Pi-hole Version 6 Compatibility with Raspberry Pi 3

[pi_user5000]

Dear Community,
I am reaching out to inquire about the compatibility of Pi-hole version 6 with the Raspberry Pi 3. I have been using Pi-hole for quite some time, and it has worked flawlessly until the recent update. Since then, my Raspberry Pi 3 has become unresponsive.

It seems like many other users are experiencing similar problems with version 6 on the Raspberry Pi 3.

1. In general, is the Raspberry Pi 3 still able to run and host the latest version 6 of Pi-hole?

2. Is it advisable to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for better performance and more RAM?

3. Additionally, would it be better to perform a fresh install on the Raspberry Pi 3, or is it possible to downgrade back to version 5 if I decide to stick with it?

4. Does it makes sense to try "sudo pihole -r " (Reconfigure or Repair Pi-hole subsystems)

Debug Token:

https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/7mq9BWus/

Here the error message while updating pi-hole:

[i] Building tree...
[✗] Unable to build gravity tree in /etc/pihole/gravity.db_temp

[i] If you have a large amount of domains, make sure your Pi-hole has enough RAM available

Error: stepping, database disk image is malformed (11)

5. Would this command solve the problem?

sudo pihole checkout core tweak/sqlite_temp_store

Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Best regards,
Bruno

[Bucking_Horn]

@pi_user5000

1. In general, is the Raspberry Pi 3 still able to run and host the latest version 6 of Pi-hole?

Yes.

@pi_user5000

2. Is it advisable to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for better performance and more RAM?

No.

@pi_user5000

3. Additionally, would it be better to perform a fresh install on the Raspberry Pi 3, or is it possible to downgrade back to version 5 if I decide to stick with it?

No, and yes, easiest via Docker.

@pi_user5000

4. Does it makes sense to try "sudo pihole -r " (Reconfigure or Repair Pi-hole subsystems)

Perhaps, if something is broken that the repair script is intended to fix.

@pi_user5000

5. Would this command solve the problem?

Likely not, as that has been merged into development already.

But you have a huge gravity database, weighing over 600M, and your long term database size of ~500M would have kept your RPi 3 quite busy during the upgrade's database conversion.

Since you observe a malformed error, please check your database intergrity and share the results of:

sudo pihole-FTL sqlite3 /etc/pihole/pihole-FTL.db "PRAGMA integrity_check"

sudo pihole-FTL sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "PRAGMA integrity_check"

Given the size of your databases, this may take a rather long time to complete, may well be several minutes.

Your debug log shows that your webserver.threads are set to 0 (default), to have the webserver determine a thread count value.
We've received reports that explicitly setting that value has improved web UI responsiveness.

Please try to change that, e.g. to 6

sudo pihole-FTL --config webserver.threads 6

[rdwebdesign]

@pi_user5000

In general, is the Raspberry Pi 3 still able to run and host the latest version 6 of Pi-hole?

Yes.

I run one Pi-hole at home in a Raspberry Pi 3B+ (in a docker container), without issues.

[pi_user5000]

Hello Bucking_Horn!

Thank you very much for your detailed response and for answering every single question in such an efficient way. I appreciate it!

sudo pihole-FTL sqlite3 /etc/pihole/pihole-FTL.db "PRAGMA integrity_check"
sudo pihole-FTL sqlite3 /etc/pihole/gravity.db "PRAGMA integrity_check"

Both checks returned OK just a few seconds later. It took not very much time—less than 10 seconds for sure, maybe even less than that.

I also changed webserver.threads to 6, as you advised.

After that, I made an update since new updates have been available since today.

I will provide an update after I check the new configuration during the day.

Maybe a stupid question, but anyway, why is it recommended to run Pi-hole in a Docker container?
From my perspective, I would prefer to keep it as simple and lightweight as possible. Doesn’t Docker add another layer of complication to a simple setup like Pi-hole on a very lightweight Raspberry Pi?
I just want to gain a better understanding of your advice.

PS: Right now, the Pi-hole is updating the gravity.

[Bucking_Horn]

@Bucking_Horn

@pi_user5000

3. (…) is it possible to downgrade back to version 5 if I decide to stick with it?

(…) yes, easiest via Docker.

@pi_user5000

Maybe a stupid question, but anyway, why is it recommended to run Pi-hole in a Docker container?

You are misreading my answer.
There is no general recommendation to run Pi-hole in Docker of bare metal.
Installing a previous version is just easier with Docker, as you just need to pull the respective image, e.g. docker pull pihole/pihole:2024.07.0 for the last v5 one.

Installing a previous Pi-hole version via CLI would require to manually pull specific component versions and to manual change the installation script used.

[pi_user5000]

Hello Bucking_Horn!

I apologize for my misreading of your comment. I was not attentive enough.
Mea culpa!

Thank you very much for your clarification.

Quick Update on My Pi-hole

I wanted to share a short update on my Pi-hole setup based on your advice:

1. Changed webserver.threads to 6: Following your suggestion, I adjusted the webserver.threads setting to 6. This change has made a noticeable difference!

2. Running pihole -f: I also executed the command pihole -f to flush the DNS query logs.

3. Successful Tree Building: After implementing these two steps, I was finally able to complete the tree building process after updating the gravity. This is a significant milestone for me, as I had been struggling with this issue since the last update, and it always seemed to fail before.

I think everything is running smoothly and as intended again.

Thank you very much for your time and support.

Best, Bruno