new with Pi-Hole

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AKLGUY79

87 posts

Master Geek

#273298 15-Aug-2020 12:31

I am running Pi-Hole via docker on the same PC I am running Plex.

Although if I can get Pi-Hole working right I might just get a little Rasberry Pi to do it.

But my issue is after running for several days fine. It seems my Router (Vodafone Home Hub {The Grey one}) Seems to start dropping and refusing connections from the inside. I can not browse the net. yet it seems My Plex Server is still running and Others can still access and watch my content. Is it just the Home Hub being rubbish?

Or is there a config issue on the Pi-Hole or my router?

nzkc

1571 posts

Uber Geek

#2541603 15-Aug-2020 13:44

Think we need more info to diagnose.

Have you set your dhcp to issue the Plex server as your dns? Is the router or pihole acting as dhcp (only use 1 of them)? When things stop working have you tried nslookup to diagnose if dns is still working?

You don't have to run it on a raspberry pi. Many do (myself included) for various reasons but mostly cause it's low powered.

gehenna

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#2541608 15-Aug-2020 13:54

Can't help with the immediate issue but I can say I have my Pi-Hole running in a docker on my UnRAID server, alongside things like Plex so similar to your setup - and it all works fine consistently for me. So I wouldn't say it's inherently anything to do with how you've designed it.

AKLGUY79

87 posts

Master Geek

#2542126 16-Aug-2020 10:53

nzkc: Think we need more info to diagnose.

Have you set your dhcp to issue the Plex server as your dns? Is the router or pihole acting as dhcp (only use 1 of them)? When things stop working have you tried nslookup to diagnose if dns is still working?

You don't have to run it on a raspberry pi. Many do (myself included) for various reasons but mostly cause it's low powered.

Only my router is doing the DHCP

my Plex server is running on a static IP. with the DNS pointing to 1.1.1.1

Yeah I know only one machine should be doing DNS.

What OS are you running on your Pi?

nzkc

1571 posts

Uber Geek

#2542237 16-Aug-2020 13:37

AKLGUY79:

Only my router is doing the DHCP

my Plex server is running on a static IP. with the DNS pointing to 1.1.1.1

Yeah I know only one machine should be doing DNS.

What OS are you running on your Pi?

I too run Pi Hole in docker. The Raspberry PI is running Raspbian but that wont matter.

Your comment about your Plex Server having DNS pointing at 1.1.1.1 can be read a couple of ways. Did you mean your upstream for the Pihole is 1.1.1.1 (which is fine....though general recommendation for NZ is to just use your ISP servers). Or... did you mean your Plex server does its resolution direct to 1.1.1.1 and not via the Pihole? If its the latter that is something you want to fix/change. Once you have Pihole running you want all your clients, including Plex and the host it runs on, to use Pihole. Just checking my Pihole config (docker compose file) it seems I have Pihole using itself and the router for DNS (and I'm wondering if thats a bit of a mistake having the router there). As I have my router issuing DHCP I have pihole conditionally forward to that for local domain look ups. Everything else goes to the upstream (2d DNS servers). If it would help you I'd be happy to send you my Pihole docker-compose.yml file.

In my case, and it would seem you want the same, your router should be issuing your Plex server as your DNS server.

To give you some perspective of what things _should_ look like... I'll try and give you the scenario you need. So lets say you have things set up as:

Your router uses 192.168.1.1 and is your DHCP server
Your Plex server uses 192.168.1.2 and is using a static IP address. It is running Pihole inside a docker container
Your docker set up uses bridge networking and therefore you will need to ensure the following ports are exposed:
- 53 (TCP and UDP)
- 67 (UDP)
- 80 (TCP)
- 443 (TCP)
If you run your container with host networking the ports are not required to be exposed (I do this....TBH dont remember why)
DHCP should be set to issue 192.168.1.2 as the DNS server (you dont need to specify a second one. If you do you'll find adverts etc creep through)
Your Plex server should be configured to use 192.168.1.2 (or 127.0.0.1 though that _may_ need host networking) as its DNS server
You should configure your Pihole to use the public DNS servers for its upstream requests that you want to use (in your case it seems you want to use 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 though as I said try your ISP ones first till you know what you're doing)

We havent covered IPv6 here and we havent asked if you use that. So do you use IPv6? If you do - start by disabling that to make sure you can get Pihole working on IPv4 first. I'm with 2d so have it configured for IPv6 too. Its a bit more work to do as you'll need to see what range your network is using for the link local addresses. And you'll need to set a known IPv6 on your Plex server so you can have your DHCP issue it as a IPv6 DNS server. Do note that you could configure your Plex server to just use IPv4 and all other clients could still use IPv4 + IPv6. When the clients ask for addresses they'll still ask for AAAA ones and the Pihole will respond. It just wont use IPv6 for anything itself.

FWIW: I too run Plex - though not on my pihole. Everything works fine if your set up is correct

timmmay

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#2542242 16-Aug-2020 13:48

I run Pi Hole on R.Pi2. I find it best to let the Pi Hole do DHCP, home routers don't always work well with Pi Hole otherwise. I found that DNS over IP6 didn't get delegated to the Pi Hole with the Fritzbox, if the Pi Hole does DHCP that problem goes away.

nzkc

1571 posts

Uber Geek

#2542277 16-Aug-2020 15:04

timmmay:

I run Pi Hole on R.Pi2. I find it best to let the Pi Hole do DHCP, home routers don't always work well with Pi Hole otherwise. I found that DNS over IP6 didn't get delegated to the Pi Hole with the Fritzbox, if the Pi Hole does DHCP that problem goes away.

Whilst I no longer use a Fritz box when I did I had it delegating the Pihole as the DNS server just fine. The trick is to make sure you use an IPv6 address that doesnt change. Had to set it on my RPi to a fixed address. In fact the only thing that frustrated me about the Fritz box was that I couldnt use my own domain suffix. Everything else was fine (with or without a Pihole)

timmmay

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#2542292 16-Aug-2020 15:38

nzkc:

Whilst I no longer use a Fritz box when I did I had it delegating the Pihole as the DNS server just fine. The trick is to make sure you use an IPv6 address that doesnt change. Had to set it on my RPi to a fixed address. In fact the only thing that frustrated me about the Fritz box was that I couldnt use my own domain suffix. Everything else was fine (with or without a Pihole)

I found IPv4 worked fine, but with the Fritz 7590 when I looked at ipconfig /all it listed the router as the first IPv6 DNS server and the Pi Hole as the second IPv6 DNS server. It worked fine with the older 7390. Using Pi Hole DHCP the problem went away.

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AKLGUY79

87 posts

Master Geek

#2552323 30-Aug-2020 11:47

Thanks for your help guys, Just moved back to normal home Router and disabling the PiHole for now. Just too busy with work. Maybe when things calm down (he says hopefully) I will try again.

I do have a Raspberry Pi now, but that is just going to be an airplay Amp.

shrub

775 posts

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#2552340 30-Aug-2020 12:23

Hmm I have encountered the same issue with part of the network dropping when using pihole in a docker on unraid and a pi3. Its like the pihole just starts rejecting requests from some devices. Unraid dockers always stayed online tho?

I've reverted back to ISP DNS for a couple of weeks now and will have another go when I can be bothered. TBH after running pihole for 5+ years its really not that bad with ads and family are happier.