Request: Expansion of InternetBox functionality (std / plus / 2)

I would like to see a ‘sensible’ DHCP server in a future IB firmware where custom DHCP options can also be configured per device (e.g. DNS server, PXE options, etc).

My specific use case:

I use PI-Hole (on a simple Raspberry) as a simple advertising filter.

I would like to configure some (but not all) clients on the network via DHCP so that they use IP holes as DNS servers. I would like to configure the remaining clients to use ‘normal’ DNS servers.

My current configuration:

- The IP of the PI hole is entered as the DNS server on the IB

- The clients receive the IP of the IB via DHCP as a DNS server (and not the configured IP hole address!)

This is not satisfactory for several reasons:

1. I cannot specify a DNS server on the clients via DHCP. The IB IP address is always included.

2. The IP then becomes a DNS forwarder (extra hop!)

3. I can’t tell in the PI hole which client makes which DNS requests (the IB is just a DNS forwarder). As a requestor, I only see the address of the IB for ALL requests

4. I don’t want to use PI-Hole as a DNS server on all clients

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When the word “cornercase” was invented, this was certainly the template for it 😉

But seriously. I’ll give it to the team, but due to the long list of things we still want to do, I don’t want to make any promises here.

Guido

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Hello

You’re not technically inept when you’re fiddling around with PiHole. What do you want from one?

Expect forced routers like the Internet boxes? If it’s worth it to you, get a subscription where you put the WAN IP address on your own USG/firewall/router, or even better: find a real internet provider.

Greetings

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2 years later

I can only agree with @Immi; Especially if you use the popular Pi-Hole, it would be extremely desirable to be able to configure minimal DHCP options on the router.

Changing the DHCP server is of course a possible option but somehow only the second best solution. 🙂

But; No one wants to change their router or even their Internet provider “just” because of something like that. (It’s always amazing what kind of stupid answers you get to legitimate inquiries/requests…)

Greetings

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Hello @Anonymous

Wow, your reaction was quick! 🙂

In our case ( @Immi ) the point is that when using Pi-Hole on the (Swisscom) router, you switch the DNS server to “manual” and to the IP address of your own internal one “(Pi-Hole) DNS server” shows. This actually works quite well; All DHCP clients receive the DNS server 192.168.1.1 from the Swisscom router via DHCP - and the router in turn redirects the DNS requests to the Pi-Hole DNS server.

It would be more elegant, but better, if you could pass on the Pi-Hole DNS server IP to the clients as a DHCP option, then all clients would no longer have the Swisscom router (192.168.1.1) entered as the DNS server, but ** directly** the IP of the Pi-Hole. The Pi-Hole web interface would then show which DNS requests come from which client IP.

Greetings - and thank you for your interest! 🙂

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5 months later
a month later

Hello

would also like to use Pi-Hole.

Do I understand the procedure correctly:

  1. Assign a fixed IP to the RPi
  2. Set the DNS server on the IB to manual and enter the above IP
  3. then the Pi-Hole DNS is used
  4. Or alternatively specify the currently preset DNS 195.186.4.162 as the upstream DNS?

Also, what happens if the RPi fails? Is there an option to configure a fallback?

Thanks and greetings

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6 months later