(noob here 😉) - pihole enable returns "Communication error. Is FTL running?"

[gaufff]

Expected Behaviour:

• sudo pihole enable should start pihole

• connecting to my admin console should show me the pihole dashboard

• OS version:
  PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
  NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
  VERSION_ID="12"
  VERSION="12 (bookworm)"

• pihole version:
  Core version is v6.0.5 (Latest: v6.0.5)
  Web version is v6.0.2 (Latest: v6.0.2)
  FTL version is v6.0.4 (Latest: v6.0.4)

• Important notes:

• I use tailscale but I don't need it here, so exclusively use my LAN IP

• I have nextdns installed (listening on port 53 when up), but I performed a "sudo nextdns stop" and as far as I can see, port 53 is not in any conflict?

myuser@myPI:~ $ sudo ss -tulpn | grep :53
udp UNCONN 0 0 0.0.0.0:5353 0.0.0.0:* users:(("avahi-daemon",pid=796,fd=12))
udp UNCONN 0 0 *:5353 : users:(("avahi-daemon",pid=796,fd=13))

Actual Behaviour:

• sudo pihole enable returns: Communication error. Is FTL running?
• Connecting to https://:80/admin shows an page index (see screenshot)

Debug Token:

[✓] Your debug token is: https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/CGwudjv8/

[Bucking_Horn]

Your debug log shows NextDNS to be active on port 53, and Apache on port 80:

*** [ DIAGNOSING ]: Ports in use
    udp:0.0.0.0:51820 is in use by <unknown>
[✗] udp:127.0.0.1:53 is in use by nextdns (https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#ports)
    udp:0.0.0.0:123 is in use by pihole-FTL
    udp:0.0.0.0:41641 is in use by tailscaled
    udp:0.0.0.0:5353 is in use by avahi-daemon
    udp:0.0.0.0:34351 is in use by avahi-daemon
    udp:*:51820 is in use by <unknown>
[✗] udp:[::1]:53 is in use by nextdns (https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#ports)
    udp:*:123 is in use by pihole-FTL
    udp:*:33149 is in use by avahi-daemon
    udp:*:41641 is in use by tailscaled
    udp:*:5353 is in use by avahi-daemon
[✓] tcp:0.0.0.0:443 is in use by pihole-FTL
    tcp:127.0.0.1:631 is in use by cupsd
    tcp:0.0.0.0:22 is in use by sshd
    tcp:100.108.169.120:38392 is in use by tailscaled
[✗] tcp:127.0.0.1:53 is in use by nextdns (https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#ports)
    tcp:127.0.0.1:25 is in use by exim4
    tcp:127.0.0.1:6010 is in use by sshd
    tcp:[::1]:631 is in use by cupsd
    tcp:[fd7a:115c:a1e0::4501:a978]:52619 is in use by tailscaled
    tcp:[::1]:25 is in use by exim4
[✗] tcp:[::1]:53 is in use by nextdns (https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#ports)
    tcp:[::1]:6010 is in use by sshd
[✓] tcp:[::]:443 is in use by pihole-FTL
[✗] tcp:*:80 is in use by apache2 (https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#ports)
    tcp:[::]:22 is in use by sshd

You have to stop and disable your NextDNS DoH Proxy, so Pi-hole can bind to port 53 upon restart.

If you want to keep Apache, you have to move Pi-hole's embedded webserver to a different port, e.g. via CLI:

sudo pihole-FTL --config webserver.port '8088o,8443os,[::]:8088o,[::]:8443os'

[gaufff]

Thanks so much, most useful, everything works!