Pihole blocks adds. All my devices show in the active client list. My Spectrum (ISP) router uses the raspberry pi that is running pihole as DNS server.
Actual Behaviour:
No devices get an internet connection when I set up my router to use raspberry pi as DNS server, expect the raspberry pi itself. When I manually set the raspberry pi’s IP address as the DNS server on my phone, for example, it starts showing up as an active client in pihole dashboard and is able to connect to the internet and block adds as expected.
It may be worth mentioning that the ISP’s router forces me to use a secondary DNS server, and to force through this I use the following workaround:
Primary DNS server: 192.168.1.X (Using the raspberry pi’s reserved IP address)
Likely you need to let the router’s WAN settings keep the default (Spectrum) DNS servers and configure LAN or DHCP settings on the router to distribute your Pihole as the client DNS.
Which Spectrum router do you have? Maybe we can help you figure out which specific setting(s) to change. If it’s not possible to configure LAN DHCP to use a specified DNS, there are other ways to work around it usually.
I have seen some of these Spectrum crap. You cannot configure any DHCP Settings. If you want more control, then get some hardware and put it in front of the Spectrum.
Agreed. That one looks like it’s locked down with very limited configuration options for your LAN.
If you can’t specify only one DNS server for the router, Pihole isn’t going to perform as expected - it has to be the only DNS server or clients are free to use the other one specified in your settings.
You can set each client’s DNS manually (as in each computer, smartphone, etc.) to use Pihole; other than that, if you want to use Pihole I think you’ll have to get your own router. On the upside, if you tell Spectrum you want a modem-only device (not a combo unit like you have now), they will remove the monthly Wifi equipment charge.