Pi-hole DNS service is not running after Update the list of ad-serving domains

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1

The issue I am facing:
Many times after 'pihole -g' the DNS service crashes or stops. Often 'pihole restartdns' does not resolve and requires 'pihole -r' to repair. This occurs when performed manually or automatically from crontab.

Details about my system:
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Rev 1.1
Operating lastest Buster build.
https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/v6teuwy4bv

What I have changed since installing Pi-hole:
Modified 'crontab -e' with the following.

m h dom mon dow command

Add date to filename = date +20\%y-\%m-\%d

Update & Upgrade Raspberry Pi OS and output results to dated log file @ 3 AM daily.

  • 3 * * * sudo apt-get update > /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_OS_Upgrade.log 2>&1 && echo y | sudo apt-get upgrade >> /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_OS_Upgrade.log 2>&1 && echo y | sudo apt-get autoremove >> /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_OS_Upgrade.log 2>&1 && sudo apt-get autoclean >> /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_OS_Upgrade.log 2>&1

Show current versions of Pi-Hole, Update Pi-Hole, then Update Blocklist and output results to dated log file @ 4AM daily.

  • 4 * * * /usr/local/bin/pihole -v > /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_Pi-Hole_Update.log 2>&1 && /usr/local/bin/pihole -up >> /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_Pi-Hole_Update.log 2>&1 && /usr/local/bin/pihole -g >> /home/pi/date +20\%y-\%m-\%d_Pi-Hole_Update.log 2>&1
2

Why have you added these cron tasks?

Pi-hole should not be auto-updated. You should read the release notes and decide if the new version is something you want to install. This is why there is no auto-update feature included in Pi-hole, and why the release notes are typically quite detailed.

Pi-hole already checks for new versions, and notifies you on the web GUI that a new version is available.

Blocklists are updated weekly on Sunday morning between 3 am 5 am your local time through an existing cron script installed by Pi-hole.

3

Thank you for your response.

I have been happy with the stable updates released and have no problem keeping it current.
My Pi-hole is setup so it maintains itself with little to no intervention.

I was unaware that there was a weekly cron script in place to update the blocklist each week. I can make sure I remove these.

Back to my original question. Any idea why DNS is crashing when I update the blocklist?

Thank you for your response in advance.

4

Do you see actual crashed in /var/log/pihole-FTL.log?

There were reports of FTL stopping after pihole -g (or the weekly gravity update). It has been associated with counting the number of entries in the database.

5

I didn't check. Since then, I reconfigured with 'pihole -r' instead of doing another repair. So far it seems to be much more stable.

I'll watch over the next few days and report any issues.