How to configure local DNS in Pi-hole to block ads

Why transform your network with a dedicated DNS server?

When browsing the internet, every click on a link or typed address requires your computer to discover where the site is hosted, translating names like marciocunha.net into IP numbers. This process is handled by the DNS (Domain Name System), which acts as the telephone directory of the internet. If your router uses your ISP's default settings, you hand over all your browsing queries to third parties while accepting the constant display of advertising banners and invisible trackers.

Building a homelab environment using a low-power computer or a small dedicated server completely changes this dynamic. By centralizing request control, you decide exactly what enters and leaves your infrastructure. To better understand how to isolate services, check out the guide on how to configure VLANs on switches to isolate network traffic, ensuring an extra layer of physical and logical security.

In practice, this means any video ad, news site banner, or social media tracking script is intercepted before it even loads in your browser. Because the local server instantly drops these requests, pages load faster and mobile data or broadband consumption drops considerably across all household devices.

Planning your Pi-hole homelab installation

Before diving in, it is worth understanding where the application will run. Pi-hole is lightweight and can be installed directly on a Linux operating system or run inside a Docker container on a dedicated server. The great advantage of using a container is isolation, making updates and backups easier without compromising your machine's main operating system.

To ensure the service never goes down — which would drop internet access for the entire house —, many enthusiasts choose to run the application on redundant hardware. If you want to avoid physical failures in the power infrastructure powering your servers, performing preventive maintenance is essential, as explained in our article on how to test the thermal fuse of a power supply before leaving equipment running 24/7.

Beyond hardware selection, you need to define a static IP address for your local DNS server. A static IP is a network identification number that never changes, ensuring that your home computers, phones, and smart TVs know exactly where to send navigation queries at any given time.

Step-by-step guide to installing and configuring the server

With your operating system ready and static IP configured, Pi-hole installation is automated via an official script provided by the developers. Open your server terminal and run the command below to start the guided installation process:

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

During installation, the on-screen wizard will ask several important questions. The first is choosing your upstream DNS provider, which are the trusted servers where Pi-hole will forward legitimate site requests that are not blocked. You can choose privacy-focused options like Cloudflare or Quad9, which do not log your browsing history.

Upon completion, the terminal will display a randomly generated password to access the web control panel. Note this password, open a browser on any network computer, and type your server's IP address followed by /admin to view the graphical dashboard with real-time statistics.

Configuring your router to direct all traffic

Installing the tool on the server is only half the battle; now you need to tell network devices that the new sheriff is in town. The most efficient way to do this is by accessing your main router's configuration settings, whether it is your ISP-provided box or your own edge router.

Look for the DHCP settings or LAN configuration section on your router and locate the primary DNS server field. Instead of leaving it blank or filled with the router's own IP, enter the static IP address where Pi-hole is running.

After saving this change on the router, connected devices will start using the new DNS automatically as they renew their IP addresses. To speed up this process without restarting every appliance in the house, you can simply disconnect and reconnect your phone's Wi-Fi or reboot your computer.

Managing blocklists and local records

The true power of the tool lies in blocklists. Pi-hole comes with excellent default lists, but you can add new community-updated sources of malicious domains and ads through the Adlists tab in the web panel.

Another extremely useful feature for homelab environments is creating custom local DNS records. If you run media servers, smart home automation panels, or note-taking tools on network machines, you do not need to memorize numerical IP addresses to access them. Simply register friendly names like server.local or media.home, pointing directly to the corresponding internal IP.

If you notice a legitimate site stopped working correctly because it was mistakenly blocked, the panel offers the Query Log tool. There, you can see all recent queries in real time and click a single button to add specific domains to a whitelist.

Final thoughts on privacy and maintenance

Running your own home DNS server drastically raises your digital privacy standards and cuts unnecessary bandwidth consumption caused by aggressive advertising. With the system running autonomously, you gain complete visibility over the behavior of devices connected to your network.

Reviewing weekly reports and performing periodic updates ensures that blocking remains efficient against new tracking techniques. Dedicating a few minutes to fine-tune this homelab infrastructure radically transforms your browsing experience and control over your own data.