How to Set Up Pi-hole on DSM 7! (Network Ad-Blocker)

[@sumukshashidhar]

Concise, clear, helpful. I wish tutorials on KZbin followed this non clickbait, well produced video format.

[@QuikTechSolutions]

Outstanding video Frank!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks so much, Tony!

[@justinjdyer]

Very helpful. Thanks for both the write up and the video.

[@thaswift1]

Thank you so much for this. New to all of this and I was able to use your video and set it up with zero issues.

[@TechMeOut5]

Oh yeah! i was looking forward to this! thanks for this excellent video! Posting on the Facebook group!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks, Avi! Appreciate you watching!

[@MN11619]

Great video and clear instructions! I setup ADGuard and PI-hole using your videos! Now trying to decide what one to use 😂

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Both are great!

[@johjohmn6731]

Thank you so much. Would you consider making on that includes Unbound?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Absolutely! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@johjohmn6731]

@@WunderTechTutorials Aw, man, I would love that!

[@notreallyme425]

I’d like to see that. Not sure what functionality Unbound adds.

[@johjohmn6731]

@@notreallyme425 it adds your own recursive DNS resolver and therefore an extra layer of privacy.

[@klorin]

Great guide, thank you. I would really like have it set-up with Unbound as well. Looking forward to that guide.

[@zafnatpanea826]

God Bless You! Dear Friend!!!

[@waardom]

Did it last time with your clear description 👍. Got it to work. Now trying to upgrade to the newest version of pihole.

[@nicolassimard2552]

Thank you!

[@kevinhughes9801]

Great stuff thank you

[@jmejiamar]

Recién configure todo con el anterior video… gracias por este nuevo!! Funciono Perfecto!! 😊

[@marvelofgames]

i spent over an hour and still have questions while i appreciate your help it was very confusing. as a newbie

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I just released a new video that uses container manager. This video is out of date at this point.

[@marvelofgames]

@@WunderTechTutorials I’ll have to check that out I kept getting errors in putty telling me to use the docker network manager to create the macvlan

[@chrishuy7229]

Great tutorial! Would you please do another video Pihole-Unbound on Synology DSM 7.2? Thank you!

[@TDC_Dragon]

I can't see how you exit editing and then save the resolv file.

[@jurgenvanimpe6465]

just type the exact following in my double quotes ":wq" it stands for write and quit

[@Eric_In_SF]

yep. he skipped several critical steps. and the written instructions dont cover the dhcp.

[@cleantones]

This is great. Thank you. The last time I tried to use a pihole I found that it's negated when using a VPN. I am a novice here, do you know if this method would be the same? I'm talking about the type of VPN you run on a device and enable at will.

[@AyySorento]

Most VPN's offer some type of DNS leak protection which you can't always turn off. The idea is, your network traffic is protected, but DNS is still plain text since DNS over HTTPS isn't exactly a widely adopted thing. So, even if you had a VPN on, your network traffic will still reveal what sites you visit through DNS. Most VPN's will contain their own DNS or DNS protection that is used when the VPN is enabled to secure your DNS traffic. So yes, with the VPN on, any local DNS settings, such as PiHole, will be overwritten. Personally, it's a pain for me since I have my shared folders mapped via hostname and not IP, so when I have my VPN connected, they can't be reached unless I manually connect with the IP. Now, it's not always a bad thing. ProtonVPN for instance, comes with ad/malware blocking with their DNS. Might not be customizable like Pi-Hole but it still offers additional protection.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

When you say it's negated, do you mean that you want the VPN server to use Pi-hole? If so (and the VPN server is on the NAS), you'll have to set up the bridge network and use that IP address as the DNS server. If the VPN server is on a different device, you should be able to point directly to it.

[@hommer4504]

Do I need to setup the Pihole DNS-address in both the router's internet configuration AND in it's DHCP settings to push out to the clients? I mean, if the router uses the Pihole DNS for lookups, won't the clients also automatically use that, if they have the routers ip as DNS? Also: why is it "VERY" important to have two Pihole DNS servers? Is it just for fall-back if I need to restart my NAS?

[@hamidelgendy]

Thank you for the video, the issue i have is that the container dosent have internet access the i notice that error from the log: "DNS resolution is currently unavailable"

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Is it being blocked by Synology's firewall by any chance?

[@hamidelgendy]

@@WunderTechTutorials Thank you for your response. However, the firewall is disabled. The only difference between your environment and mine is that I am using a bonding Ethernet configuration, so my network name is bond0. Do you think this would make any difference?

[@hamidelgendy]

@@WunderTechTutorials I've discovered that each individual port on my network switch struggles with managing connections from multiple MAC addresses.

