In this guide, we will be installing PiHole in Ubuntu 18.04.

Pihole is an incredible easy to use and install AdBlocking Server with an easy to use web interface. PiHole works by replacing your current DNS server and uses multiple blocklists to block malicious DNS queries and AD Sites.

The Pi-hole can block ads for all devices on your network once it is set up in your routers config. This setup allows you to save bandwidth while also blocking known malicious sites.It can also block Pornography and unsafe sites by using readily available blocklists from around the web.

You can find more info on PiHole here or on their GitHub site here

Installation

Connect to your server as the admin user via SSH.

ssh [email protected]

Update and upgrade your web server

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install all the required components

sudo apt install git -y

Set a static IP

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Replace the following text

....
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
....

With the following

.....
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address 192.168.1.15
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.1.1
    dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
.....

Save file and reboot

sudo shutdown -r now

Connect to your server as the admin user via SSH to the newly set IP address.

ssh [email protected]

Now the installation begins

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git Pi-hole

cd Pi-hole/automated\ install/

bash basic-install.sh

Enter your account sudo password

Hit OK

Choose your favourite DNS provider. After testing all servers the fastest one for me was OpenDNS.

Choose wether or not you want a Web Interface (Recommended)

Logging should be enabled here if you are using a Web Interface

Hit Yes, to add firewall rules to allow TCP port 80 and TCP and UDP port 53 unfortunatelly these rules are not persistant in Ubuntu bellow you will find the correct way to open the required ports in case you have UFW firewall enabled

Take note of your Web Interface Password

Set a diffrent web interface password

sudo pihole -a -p

DnsMasq Fix:

Edit the Resolved.conf file to fix issue with DnsMasq failing to start

sudo nano /etc/systemd/resolved.conf

uncomment and change DNSStubListener=yes to DNSStubListener=no

....
[Resolve]
#DNS=
#FallbackDNS=
#Domains=
#LLMNR=no
#MulticastDNS=no
#DNSSEC=no
#Cache=yes
DNSStubListener=no

....

Control X + Y to save and exit

Reboot

sudo shutdown -r now

At this point the Web Interface works however if we have UFW firewall enabled here are the instruccions to open the required ports so this persist after reboot.

The following commands will open TCP port 80 for the web interface and TCP and UDP port 53 required by DNS

sudo ufw allow http

sudo ufw allow 53

Finally we need to change your routers DNS configuration to point to your PiHoles IP Address.

These changes differ from router to router.

Here are a couple of good resources to perform this change:

Finally Open your Web Interface at

http://your.server.ip/admin

Log in to the site

You can add additional blocklist from multiple sources to block even more sites with PiHole as shown below.

hosts files from several well-curated sources like adaway.org, mvps.org, malwaredomainlist.com, someonewhocares.org, and potentially others.

admin