Using /etc/hosts to block domains

[phenders2]

Expected Behavior:

When I put the line "127.0.0.1 self.events.data.microsoft.com" or
"0.0.0.0 self.events.data.microsoft.com" in the raspberry pi running pihole /etc/hosts file, then
it used to be blocked "before" pihole (ie, it did not appear in the pihole blocked gravity list -
was "pre-filtered" also reducing the percentage blocked).

Actual Behaviour:

self.events.data.microsoft.com is blocked by gravity in pihole blocked list.

This used to work, reducing the "excess clutter" in my blocked list, and the % blocked.

I understand the "The order of locally defined DNS records." Is there a way to "block"
self.events.data.microsoft.com so it does not appear in the blocked pihole gravity list?

Thanks, Peter Henderson

[Bucking_Horn]

The hosts file is not part of DNS resolution.

It may be consulted by RPi OS's glibc before formulating a DNS request, and only for name resolution requests issued by some software on the same machine.

But why would your Raspberry query that self.events.data.microsoft.com?

That's likely issued by a Windows OS, so a Windows client has sent an explicit DNS request to Pi-hole.

You could consider to edit the hosts file on that Windows client (e.g. How to edit the hosts file on Windows, Mac, or Linux - SiteGround KB) in order to prevent it from sending a DNS request to Pi-hole.