[@sk29]

great video very helpfull thanks

[@Popcorncandy09]

how would we add unbound to this setup?

[@brain272]

Thanks for the wonderul tutorial - I was able to get everything working fine. However, is there a way to automate the create of the resolv.conf file without having to SSH into the NAS? When the NAS restarts, the file requires to be remade prior to the Pihole starting (consequently internet is down) and I was hoping there was a command I could run from the Task Scheduler. Thanks!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I haven't heard of that with a macvlan network interface, but I just released a new video on this with a docker compose file that might simplify it.

[@pyl2o]

thank you very much!! i create my own pihole.

[@Jschuurbiers89]

Great tutorial once again. I followed the tutorial step by step but I don't seem to get it working though. I got pihole running on docker without a problem. The pihole is getting queries from all of the clients on my network. I manually set the DNS server on my router to use pihole, but I am unable to turn off the ISPs secondary DNS server. If I manually force my laptop to use the pihole as DNS it is not able to resolve any website. I am not quite sure why I am seeing queries on my pi-hole but when I force clients to use the pihole as DNS it is not resolving anything. Any advice?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

If you set one individual device to use it as their DNS server, it's not working at all? Is the upstream DNS server configured properly?

[@Jschuurbiers89]

@@WunderTechTutorials that is correct, unable to visit any website. I have checked google and opendns in the upstream ipv4 DNS settings. Fyi I have turned off ipv6 completely on my router.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

You'll have to try and figure out a way to test external DNS queries. Ultimately, if the query is hitting Pi-hole, it's configured properly. It just sounds like something is blocking the upstream DNS requests.

[@andyffoo]

Thank you for your video. I simply can not get this to work. Followed instructions to the letter. Once the containers has started I only get this "pihole-FTL: No process found" in the terminal. No pihole accessible via the ip address. I am new to this all, but was looking forward to playing around with this to further my skills.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

When you set up the container, did you use the resolv.conf file as well?

[@FoodTechLife]

I followed it step by step and it didn't work. I decided to restarted the docker container and then it worked! Thanks!

[@NisarBashir]

Great video. At 3:42 my ifconfig shows eth0 without any ip address, and a ovs_eth0 with the correct lan up address. Which interface should I use to create macvlan

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks! You would use the ovs_eth0 interface if that's showing the local IP address.

[@NisarBashir]

@@WunderTechTutorials thanks for the help. It worked. I used your video to understand the concept/steps for the installation. However, with Portainer installed on my Synology, the easiest way to install with maximum control is through docker compose. All network configuration in 5 lines. No need to ssh to set up the macvlan network

[@noNumber2Sherlock]

Hi. Great videos. Gotta ask, if my network runs only on a subnet of 192.168.1.0, how would it see the DNS address if it is on another subnet: config: - subnet: 192.168.10.0/24 gateway: 192.168.10.1 ip_range: 192.168.10.2/32 I followed through, pihole is working but it doesn't see anything even though I pointed my desktop's DNS setting to 192.168.10.2. My desktop is om 192.168.1.0 subnet. I think I am missing something.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

The 10.2 address is ONLY used for NAS to Container communication. So if you wanted the NAS to use the Container as the DNS Server (setting it manually in the Control Panel), you'd use that IP, but it's on the NAS ONLY.

[@noNumber2Sherlock]

@@WunderTechTutorials Thank you. I had to re-read that. Awesome stuff! Wish you'd make one for fail2ban, there's none out there specifically for synology docker ( that actually works) except maybe a German dude who makes it so you that must use VaultWarden along with it.

[@TDC_Dragon]

