# Pihole in docker stops

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928>\
**Category:** docker\
**Created:** [October 15, 2026, 5:42pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928 "2026-10-15T17:42:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/1 "2026-10-15T17:43:00Z")

</div>

#### I have a secondary Pi-hole, running Debian (Trixie) for redundancy. After a week of running with no issues something dies. I can not do any DNS queries or run ping 8.8.8.8

My docker compose is

```yaml
services:
pihole:
container_name: pihole
image: pihole/pihole:latest
ports:
- "53:53/tcp"
- "53:53/udp"
- "8095:80/tcp"
- "4443:443/tcp"
environment:
TZ: 'America/Eastern'
FTLCONF_webserver_api_password: 'xxxxx'
FTLCONF_dns_listeningMode: 'ALL'
volumes:
- '/opt/pihole/etc/pihole/:/etc/pihole'
- '/opt/pihole/etc/dnsmasq.d/:/etc/dnsmasq.d'
cap_add:
- NET_ADMIN
- SYS_TIME
- SYS_NICE
restart: unless-stopped

```

`/var/log/syslog`

```auto
 dockerd[1278]: time="2026-10-14T20:36:25.976115962-04:00" level=warning msg="[resolver] connect failed" error="dial udp 192.168.1.20:53: connect: resource temporarily unavailable"

```

## Debug Token:

[https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/5RJikTWF/](https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/5RJikTWF/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/3 "2026-10-19T14:17:05Z")

</div>

Thanks for the help. Next failure I'll look at the host and see what's wrong.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/4 "2026-10-19T17:19:44Z")

</div>

I ran _docker events_ and I'm seeing the container dying and restarting every 30 seconds.

```auto
2026-10-19T11:46:38.507324328-04:00 container exec_create: /bin/sh -c dig -p $(pihole-FTL --config dns.port) +short +norecurse +retry=0 @127.0.0.1 pi.hole || exit 1 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=56a6e08a12c608acfd526474107be6092dc379de68d350da097225953122fff2, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)
2026-10-19T11:46:38.507413497-04:00 container exec_start: /bin/sh -c dig -p $(pihole-FTL --config dns.port) +short +norecurse +retry=0 @127.0.0.1 pi.hole || exit 1 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=56a6e08a12c608acfd526474107be6092dc379de68d350da097225953122fff2, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)
2026-10-19T11:46:38.759674536-04:00 container exec_die 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=56a6e08a12c608acfd526474107be6092dc379de68d350da097225953122fff2, exitCode=0, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)
2026-10-19T11:47:08.760609668-04:00 container exec_create: /bin/sh -c dig -p $(pihole-FTL --config dns.port) +short +norecurse +retry=0 @127.0.0.1 pi.hole || exit 1 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=e7f48a75d8be98ff708926298ac65a1ef0f2626de4102cf04a0583ab16ae0bb6, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)
2026-10-19T11:47:08.760714828-04:00 container exec_start: /bin/sh -c dig -p $(pihole-FTL --config dns.port) +short +norecurse +retry=0 @127.0.0.1 pi.hole || exit 1 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=e7f48a75d8be98ff708926298ac65a1ef0f2626de4102cf04a0583ab16ae0bb6, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)
2026-10-19T11:47:08.992749767-04:00 container exec_die 9a7b6f279dfbda9c9c73a5b2a6f93f319acfaf2e0c14ac89e49facf325c9a1e0 (com.docker.compose.config-hash=118330b5101addf4b2a825d7635ad50a2eaac4052befe437e2469f31bcd2328a, com.docker.compose.container-number=1, com.docker.compose.depends_on=, com.docker.compose.image=sha256:27b410ff85b3449158c1ed568b4078c6037463952ad9939b673b28ba13bd9aa7, com.docker.compose.oneoff=False, com.docker.compose.project=share, com.docker.compose.project.config_files=/home/share/pihole.yaml, com.docker.compose.project.working_dir=/home/share, com.docker.compose.service=pihole, com.docker.compose.version=2.26.1, execID=e7f48a75d8be98ff708926298ac65a1ef0f2626de4102cf04a0583ab16ae0bb6, exitCode=0, image=pihole/pihole:latest, name=pihole, org.opencontainers.image.created=2026-07-07T09:15:43.148Z, org.opencontainers.image.description=The official Pi-hole Docker image from pi-hole.net, org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION, org.opencontainers.image.revision=dd91b4847d97f0aac68bfefd1c108ed0627e6c68, org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.title=docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole, org.opencontainers.image.version=2026.07.2)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DL6ER](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dl6er/32/281_2.png) [@DL6ER](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DL6ER)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/5 "2026-10-19T18:31:01Z")

</div>

The events you posted are `exec_create`/`exec_start` of the image's healthcheck (the `dig ... pi.hole` command), which Docker runs every 30 seconds. They do not mean the container restarts. A restart shows up as `die` followed by `start`:

