No DNS activity

Help
1

Hi

I recently decided I wanted to dive back into PiHole and I am getting absolutely stuck.

The PiHole is installed on my RPi 2 dedicated to this usage. It is connected directly to my router (not even through my switch) on a dedicated IP (10.0.0.253) defined by my router which handles DHCP for my whole setup. The router is also configured to use, as primary DNS, 10.0.0.253 and, as secondary, 1.1.1.1 (more on that later). The router has no IPv6 activated.

I can access the web admin of PiHole and navigate it but it barely gets any query : only from my router 10.0.0.1 or from the local interface. I can also ssh in the RPi without problem.

Any nslookup command on pi.hole returns an error and, if I remove the 1.1.1.1 DNS, internet just falls apart.

I am absolutely lost as to what can cause this and could really use the help.

Thanks in advance !

Debug Token:

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

2

This will bypass Pi-hole.

Looking at your debug log, I can see your router is advertising itself as DNS server:

      router: 10.0.0.1
      dns-server: 10.0.0.1

This means every device inside your network will send queries to your router and your router will send the queries to one of the servers you set.

As there is no real concept of primary/secondary DNS, if both servers are working, both will be used by your router. Your router is choosing the "secondary" most of the times and sending most of the queries to 1.1.1.1.

You set 10.0.0.253 and 1.1.1.1 on your router WAN settings (this is why Pi-hole is receiving queries only from your router).

You can try to change the DNS servers in your LAN settings. Notes:

  • the name of these options vary from router to router. Sometimes it is called DHCP settings, sometimes Local network. Sometimes this is hidden in a "Advanced" tab or page).
  • Not every router has these options.

If you change the DNS settings in LAN side, you can change the WAN DNS back to public server, like 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8.

3

Thanks a lot for the prompt answer !

I actually thought of a similar issue but, it seems my router does not allow for different DNS configuration between WAN and LAN sides. It appears very similar to this post I just stumbled upon while researching my router model

I bought the router close to 10 years ago now. Maybe it's time I change it for something that would allow me to use PiHole as I intend. I made PiHole work on it but it was years ago and it is likely that a firmware update created this blocking point.

Maybe I can just try PiHole to act as a DHCP/DNS and only use the router for WiFi before buying a new one.

4

This is the best alternative if your router doesn't allow changing the DNS in LAN/DHCP secion.