Great instructions that you have provided. Synology has udated Docker and PiHole since you published this video and the written instructions. I am not able to login via url or ping 192.168.1.198. A difference I see also is the bridge to the lixuxserver-nextcloud.PiHole with a bridge to 172.17.0.2. Any idea what error I have made? 2023/06/18 10:06:46stdoutpihole-FTL: no process found 2023/06/18 10:06:46stdoutStopping pihole-FTL { "CapAdd" : null, "CapDrop" : null, "cmd" : "", "cpu_priority" : 50, "enable_publish_all_ports" : false, "enable_restart_policy" : true, "enable_service_portal" : null, "enabled" : true, "env_variables" : [ { "key" : "PATH", "value" : "/opt/pihole:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" }, { "key" : "phpver", "value" : "php" }, { "key" : "PHP_ERROR_LOG", "value" : "/var/log/lighttpd/error-pihole.log" }, { "key" : "IPv6", "value" : "True" }, { "key" : "S6_KEEP_ENV", "value" : "1" }, { "key" : "S6_BEHAVIOUR_IF_STAGE2_FAILS", "value" : "2" }, { "key" : "S6_CMD_WAIT_FOR_SERVICES_MAXTIME", "value" : "0" }, { "key" : "FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4", "value" : "0.0.0.0" }, { "key" : "FTL_CMD", "value" : "no-daemon" }, { "key" : "DNSMASQ_USER", "value" : "pihole" }, { "key" : "WEBPASSWORD", "value" : "Password123" }, { "key" : "DNSMASQ_LISTENING", "value" : "local" }, { "key" : "VIRTUAL_HOST", "value" : "pihole" }, { "key" : "ServerIP", "value" : "192.168.1.198" } ], "exporting" : false, "id" : "976bc744b62243d817e5d3c2992b17155082b0dbf4533e75ebca6052ffd01aa6", "image" : "pihole/pihole:latest", "is_ddsm" : false, "is_package" : false, "links" : [], "memory_limit" : 0, "name" : "pihole-pihole", "network" : [ { "driver" : "bridge", "name" : "bridge" } ], "network_mode" : "bridge", "port_bindings" : [ { "container_port" : 53, "host_port" : 0, "type" : "tcp" }, { "container_port" : 53, "host_port" : 0, "type" : "udp" }, { "container_port" : 67, "host_port" : 0, "type" : "udp" }, { "container_port" : 80, "host_port" : 0, "type" : "tcp" } ], "privileged" : false, "service_portals" : [], "shortcut" : { "enable_shortcut" : false, "enable_status_page" : false, "enable_web_page" : false, "web_page_url" : "" }, "use_host_network" : false, "version" : 2, "volume_bindings" : [ { "host_volume_file" : "/docker/PiHole/dnsmasq.d", "is_directory" : true, "mount_point" : "/etc/dnsmasq.d", "type" : "rw" }, { "host_volume_file" : "/docker/PiHole/pihole", "is_directory" : true, "mount_point" : "/etc/pihole", "type" : "rw" }, { "host_volume_file" : "/docker/PiHole/resolv.conf", "is_directory" : false, "mount_point" : "/etc/resolve.conf", "type" : "rw" } ] }

[@TheMattMustain]

I'd like to incorporate this but how does it work with a NAS that is also doing Directory Server and DNS? Do my devices have to point to Synology DNS first then forward to Pi-hole then external DNS if necessary?

[@MrLaurieLewis]

Frank, thank you. is there anyway to direct your guest network, or if you have a Synology router with vlans, through that pihole instance running on your nas?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

You can with firewall rules, assuming your router supports them. The easiest way would be to allow traffic from the Guest network to the LAN network on the Pi-hole device only for port 53 (DNS).

[@MrLaurieLewis]

@@WunderTechTutorials - Thank you. I created the rule you suggested. Synology Router has 3 different subnets running on it (192.168.1.*;192.168.2.*;192.168.3.*). Each network sets up its DNS as 192.168.?.1 and allocated by DHCP. I have now put my PiHole container as the DNS server for the internet settings and with the rule you suggested it now appears to be running for each of the networks.

[@xxgg]

Q: How do I go about creating a secondary Pi-Hole? in case primary goes kaput? I assume it should have different IP or something?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

It generally should be an entirely separate device to ensure if the NAS ever reboots, you'll still have DNS resolution. A raspberry pi is a great option.

[@DelacruzDigital]

I followed these step by step including referring to the written instructions. I got the following error.... DNSMASQ_CONFIG FTL failed to start due to failed to create listening socket for port 53: Permission denied

[@DelacruzDigital]

FATAL ERROR in dnsmasq core: failed to create listening socket for port 53: Permission denied [2023-02-06 00:22:29.212 10180M] ########## FTL terminated after 88ms (code 1)! ##########

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@DelacruzDigital Are you using Synology's DNS Server package? If so, did you successfully create the macvlan network interface?

[@DelacruzDigital]

@@WunderTechTutorials I am not running the DNS Server package, do I need to have it running? I was able to create the macvlan.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@DelacruzDigital No, you shouldn't have it installed. If you created the macvlan successfully and it's using it, that's very weird. That error implies that port 53 is already being used and port 53 is the DNS port. I would try and delete the macvlan and container, then recreate everything.

[@DelacruzDigital]

nothing, i deleted everything and started the whole thing over again, same error msg.

