Running my free cloud-based Pihole, notes

General
7

Here is a step by step guide for others looking to accomplish this on Google Cloud Platform:

Set up a Pi-Hole Ad Blocking VPN Server with a static Anycast IP on Google Cloud's Always Free Usage Tier and configure Full Tunnel or Split Tunnel OpenVPN connections from your Android, iOS, macOS, & Windows devices

Both Full Tunnel and Split Tunnel VPN connections provide DNS based ad-blocking over an encrypted connection to the cloud. The differences are:

  • A Split Tunnel VPN allows you to interact with devices on your Local Network (such as a Chromecast or Roku).
  • A Full Tunnel VPN can help bypass misconfigured proxies on corporate WiFi networks, and protects you from Man-In-The-Middle SSL proxies.
Tunnel Type Data Usage Server CPU Load Security Ad Blocking
full +10% overhead for vpn moderate 100% encryption yes
split just kilobytes per day very low dns encryption only yes
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