```auto
docker events --filter container=pihole --filter event=die

```

Your image is `2026.07.2` from July, please update to `2026.10.0` first. If it stops again, check `docker inspect pihole --format '{{.State.Health.Status}} {{.RestartCount}}'` and upload a new debug log before restarting it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/6 "2026-10-19T19:30:34Z")

</div>

Thanks for the clarification. Updated to latest Pi-hole. Hoping the latest version fixes my issue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/7 "2026-10-20T13:35:19Z")

</div>

DNS queries are extremely slow

```auto
$ host google.com
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
google.com has address 142.250.65.78
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
google.com has IPv6 address 2607:f8b0:4006:80e::200e
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
google.com mail is handled by 10 smtp.google.com.
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
;; communications error to 192.168.1.20#53: timed out
google.com has HTTP service bindings 1 . alpn="h2,h3"

```

takes about 30 seconds to run, but _host google.com 127.0.0.1_ runs immediately

```auto
$ docker inspect pihole --format '{{.State.Health.Status}} {{.RestartCount}}'
healthy 0

```

[https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/SRliq9nl/](https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/SRliq9nl/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DanSchaper](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/danschaper/32/91_2.png) [@DanSchaper](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DanSchaper)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/8 "2026-10-20T15:47:42Z")

</div>

This is what should be showing as a warning on the admin interface:

```plaintext
*** [DIAGNOSING]: Pi-hole diagnosis messages
   count last timestamp type message blob1 blob2 blob3 blob4 blob5
   ------ ------------------- -------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- --------------------
        1 2026-10-20 13:19:18 DNSMASQ_WARN ignoring query from non-local network 192.168.1.20
   
        1 2026-10-19 17:43:11 DNSMASQ_WARN ignoring query from non-local network 192.168.1.20 (logged
                                                      only once)

```

What is at `192.168.1.20`? I don't see that address set anywhere in the debug log or in your yaml configuration.

Edit: The listening mode is not set to allow queries from clients not on the same docker network bridge.

```plaintext
     listeningMode = "LOCAL"

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/9 "2026-10-20T16:04:12Z")

</div>

192.168.1.20 is the host running the container.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DL6ER](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dl6er/32/281_2.png) [@DL6ER](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DL6ER)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/10 "2026-10-20T16:50:09Z")

</div>

Your compose file sets `FTLCONF_dns_listeningMode: 'ALL'`, but the debug log shows `LOCAL`, so that variable never reached the container. Your `docker events` show the project actually runs from `/home/share/pihole.yaml`, please check that this file contains it. A query from the host to its own LAN address arrives with `192.168.1.20` as source, which is not on the container's bridge network, so `LOCAL` drops it.

After adding it, recreate the container with `docker compose -f /home/share/pihole.yaml up -d`. A plain restart keeps the old environment.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labzilla](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@labzilla](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/labzilla)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/11 "2026-10-24T18:46:56Z")

</div>

[https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/muRjzX5z/](https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/muRjzX5z/)

```auto
$ docker inspect pihole --format '{{.State.Health.Status}} {{.RestartCount}}'
healthy 0

```

From the host I can not ping anything on the LAN

```auto
$ ping 192.168.1.1
ping: connect: Resource temporarily unavailable

```

Inside the container I can ping, but DNS queries fail.

```auto
521fa04a33e1:/# ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes

521fa04a33e1:/# host google.com
Host google.com not found: 2(SERVFAIL)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rdwebdesign](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/rdwebdesign/32/51363_2.png) [@rdwebdesign](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/rdwebdesign)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/12 "2026-10-24T19:26:18Z")

</div>

> [@labzilla](#):
>
> From the host I can not ping anything on the LAN

Please check your network settings, connections and firewall rules.

Pinging an IP doesn't involve Pi-hole or any other DNS server.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/7/c/7c8792f649eeb921c5d2b4c41564ffa873d9a2b8.png) [@system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-in-docker-stops/87928/13 "2026-11-14T19:26:52Z")

</div>

Closed on November 14, 2026, 7:26pm UTC

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