[@markmarino6158]

Very helpful video. One issue I'm having is that neither the NAS nor the other containers could get DNS to work when I pointed the NAS at the PiHole bridge network IP address... all other machines on my LAN had no problems using PiHole macvlan address as their DNS server. I've got PiHole acting as both DNS server and DHCP server. Right now I manually set the DNS servers for the NAS to point to Cloudflare's DNS servers to get things up and running, but ultimately, I'd like everything to use PiHole as the DNS server... any thoughts on how to troubleshoot why PiHole isn't responding on the bridge network?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I haven't had issues using the bridge IP in the past. I'd imagine it could be DHCP server related as I've never used Pi-hole as my DHCP server, but that's really just a guess, unfortunately.

[@VictorDominguez-w2j]

Im having the exact same issue and Im not even using it for DHCP.

[@memoopi]

Your video is amazing, really straight forward. Can you please make a video about how to install Nginx Proxy Manager on the portainer. Thank you.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thank you! I have a video on NPM, but I admit that it's caused a ton of problems for people. I'll try and circle back and see if using Portainer makes it any easier. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Duane_A]

@@WunderTechTutorials I hope you will do this very soon (mostly bc of changes in DSM 7), but with a caveat section for users who already have a macvlan with Pi-hole...then at the end, or a quick turnaround for another tutorial, please discuss how to configure these to work together as intended. 🙂

[@MagDag_]

Hi! Thank you for your help! I have a provider router, which doesn't allow me to modify a DNS record. Which way can I go? Router automatically receives network settings.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Unfortunately, you'd have to set it on the device level then. It'll be different for each device (tons of articles online about how to do it) but you can manually set it that way.

[@cyberwasp461]

is there a way to print the instructions out from your website? Reason is I messed it up twice so far by switching tabs between your site and my nas. TIA

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Technically, yes (right-click > print), but the instructions aren't going to be very pretty. They should be good enough though!

[@JTAlweezy76]

wouldnt it make more sense to change the port # when openvpn? ovpn uses 443 by default. change the 443 port of pihole in setup to like 4453. this way openvpn stays bound to 443

[@WunderTechTutorials]

OpenVPN uses 1194 by default so Pi-hole using it should be fine. Though you can change it if you'd like!

[@doddsnow4714]

@WunderTech I receive the error "Pool overlaps with another at this address space" would this have anything to do with the macvlan I already have for the NGINX network?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

It could - do you have two NICs on your NAS? Can you try using the other (the one not used by NGINX).

[@AyySorento]

Might make this my weekend project. I used to use Pi-hole on a PiZero, but it would constantly go down and be a pain to quickly reboot. Now that I have a NAS, maybe the experience would be better... not thought about running it on that.

[@thecat23]

Thanks for the videos on both pi-hole and adguard, very helpful! what got me thinking is that would this work if Synology had DNS server / Directory server running already? I am using Unifi UDM set up with DNS server pointing to Synology IP address. I guess macvlan will solve the port conflicts for port 53, but there are two DNS, one from Synology DNS ip address and one from Pi-hole macvlan ip. Can I add two DNS server address in UDM, pi-hole macvlan ip at the very top, and followed by Synology DNS after? would this set up work? Or, can I simply use the host network (synology), no macvlan required. Instead change the port from 53 to 54 to avoid port conflict? this way, only one DNS server IP address is needed at UDM as their IP address is the same? Thanks!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I wouldn't change the DNS port but theoretically, you can use the Synology DNS package and pi-hole with a macvlan. With that said, I wouldn't personally do it because then your DNS is fully reliant on your NAS. I'd run one on your NAS and another on a cheaper device like a raspberry pi.

[@MuhammadIrfan-ni9pb]

Why my pihole still can access web interface

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Are you accessing it on the macvlan IP?

[@MuhammadIrfan-ni9pb]

@@WunderTechTutorials sure, in my case i using vmware for running synology

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@MuhammadIrfan-ni9pb That adds a few variables that you're going to have to look up. If the NAS doesn't have it's own NIC assigned, I'm not sure you're going to be able to get it working.

[@tenzingngodub641]

Ok I have downloaded all the stuff to run pi-hole through raspberryPi, but why am I getting more advertisements than before, how do I connect to the router, do I physically need to plug it to the router with the law wire. I am confused what the next step after downloading pi-hole how do I run it.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

It might be the site you're on. This can't add ads, and if it's not removing anything, it's most likely not being used. Each router is different, but it's generally the local IP subnet with .1 (192.168.1.1 as an example). You can then change the DNS server inside of there.

[@cwill6491]

7.2 breaks this a bit. You can only set 1 network in the setup

[@WunderTechTutorials]

You will have to add the network from the "Network" tab. Create the container with the ph_network, then add the ph_bridge after it's created.

[@orleiv]

Just to let you know after ages of troubleshooting i got an error about dnsmasq UPDATE: Simple chmod -R 777 /scripts/pihole/newdnsmasq.d did the job!