Homelab Pihole Dns

# Homelab Pi-hole DNS

Pi-hole is a network-wide DNS ad blocker that runs on a Raspberry Pi or any Linux host.
Every device on your network gets ad and malware domain blocking automatically — no browser
extension needed.

## When to Use

- Installing Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi or Linux host
- Configuring Pi-hole as the DNS server for a home network
- Adding or managing blocklists
- Setting up DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) upstream resolvers
- Creating local DNS records (e.g. `nas.home.lan`, `pi.home.lan`)
- Troubleshooting devices that lose internet access after Pi-hole is installed
- Running Pi-hole alongside or instead of DHCP

## How Pi-hole Works

```
Normal flow (without Pi-hole):
  Device → requests ads.tracker.com → ISP DNS → real IP → ads load

With Pi-hole:
  Device → requests ads.tracker.com → Pi-hole DNS → blocked (returns 0.0.0.0) → no ad

All DNS queries go through Pi-hole first.
Pi-hole checks against blocklists.
Blocked domains return a null response — the ad/tracker never loads.
Allowed domains get forwarded to your upstream resolver (Cloudflare, Google, etc.).
```

## Installation

### Docker (Recommended)

Docker is the easiest way to install Pi-hole and makes updates and backups
straightforward.