
Stop-Service pihole-FTL
Restart-Service pihole-FTL

# Check status
Get-Service pihole-FTL

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream pihole_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:53;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name pihole.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name pihole.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/pihole.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/pihole.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://pihole_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName pihole.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://pihole.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName pihole.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/pihole.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/pihole.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:53/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:53/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend pihole_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/pihole.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend pihole_backend

backend pihole_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server pihole1 127.0.0.1:53 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R pihole:pihole /etc/pihole
sudo chmod 750 /etc/pihole

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=53/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status pihole-FTL

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u pihole-FTL -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep pihole)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/pihole"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/pihole-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/pihole /var/lib/pihole

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/pihole-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop pihole-FTL

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/pihole/pihole-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start pihole-FTL

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u pihole-FTL -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/pihole/pihole.log

# Check configuration
pihole -v

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/pihole

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 53

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 53

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep pihole)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep pihole)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 53

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  pihole:
    image: pihole:latest
    ports:
      - "53:53"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/pihole
      - ./data:/var/lib/pihole
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update pihole

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade pihole

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu pihole

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade pihole

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update pihole

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade pihole

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/pihole-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/pihole

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart pihole-FTL

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/pihole

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/pihole -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/pihole

Official Documentation: https://docs.pihole.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/pihole/pihole

Community Forum: https://forum.pihole.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.pihole.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Dns filtering Guides

adguard-home Installation Guide