Raspberry Pi Pi-hole Setup

Pi-hole turns a Raspberry Pi into a network-wide ad blocker.
Once installed, it blocks ads, trackers, and unwanted domains for every device on your network — without needing browser plugins.

🧠 What This Does

• Blocks ads across all devices (PC, phone, tablet, TV)
• Speeds up browsing by removing junk requests
• Adds basic DNS-level protection against known bad domains
• Gives visibility into what your network is doing

🧩 What You’ll Need

• Raspberry Pi (3B or newer recommended)
• Power supply
• MicroSD card (8GB or larger)
• Network connection (Ethernet preferred)
• Access to your router settings

⚙️ Installation Summary

1. Prepare the Pi

Install Raspberry Pi OS (Lite is fine).
Enable SSH if you want remote access.

Update the system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install Pi-hole

Run the official installer:

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Follow the prompts:

• Choose your network interface (usually eth0)
• Set a static IP (recommended)
• Select upstream DNS (Cloudflare, Google, etc.)
• Enable web admin interface

3. Access the Admin Interface

Open a browser and go to:

http://<pi-ip-address>/admin

You’ll see stats, logs, and blocking controls.

4. Point Your Network to Pi-hole

Set your router’s DNS to the Pi’s IP address.

Alternatively, set DNS per device (less ideal).

🔧 Optional Tweaks

• Enable DHCP in Pi-hole (and disable it on your router)
• Add custom blocklists
• Whitelist sites that break
• Set up automatic updates

⚠️ Things to Watch

• If the Pi goes down, DNS may stop working
• Static IP is important
• Some sites may need whitelisting

📚 Source

This guide is based on:

https://www.raspberrypi.com/tutorials/running-pi-hole-on-a-raspberry-pi/

💡 JACSoft Notes

• Best suited for home or small office networks
• Works well alongside NAS, media servers, and other Pi projects
• A good “set and forget” system once stable