Changing upstream DNS sets blocking countdown timer to null

Help
1

Expected Behaviour:

Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Hardware: Ugreen DXP2800
pihole-FTL version v6.7.1 (bare metal)

Actual Behaviour:

Changing the upstream DNS seems to "nullify" the blocking countdown timer. If I then repeat the same change it does not run the same

The pitest script uses "curl -X PATCH ....." to set the upstream DNS, e.g:
curl -X PATCH http://$PISVR/api/config/dns/upstreams -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"config":{"dns":{"upstreams":["'$UPDNS_1'", "'$UPDNS_2'"]}}}'

the 3 pitest commands below were run in sequence

Run #1. (Setting upstreams to their current (ControlD) values (effectively no change))

  • works as expected

pitest controld

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":null,"took":1.811981201171875e-05}

pihole.toml says:

upstreams = \[ "76.76.2.2", "76.76.10.2" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Setting upstream DNS
{"config":{"dns":{"upstreams":["76.76.2.2","76.76.10.2"]}},"took":0.00011157989501953125}

pihole.toml says:

upstreams = \[ "76.76.2.2", "76.76.10.2" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Disabling blocking for 300 seconds
{"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":2.6941299438476562e-05}

pihole.toml says:

upstreams = \[ "76.76.2.2", "76.76.10.2" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":3.0994415283203125e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":298.99999999999977,"took":2.956390380859375e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":297.89999999999952,"took":2.6941299438476562e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":296.8999999999993,"took":2.8371810913085938e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":295.899999999999,"took":3.1232833862304688e-05}

Run #2. (Changing upstreams to something else)

  • the countdown timer is set to null a few seconds after the change to the upstream DNS
# pitest cloudflare

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":290.19999999999777,"took":2.5510787963867188e-05}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "76.76.2.2", "76.76.10.2" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Setting upstream DNS
{"config":{"dns":{"upstreams":\["1.1.1.1","1.0.0.1"\]}},"took":0.015906095504760742}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Disabling blocking for 300 seconds
{"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":2.4557113647460938e-05}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":1.7881393432617188e-05}
sleep 1
Status:
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":null,"took":2.3126602172851562e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":null,"took":3.5524368286132812e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":null,"took":4.100799560546875e-05}

# 

#

Test #3. (Setting upstreams to their current (Clouflare) values (effectively no change))

  • Repeating the same update to the upstream DNS does not set the timer to null
# pitest cloudflare

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":null,"took":2.6702880859375e-05}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Setting upstream DNS
{"config":{"dns":{"upstreams":\["1.1.1.1","1.0.0.1"\]}},"took":9.9658966064453125e-05}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Disabling blocking for 300 seconds
{"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":2.384185791015625e-05}

pihole.toml says: upstreams = \[ "1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1" \] ### CHANGED, default = [ ]

Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":300,"took":1.8835067749023438e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":298.99999999999977,"took":2.9802322387695312e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":297.99999999999955,"took":2.9087066650390625e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":296.99999999999932,"took":2.8371810913085938e-05}
sleep 1
Status: {"blocking":"disabled","timer":295.99999999999909,"took":1.7404556274414062e-05}

#

Debug Token:

https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/vsGPdtcb/

5

Apologies for the illegible post. (It was my first post). Here is my script, updated to give more easily read output.

pitest.sh.txt (1.1 KB)

6

looks like the config PATCH is bouncing FTL and wiping the temporary disable timer.

after ur upstreams change, set blocking again thru the blocking endpoint (check /api/docs on ur box for the exact path on v6). something like:

curl -X POST http://$PISVR/api/dns/blocking -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"blocking":true}'

if timer keeps going null even when u never disabled blocking, thats probably a bug on config write. github issue w/ ur pitest output would help.

7

The blocking timer is only saved in memory, while the status is written to the disk TOML as dns.blocking.active.
If you disable blocking with a timeout and trigger a restart afterwards, the timer will be lost, but the status will be re-read from disk.