Removing Ads Using Pi-hole

What is Pi-hole?

It's a DNS server that can be installed on Raspberry Pi and Linux-based operating systems. But with ad blocking added.

Unlike typical Chrome plugins, it blocks ads at the network level, so there's less performance degradation. Also, there's an incomparable advantage over plugins - if you set the DNS server to Pi-hole on your router, it applies to the entire network.

That means it works on smartphones too!

With advantages like these, you definitely want to set this up, right?

Installation Process

There are 2 main ways to install it.

1. Using the installation script

   curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash After entering this, a selection screen will appear. Configure it appropriately. Soon Pi-hole will start running. Low-performance machines like Raspberry Pi Zero would use this method, but since I'm setting it up on a 3B+, I prefer the latter.

2. Running as a container using Docker

   I recommend this method. For models like the 3B+, there's plenty of RAM and other resources left even after running Pi-hole. You can still use the remaining resources with method 1, but using Docker containers allows for cleaner management. First install docker and docker-compose, then create a pihole directory. In that directory, write the docker-compose file as follows.

   version: "3"
   # More info at https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/ and https://docs.pi-hole.net/
   services:
   pihole:
     container_name: pihole
     image: pihole/pihole:latest
     ports:
       - "53:53/tcp"
       - "53:53/udp"
       - "67:67/udp"
       - "80:80/tcp"
       - "443:443/tcp"
     environment:
     TZ: "Asia/Seoul"
     WEBPASSWORD: "<MY_PASSWORD>"
     # Volumes store your data between container upgrades
     volumes:
       - "./etc-pihole/:/etc/pihole/"
       - "./etc-dnsmasq.d/:/etc/dnsmasq.d/"
     dns:
       - 127.0.0.1
       - 1.1.1.1
       - 1.0.0.1
     # Recommended but not required (DHCP needs NET_ADMIN)
     #   https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole#note-on-capabilities
     cap_add:

   There's only one thing to modify in the above file - replace <MY_PASSWORD> in WEBPASSWORD with your password. (This password is used for admin page login)

   docker-compose up -d Run this and Pi-hole will start after a while.

Pi-hole Configuration

Now Pi-hole installation is complete! A few settings are needed for ad blocking. First, let's go to the admin page. The admin page opens at raspberry-pi-ip/admin. If it opens properly, Pi-hole was installed correctly. The following explanation assumes you're using a router After confirming it opens, go to your router's configuration page. There should be a page for internet settings where you need to modify the DNS section. There should be spaces to enter primary DNS address and secondary DNS address - enter the Raspberry Pi IP in the primary DNS address. Please don't enter anything in the secondary DNS I struggled for a while following instructions online thinking "why isn't this working".. If you enter DNS addresses like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 in the secondary DNS, when our carefully set up Pi-hole's ad blocking feature blocks ad image IPs, the router automatically looks up domains from the secondary DNS.. So absolutely leave the secondary DNS empty

Testing Pi-hole

If you've followed along without issues, ad blocking should now be working. But not everything is blocked - only ads registered in Pi-hole's ad blocking list are removed. You can add more to the list, so let's move on You can't immediately tell if ads are being blocked properly.

So here's how to test it. It's speedtest.net!! This is an internet speed test site that has tons of ads if Pi-hole isn't working. But if Pi-hole is working properly, you shouldn't see any ads on that site. If you see ads, try the following 2 things.

1. Please check the secondary DNS;;
2. Reboot the computer and retry (not the Raspberry Pi running Pi-hole)

This is what I learned while setting up Pi-hole. Tomorrow I'll try setting up OpenVPN integration so I can enjoy ad blocking even outside of home.

References

pi hole home page Uprooting ads with Pi-Hole pihole_test_site