Robust Pi-hole DHCP configuration

[deHakkelaar]

@stirbitch

So I understand I will need to disable DCHP on the Hub, and use the DCHP server on Pi-Hole.

Not necessarily:

How do I configure my devices to use Pi-hole as their DNS server?

Three methods Generally, there are three different methods that will enable devices on your network to be protected by Pi-hole. 1. Define Pi-hole's IP address as the only DNS entry in the router Rationale Only is italicized here for a reason: Pi-hole needs to be the only DNS server because it intercepts queries and decides whether or not they should be blocked. If you have other DNS servers configured, you may be sent to the correct domain, bypassing Pi-hole completely. Because of this, we…

@stirbitch

From a bit of reading around, my thought is that it would be simple and robust to allocate all IP addresses dynamically, but give them a good long lease - maybe a month. In the case of the Raspi/Pi-Hole failing in some way, that would at least give me plenty of time to talk someone through connecting to the Virgin Hub from any existing client to reactive DCHP on the Hub - which should then give all clients access to Virgin's DNS servers and restore Internet access.

If Pi-hole is doing DHCP instead of the router, and Pi-hole is failing, both DNS and DHCP will be down for the clients.
Its one and the same binary named pihole-FTL that does both.
So meddling with DHCP lease time is of no use.
If you use a dedicated Pi to run Pi-hole and dont customize too much, it can be a very reliable setup.
Mine (a Pi 1B with DHCP enabled) has been running for close to four years now without problems.
And if for some reason Pi-hole fails or if I need to perform maintenance, I just enable the DHCP service on the router again.