Everything was working fine until I tried to update my PiHole recently. I got the prompt that my Raspberry Pi OS was no longer supported (I think I was on Debian 9). I used the command given to ignore the OS check, and after it ran, it's saying the FTL service can't be reached, or something like that. I also can no longer reach the web portal.
So here's what I'm thinking; I'll just update to the latest Pi OS and reinstall PiHole. My question is basically how?
Ideally, I'd like to keep my settings and custom black/white lists if possible. I didn't do a ton of customization really, just specified the DNS servers I'd like to use mostly. Is there a folder or something I can just copy off my SD card and put in the new installation? Is there an easier way?
Use the teleporter function of Pi-hole (web admin GUI > settings > teleporter). Save your teleporter file to to some location on a computer (other than the Pi), then import the saved settings from the GUI after you flash a fresh OS and reinstall Pi-hole.
Appreciate the help! Unfortunately, I can no longer access the web admin GUI. I know, I know, I should have run the teleporter before attempting to update. I'm an idiot. Is there another way I can run it?
pihole -a -t will do it, but the file is saved in the open directory on the Pi. You will need to copy that file to a remote location (i.e. off the Pi) so it will be available after format and re-flash.
pihole -a --h
Usage: pihole -a [options]
Example: pihole -a -p password
Set options for the Admin Console
Options:
-p, password Set Admin Console password
-c, celsius Set Celsius as preferred temperature unit
-f, fahrenheit Set Fahrenheit as preferred temperature unit
-k, kelvin Set Kelvin as preferred temperature unit
-h, --help Show this help dialog
-i, interface Specify dnsmasq's interface listening behavior
-l, privacylevel Set privacy level (0 = lowest, 3 = highest)
-t, teleporter Backup configuration as an archive
-t, teleporter myname.tar.gz Backup configuration to archive with name myname.tar.gz as specified
-t, tail [arg]
View the live output of the Pi-hole log
[arg] Optional argument to filter the log for
(regular expressions are supported)
Now run the following command from that same directory and it will show the .tar.gz file with the teleporter backup. That is the file you want to save external to the Pi.
This last comment is gold, and definitely provides an easy method for those who aren't comfortable or familiar with other more traditional ways of moving files from a Linux-based system to another volume in the network.
Maybe sticky this, or include it somewhere in the docs? Just a suggestion.