The Ultimate Pi-Hole Installation Guide for 2025!
Today we’re going to be reviewing the benefits of an installing the ad-blocker ‘pi-hole’ on an Ubuntu virtual machine on my proxmox homelab. The pi-hole got its name from its usage on the popular Raspberry Pi (via raspberry pi os). When you navigate to google.com on your smartphone’s web browser, the request is sent to your router which then sends the request to a domain name system server (DNS) server, like Google. The DNS server’s job is to translate/resolve ‘google.com' to its IP address, then sends the IP address back to your phone’s browser along with ads that tag along for the ride! Using a Pi-hole ad blocker will act as middle-person to block the ads before they arrive on your phone! We’ll configure the pi-hole as it’s own recursive dns server so with the help of ‘unbound’. We’ll then configure one of our unifi router’s v-lan’s to use Pi-hole as it’s DNS server. Ubuntu desktop ISO download: https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop Chapter Breakdown: 0:00 Introduction 1:27 What is a DNS Server and how does Pi-Hole work? 2:28 Preparing Ubuntu for Pi-hole -installing ssh and cURL command line. 4:19 Installing pi-Hole 6:21 Expoloring the Pi-hole admin site 8:24 installation and configuration of 'Unbound' 10:03 Configuing Pi-hole as a recurse DNS server 10:46 Configuring my Unifi router Vlan to use Pi-hole as its DNS server and 13:24 Testing out the ad-blocking of Pi-hole! 14:55 Conclusion My Videos of installing Ubuntu & Zorin OS Installtion of Open Media Vault on Raspberry Pi: • Linux based Zorin might be the operat... Installation of Zorin OS as a virtual machine on Proxmox: • Linux based Zorin might be the operat... Pi Hole Links: Pi-Hole Website: https://pi-hole.net/ Pi-Hole installation: https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/basic-i... Pi-Hole Unbound installation: https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/u... Instructions for installing pi-hole: *For Debian /Ubuntu OS only (includes Raspberry OS): 1) Install ssh (optional): ‘sudo apt install openssh-server’ a) Enable SSH: ‘Sudo systemctl enable - - now ssh’ (the two dashes - - are NOT separated). b) Test SSH: ‘Sudo systemctl status ssh’ 2) Install ‘cURL’ command line tool: ‘sudo apt install curl’. 3) Install Pi-hole: ‘curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash’. a) The installer will ask if you want it to make your ip address ‘static’. If you choose no, you’ll need to go into your network configurations to do so. It doesn’t matter which DNS server you select during the installation, as change it later. 4) At the end of the installation the pi-hole will he IP address of the pi-hole server and your login password, make sure to write it down! 5) To install the recursive DNS service onto pi-hole, type the following: ‘sudo install unbound’. 6) Now would be a good time to update your OS’ firmware and reboot your machine. 7) Navigate to the pi hole’s unbound documentation website, scroll down and follow the instructions to configure unbound: https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/u.... a) Make sure to capture the IP address: ‘127.0.0.1#5335’, as this is going to be your ‘custom DNS’ server for your pI-hole. 8) Navigate to your pinhole’s website ‘ip address/admin’ and provide the password you wrote down. Next, click on ‘settings’ and enter the ‘custom DNS’ above, making sure to use the ‘#’. And don’t forget to uncheck the DNS server you selected during installation. Make sure to save your progress. 9) Next, consult your router’s documentation to assign an upstream DNS server on one of your Vlans. I wouldn’t recommend using pi hole as the sole DNS server for your MAIN network! #pihole #adblock #linux #ubuntu Connect with me below: ➡️BlueSky: @mackeytech.bsky.social ➡️Website: www.mackeytech.org
