What the hell is a Pi-Hole!
Short answer is it is a pit of despair for Advertisements.
Pi-hole is a network-level advertisement and internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole, intended for use on a local network.
FAQ:
What does that mean? When an Advertisement is sent to your device rather than you seeing it, it is sent to a black hole.
Why use a network wide ad Blocker? Simply put, it blocks ads across all devices. TV's, cell phones, tablets, PC, consoles, etc. If the Ad server is on the list the add goes in the black hole.
Does it provide security? Not in the traditional sense, while it also helps burry tracking information and blocks ads infected with bad code, that is not primary function, more of a bonus side effect. You can still use other web based ad blockers and should always have some form of virus protection.
Pi-hole is a network-level advertisement and internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole, intended for use on a local network.
FAQ:
What does that mean? When an Advertisement is sent to your device rather than you seeing it, it is sent to a black hole.
Why use a network wide ad Blocker? Simply put, it blocks ads across all devices. TV's, cell phones, tablets, PC, consoles, etc. If the Ad server is on the list the add goes in the black hole.
Does it provide security? Not in the traditional sense, while it also helps burry tracking information and blocks ads infected with bad code, that is not primary function, more of a bonus side effect. You can still use other web based ad blockers and should always have some form of virus protection.
Pi-hole is named that because it was originally written for Raspberry Pi, an inexpensive single board computer and hole for the black hole that ads go into.
These tiny computers are perfect for this application as they are both cheap and inexpensive to run 24/7 Rasperry PI 5 (the latest and way more power than a piehole will ever need) uses about 3.5 watts while a headless Pi Zero will use 0.4 watts.
Pi uses a Linux based OS so you will need to not be scared to allow your inner geek out in the true sense of the word. It is not as scarry as you may think and Linux is much easier than the cave man days when I learned.
If you go all out and get the top of the line model in a kit from Amazon... As of today 10/14/2024 a Pi5 8gb ram (so current top of the line and overkill) with everything you need to get started:
These tiny computers are perfect for this application as they are both cheap and inexpensive to run 24/7 Rasperry PI 5 (the latest and way more power than a piehole will ever need) uses about 3.5 watts while a headless Pi Zero will use 0.4 watts.
Pi uses a Linux based OS so you will need to not be scared to allow your inner geek out in the true sense of the word. It is not as scarry as you may think and Linux is much easier than the cave man days when I learned.
If you go all out and get the top of the line model in a kit from Amazon... As of today 10/14/2024 a Pi5 8gb ram (so current top of the line and overkill) with everything you need to get started:
- prinstalled 128gb sd drive
- case
- powersupply
- heat sync and fan
- 2x hdmi cables
- usb sd card reader
This however is the Raspberry Pi Official website
https://www.raspberrypi.com/
https://www.raspberrypi.com/
Alternatively Pi-hole can be run on things other than Pi computers. This is useful to keep in mind for things you run all the time. Such as NAS machines or supported Routers.
https://www.docker.com/
Many NAS machines as well as PC's support docker that acts like a virtual machine, it is retail software that is free to use as personal. Docker is an open-source platform management of applications using containers. Containers are lightweight, portable units that bundle an application and its dependencies. So you can install Docker , then install the premade container for raspberry Pi, configure it set up your network and you are done. Its likely easier than using the Raspberry native OS.
Keep in mind you want your Pi-hole running 24/7 because it is your DNS server for your network once completely configured and if it goes off line. Your devices will not know how to get to anyplace on the web. That is why a raspberry Pi is a good first choice.
Pie-hole can also run on Linux machines, some Routers and if you want to be real slick.. you can even use an old android smart phone to act as you network adblocker.
https://www.docker.com/
Many NAS machines as well as PC's support docker that acts like a virtual machine, it is retail software that is free to use as personal. Docker is an open-source platform management of applications using containers. Containers are lightweight, portable units that bundle an application and its dependencies. So you can install Docker , then install the premade container for raspberry Pi, configure it set up your network and you are done. Its likely easier than using the Raspberry native OS.
Keep in mind you want your Pi-hole running 24/7 because it is your DNS server for your network once completely configured and if it goes off line. Your devices will not know how to get to anyplace on the web. That is why a raspberry Pi is a good first choice.
Pie-hole can also run on Linux machines, some Routers and if you want to be real slick.. you can even use an old android smart phone to act as you network adblocker.
Official Website:
Pi-hole®
Network-wide Ad Blocking
https://pi-hole.net/
An alternative to pi-hole is AdGuard Home But the Pi-hole community is much larger with loads of support and tutorials for however you want to install it. They also have a much larger database of ad server DNS's For example this is my dns block list numbers.
Pi-hole®
Network-wide Ad Blocking
https://pi-hole.net/
An alternative to pi-hole is AdGuard Home But the Pi-hole community is much larger with loads of support and tutorials for however you want to install it. They also have a much larger database of ad server DNS's For example this is my dns block list numbers.
My list is custom and loaded. I do not recommend you do this unless you know what you are doing as some blocks can cause things to stop working properly, things like Twitter.
