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General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: jinga nation on July 09, 2018, 08:24:55 AM

Title: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 09, 2018, 08:24:55 AM
Got a Raspberry Pi and installed pi-hole (advertising-aware DNS/Web server) on it to block advertising and unnecessary internet traffic. Amazed to see 30-40% f traffic is getting blocked. I don't see ads anymore in home computers, tablets, iPads, smartphones, Roku TV.

Imagine having an internet usage cap and losing upto 40% of that to ads.

Installation guide: https://docs.pi-hole.net/

Installed Raspbian Stretch Lite so no GUI console access. If you need a graphical interface, use Raspbian Stretch. I used a Class 4 micro SD card 8GB. Make sure you use a 5V 2A power supply.

The Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ costs $35. https://www.arrow.com/en/products/raspberrypi3b/raspberry-pi-foundation
Pi Case $7.50. https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Model-Protective-Heatsinks-Clear/dp/B01CDVSBPO/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1531145935&sr=1-4&keywords=raspberry+pi+3+b%2B+case

Added a blocklist to increase blocked domains to 3.9 million. https://ncloud.zaclys.com/index.php/s/MPYSjLkb8cE8gPN/download

pi-hole test pages: https://pi-hole.net/pages-to-test-ad-blocking-performance/

You don't need a Raspberry Pi to run pi-hole. It can run on any hardware with any of the following supported OS:
Raspbian: Jessie / Stretch
Ubuntu: 16.04 / 16.10
Fedora: 26 / 27
Debian: 8 / 9
CentOS: 7 (not ARM)

If you have a spare computer in your house it will suffice. My Rasp-Pi-Hole is wired connected to one of my ISP router ports.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: Samsam on July 09, 2018, 08:36:48 AM
My friends and I were about to do this.  Does this get a lot of the pop ads on your phone?  I cannot stand those.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: Cromacster on July 09, 2018, 08:42:49 AM
How does it handle the sites that prevent you from from using adblockers?  Mostly seems like news sites and some other financial sites that I use (seekingalpha)?
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: ketchup on July 09, 2018, 08:47:19 AM
I've been meaning to do this for a while.  I do still have a Pi sitting around from a few years back when I used it with XBMC.  You may have finally inspired me...
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 09, 2018, 11:49:47 AM
My friends and I were about to do this.  Does this get a lot of the pop ads on your phone?  I cannot stand those.

I haven't seen any. tested on iPhone 8+, Google Nexus 6P, iPad (6th Gen), Samsung Galaxy Tab (1st gen). Using Chrome, Safari, Ghostery browsers.

The first time you go to a site, there will be a slight delay. But subsequent visits will be faster due the caching the naughty things.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 09, 2018, 11:52:16 AM
How does it handle the sites that prevent you from from using adblockers?  Mostly seems like news sites and some other financial sites that I use (seekingalpha)?
I don't use those sites but you can add them to a whitelist. Your blacklist/whitelist is complete customizable via a web interface.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: terran on July 09, 2018, 03:25:27 PM
How is this different from or better than an ad blocker?
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 10, 2018, 05:34:41 AM
How is this different from or better than an ad blocker?

From https://pi-hole.net/

Network-wide ad blocking via your own Linux hardware.
No client-side software required (no need for ad blockers on your home devices).

You can control whitelisting/blacklisting at a network level instead of device level.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 10, 2018, 05:35:57 AM
I've been meaning to do this for a while.  I do still have a Pi sitting around from a few years back when I used it with XBMC.  You may have finally inspired me...
15-30 minutes of your time is all that's required.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: pseudoyams on July 10, 2018, 07:01:49 AM
Pi-Hole is awesome.  I've been using it for about a year now.  I live in a rural area and have slowish internet at 10 mbps.  It's amazing how fast content loads now.  Most sites wait for the ads to load first.  Take those out and it's smoking.  It was a large noticeable difference for me.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: GrumpyPenguin on July 10, 2018, 11:56:04 AM
I have this running on my network. Mostly happy with it.  Con is that it adds another point of failure to the network and adds complexity.  Doesn't bother me, but can be problematic when the significant other is trying to troubleshoot a network problem. With Comcast going down as often as it does, this not not infrequent.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: katsiki on July 10, 2018, 12:01:26 PM
I've been meaning to do this for a while.  I do still have a Pi sitting around from a few years back when I used it with XBMC.  You may have finally inspired me...

Same here!  Thanks OP. 

