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Josephny
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Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 6:10 pm

I am wondering if installing pi-hole on the MT router would result in improved Internet performance?

If I understand correctly, it won't work on a Hex, but will work on an RB5009.

Is it better to install it in a container on the router or on a separate device (RaspPi or other linux box) on the LAN?

Thank you!
 
holvoetn
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 6:23 pm

Depends on how "allergic" you are to advertisements and such.
The improvement you will see are mainly in loadtimes when you browse (since quite a bit of advertisement traffic will be taken out) but be aware it's not ALL which will be killed.
There are also quite a bit of background processes running on various machines which will be nicely put in the pi-hole blackhole hence not putting load on your network.

Where it runs, doesn't really matter. Choose what works for you.
I have it running as VM on a local machine which serves as VM farm.
 
apestalménos
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 6:25 pm

Blocking advertising at the URL level is more effective. uBlock Origin
 
Josephny
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:11 pm

So pi-hole's benefits include ad-blocking and DNS serving.

I've tried all sorts of browser-based ad blocking and they all have shortcomings. For example, google results that include ad/tracking are blocked, some sites won't work if the ads are blocked, some ads just get through, etc.

I was focusing mainly on the DNS improvement that pi-hole offers. That is also why I thought it might be more effective/efficient to have it running on the router.

So, is pi-hole worth it to improve browsing and reduce background/undesired traffic on the network? Or is there a better DNS solution?
 
Njumaen
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:20 pm

Could not live w/o DNS blocker! But have a look at adguard home!
 
gabacho4
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:34 pm

I used to use pihole but discovered adguardhome and haven’t looked back. It’s much smaller than pihole and works outstandingly on my RB5009. Highly recommend.
 
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anav
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:45 pm

What do you mean............ simply point to adguard home servers ??
OR do you do something else?

Default servers
AdGuard DNS will block ads and trackers.
IPv4:
94.140.14.14
94.140.15.15
IPv6:
2a10:50c0::ad1:ff
2a10:50c0::ad2:ff
Non-filtering servers
AdGuard DNS will not block ads, trackers, or any other DNS requests.
IPv4:
94.140.14.140
94.140.14.141
IPv6:
2a10:50c0::1:ff
2a10:50c0::2:ff
Family protection servers
AdGuard DNS will block ads, trackers, adult content, and enable Safe Search and Safe Mode, where possible.
IPv4:
94.140.14.15
94.140.15.16
IPv6:
2a10:50c0::bad1:ff
2a10:50c0::bad2:ff
 
gabacho4
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:48 pm

I run mine as a container and use cloudflare’s family protection dns servers. Great for allowing to see what my more chatty/tracking filled devices are as well as identify any errant activity by kids online.
 
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sirbryan
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 11:28 pm

I have used Pi-Hole for a number of years now, and just moved it from a VM to a container on my CCR2116. It's worth the hassle, and once it's running, with the Pi-Hole Remote app, I can temporarily disable it for a few minutes if some links or sites don't properly load.
 
Josephny
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Wed Dec 14, 2022 11:41 pm

Leaving privacy/content issues aside for a moment, would running pi-hole locally improve dns performance over using adguard's (or any number of other company's) dns servers?
 
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normis
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:39 am

If that PiHole is running on a sufficiently fast machine, sure, it will use it's local DNS cache to give answers to DNS queries, this could be faster, if your internet connection is not that good.
But if your internet connection is good and stable, most of these public DNS servers are very fast. Cloudflare advertises their DNS response within 13 milliseconds (usually in real life it's 9)
https://www.dnsperf.com/#!dns-resolvers
 
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Thu Dec 15, 2022 12:50 pm

I do recommend PiHole + Unbound and I also recommend that PiHole + Unbound be installed on a Raspberry Pi Zero
I do not believe that you will have performance improvement but you will have much better privacy and better control over unsolicited ads coming into your network.

Containers are very nice concept however putting a strain on the router with a container reduces the Routers performance capability slightly and also is a security risk because that container could have malicious code unknown to you if you let your guard down or do not understand its contents.

