Home Networking Raspberry Pi “Pi-hole” Project Part 2

Part 2:  Filter Content

Now that ads are blocked (for the most part) lets filter content to keep the interwebs family friendly.

I used OpenDNS.  Very simple.  I used the free, preconfigured family set up.

On my router, since I couldn’t use the pi-hole there directly, I added OpenDNS nameserver ips.  On the router, I changed the DNS settings to the following:

  • 208.67.222.123
  • 208.67.220.123

That’s all fine and good for anything not running through the pi-hole.  But the devices that do use the pi-hole have no content filtering.  The pi-hole is set up to use Google DNS.  So, let’s change that.

First, log into the pi.  Then run the command:

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf (I like nano, but use whatever editor you like)

In this file change “server=” lines to use the ip’s from OpenDNS above.

Reboot for good measure and you’re all set.  Good clean content on your whole next work.

Next up, the hard part – VPN.

Stay frosty.

Home Networking Raspberry Pi “Pi-hole” Project Part 1

The following posts will be on how to set up your own ‘Pi-hole’.

What I wanted to do was set up my Pi to block ads, filter content, and serve as a secure VPN for when I’m connecting out in the real world where the bad hackers live.

I started with a base of Jessie flavored Raspbian.

Part 1 – block ads

This part was easy.  Check this out:

Block Millions Of Ads Network-wide With A Raspberry Pi-hole 2.0

Not much to it.  Start with your base of Raspbian.  Make sure its up to date:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

Then go get your pi-hole.

curl -L install.pi-hole.net | bash

Then configure your devices (or router) to use your Pi as its DNS server.

I’m being lazy so you can check out the link above for links on how to do that.

My router would not support it at the router level, so I configured devices individually.  You will need to know your Pi’s ip address.  It should probably be static.  A later post will cover how I handle static ip’s for all my devices.

Now when I browse the web I get empty space where once ads stood.

Next time I’ll go over content filtering.  Until then, stay frosty.