PTF
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 10, 2018, 05:52:33 PM
I have this running on my network. Mostly happy with it.  Con is that it adds another point of failure to the network and adds complexity.  Doesn't bother me, but can be problematic when the significant other is trying to troubleshoot a network problem. With Comcast going down as often as it does, this not not infrequent.
Your problem is your ISP, not the pi-hole or any local network device. I've had DDWRT routers with uptime of 3+ years. Network devices are quite stable. People have used Raspberry Pi for outdoor projects, some of the earliest models are still running in cold and heat and rain and humidity at my neighbor's home weather station.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jim555 on July 11, 2018, 04:12:56 AM
If you don't want to go through the bother of a Pi-hole you can always replace your hosts file with:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts

It will block ads on your machine.  Be sure to append your original hosts file to the beginning of the the file.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: jinga nation on July 11, 2018, 05:20:28 AM
If you don't want to go through the bother of a Pi-hole you can always replace your hosts file with:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts

It will block ads on your machine.  Be sure to append your original hosts file to the beginning of the the file.

If you're doing the ^, make sure to run a script that checks for the latest and appends to your hosts file. Have it run weekly. More info here: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

If you have a windows PC, the github repo contains a batch file to update hosts files. Use task scheduler to create a weekly task to run the update.

With a pi-hole, blocklists are updated weekly automatically via a built-in cron job. No more configuring/updating individual devices with various OS flavors.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: sokoloff on July 11, 2018, 05:47:02 AM
For long-term hands-off use, I think that USB drives have higher reliability than the micro SD cards.

You can find instructions here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/bootmodes/msd.md
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: robartsd on July 12, 2018, 08:39:29 AM
For long-term hands-off use, I think that USB drives have higher reliability than the micro SD cards.

You can find instructions here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/bootmodes/msd.md
Many USB thumb drives use essentially the same flash memory as micro SD cards. While the USB connection is probably more robust, that would only matter if you are removing the storage frequently. Of course there is a range of quality for both micro SD cards and USB thumb drives, but it is difficult for the consumer to compare the reliability of offerings.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: GrumpyPenguin on July 18, 2018, 08:37:18 AM
I have this running on my network. Mostly happy with it.  Con is that it adds another point of failure to the network and adds complexity.  Doesn't bother me, but can be problematic when the significant other is trying to troubleshoot a network problem. With Comcast going down as often as it does, this not not infrequent.
Your problem is your ISP, not the pi-hole or any local network device. I've had DDWRT routers with uptime of 3+ years. Network devices are quite stable. People have used Raspberry Pi for outdoor projects, some of the earliest models are still running in cold and heat and rain and humidity at my neighbor's home weather station.

 With the added complexity, it confuses my significant other when there is a problem.  It also adds problems when there is a false positive that needs to be whitelisted.  I understand when there's an issue with the Pi Hole, but for the significant other, she just knows something doesn't work but not why or what device is causing the problem. If I'm not around 24 7, she doesn't know enough to log into the Pi Hole, find the problem and whitelist it.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: Alfred J Quack on July 29, 2018, 09:55:25 AM
In addition to the Pi-hole you can also consider using Adguard DNS on your devices and router. This is basically a professional service of an adblocker company.

I've been using their ad blockers for about 2 years now (several android phones and 1 laptop). The apps which don't/can't get blocked (like YouTube) are quickly replaced by alternatives (like newpipe). Should I need Chromecast then I pipe YouTube  via BubbleUPNP which also means no adds! This made my life a lot happier :)
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: Aggie1999 on August 01, 2018, 08:56:39 PM
Got my geek on and finally spun up a Pi-Hole. Makes browsing sites like GoCurryCracker tolerable.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: Aggie1999 on August 02, 2018, 10:09:47 AM
Here's how one can currently get the Pi 3b+ for $25 shipped:

https://slickdeals.net/f/11889483-new-customers-raspberry-pi-3-model-b-board-24-15-free-shipping?v=1&src=SiteSearch

If you live close to a Microcenter you can get the Pi 3b+ for $30. More interesting is the Pi Zero W from Microcenter for $5. It is enough for PiHole.
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: spaniard999 on August 06, 2018, 10:47:32 AM
Doing this today!
I've been looking for projects. I think I'm going to run this at the same time I run my pi with Magic Mirror 2 :)
Title: Re: Pi-Hole in my home network
Post by: MrTinystache on August 06, 2018, 11:01:01 AM
Ive been running pihole for about 6 months now and are really happy with it.  I haven't heard any complaints from the wife about internet things not working yet.