My Pihole dies / stops responding every night

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1

Hello everyone,

there is a problem with my Pihole. For the last 4 or 5 days, Pihole has stopped responding at night. No changes have been made.

It cannot be pinged in the morning and I cannot SSH on to it until I pull the power and reboot it.

*** [ DIAGNOSING ]: Pi-hole log
-rw-r--r-- 1 pihole pihole 1193237 Jul 14 06:28 /var/log/pihole.log
   -----head of pihole.log------
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 33.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 2.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: /etc/pihole/local.list 192.168.178.2 is raspberrypi
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 21.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 1.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 24.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 23.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:00 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 9.9.9.9.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: cached 9.9.9.9 is dns9.quad9.net
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 2.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: /etc/pihole/local.list 192.168.178.2 is raspberrypi
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 112.112.112.149.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: cached 149.112.112.112 is rpz-public-resolver1.rrdns.pch.net
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: query[PTR] 1.178.168.192.in-addr.arpa from 127.0.0.1
   Jul 14 01:00:01 dnsmasq[537]: config error is REFUSED

Token: bh5jcuebua

2

What is your configured upstream DNS server?

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3

Failing ping and ssh would suggest a networking problem rather than a problem with Pi-hole.
Did you use IP addresses or hostnames for ssh and ping?

Note that in general, ping isn't adequate to analyse DNS issues, even when using hostnames, as it resolves hostnames through a variety of sources, not just DNS, while pinging IP addresses wouldn't involve name resolution at all.
Use nslookup or dig to analyse and document DNS issues.

Your debug log looks normal otherwise, apart from:

*** [ DIAGNOSING ]: Setup variables
    PIHOLE_DNS_3=192.168.178.2

You should remove Pi-hole's own IP from Pi-hole's upstream servers under Settings | DNS.

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4

Many thanks.

I did use IP adresses for ssh and ping.

I have removed it. Tomorrow, I will let you know if it works.

5

In that case, Pi-hole isn't involved - your problem is network connectivity.

Independent from this, it's still advisable to remove Pi-hole's own IP from its upstream servers, but it won't address your ping / ssh issue.

6

Another suggestion might be to attach a screen to your pi-hole, to see if it leaves any kernel panic messages when it stops working.

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7

Update: I changed the SD card at the weekend. It seems to work now.

I will try it out for a few days and then report back.

8

Hello everyone,

my test is over and I can say that my Pihole / Pi is now working.

It has helped that I changed the SD card and removed PiholeĀ“s own IP from its upstream servers.

Thanks for the help. :slight_smile:

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