[EDIT] removing bogging ....
Last edited by mozerd on Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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normis
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Thu Dec 15, 2022 12:51 pm

I think the router has more spare resources than a Pi Zero, MikroTik ARM routers are very powerful, you will not be "bogging it down"
 
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sirbryan
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:21 pm

Bogging? We're talking about routers with 4-16 cores that can route 1 to 40Gbps spending a few (otherwise completely unused) cycles to return DNS queries. 99% of consumer routers already perform DNS queries as proxies for in-home devices.

My router has to stay up 24/7. I'd rather the work be running on something more hardened than a Raspberry Pi. Sorry, too many of my Pi's SD cards have failed in the past to trust them in production.

On top of that, my CCR2116 with 16GB of RAM, 16 cores, and NVMe storage runs circles around anything my Pi's can do (compute-wise).

I do however wish there was a solid way to access that sweet, sweet NVMe disk via the network.
Last edited by sirbryan on Fri Dec 16, 2022 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
holvoetn
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:29 pm

Sorry, too many of my Pi's SD cards have failed in the past to trust them in production.
While that "problem" is possible but in my view pretty exaggerated overall (I have never seen it happen) there are ways to accommodate for that.
You can put the complete filesystem on an external USB drive.
 
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mozerd
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:55 pm

Please accept my apology for using the term "Bogging" .... it was far too harsh of a term ... what I should have used is 'additional strain" .... regardless if only one container is used THEN that strain will be negligible 4 sure .... I am far more concerned with the security implications when using Containers.

Also if a Raspberry Pi Zero is used for PiHole + Unbound I certainly would not entertain loading a Pi Zero with any 'other' service ... it should be dedicated to PiHole + Unbound only.
 
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sirbryan
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 4:33 pm

Sorry, too many of my Pi's SD cards have failed in the past to trust them in production.
While that "problem" is possible but in my view pretty exaggerated overall (I have never seen it happen) there are ways to accommodate for that.
You can put the complete filesystem on an external USB drive.
Your lack of an experience with something doesn't negate its reality or frequency.

It happened to me three times with OSMC loaded onto Raspberry Pi 2's, on multiple Pi's (I have four of them). After a while the file system would get corrupted and they wouldn't boot. I went through two or three SD cards before giving up. I did try external USB drives once or twice, but it became more of a chore to maintain the thing. That, and Apple TV came out.
 
holvoetn
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 5:08 pm

I only have 2 PI's running at home, 3B+ version (Pi-Hole and NEMS, nothing too fancy).
Running for about 2 to 3 years (not sure anymore), 24/7. No SD card corruption seen up til now.

The client I work for has 9 running as digital signage (commercials being displayed in a shop). Never a single SD card corrupt that I know of.
It's not because it doesn't happen that there is lack of experience.

Most of the time when I read about it happening, it had something to do with the power supply not being sufficient or low-quality SD cards.
Not saying that's your case as well, just pointing it out.
And it does seem to happen a lot less on PI3 too, must be the drivers then ?
 
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mozerd
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Fri Dec 16, 2022 5:21 pm

@ sirbryan

over 40 million raspberry pi devices have been sold and very few are complaining that their SD memory cards are failing. Certainly it's happening but your experience is not that common.

Would I put a Raspberry Pi board in a Enterprise environment --- ABSOLUTLY not -- but I certainly would in SMB and I have with great results so far. :D
 
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Re: Pi-Hole worth using?

Sat Dec 17, 2022 3:06 am

I used to run pi-hole on my raspberry pi 3b+ along with dnscrypt-proxy. I do think it's helpful. Eventually I removed pi-hole, though, and just use dnscrypt-proxy as pi-hole wasn't adding much for me. dnscrypt-proxy mostly does the same thing, using doh and dnscrypt, except it doesn't have the gui. I don't mind using config files.

As far as sd cards go, after some years the black sandisk sd card that was included with the canakit I got with my rpi went bad. I've been using a Sandisk High Endurance card since earlier this year. It's the 256gb one, and it's writing security camera feeds to it as well 24/7. So far so good.

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