this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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Every month or so all my devices lose internet and the only way to connect them all back is to disconnect them from the DNS server that Pihole is running.

I set my Pihole to have a static IP but for some reason after around a month or maybe longer, it just fails. This has happened 4 times over the last while and the only fix is to essentially uninstall everything on my Pihole, disable it, and then reconfigure it from scratch again.

I’m not sure what’s going on so any help would be appreciated.

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[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Taking a look at your Pihole logs is going to be helpful. Also knowing what kind of device is running the Pihole software may also help.

I had Pihole running on a raspberry pi 3 years ago, and I had pretty consistent issues. I've run it on other hardware since without a problem.

It could be an issue with the SD card, if you're using a raspberry pi. I've also read that the log file can grow large enough to cause issues with your Pihole instance.

So there are a number of possibilities.

[–] Haha@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What’s the other hardware you run it on without issues?

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I ran it on a linux-based NAS as well as a Windows server. I don't use Pihole currently, however.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ll have to take a peak at the logs. I’ve been running the server nearly headless but with this issue I cannot access my server over my lan so I’m going to have to physically plug a screen and keyboard into it later.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

Yep, not having DNS/DHCP is a pain in the ass. When mine went down it would take my network with it because the Pihole was handling both. Expected but also a pain in the ass.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One last piece of advice: Pihole has great support. I've gotten a ton of answers and assistance from the Pihole Sub on Reddit. I don't know if it's still active since the migration away from Reddit, but you may ask.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d rather ask here and start building up the knowledge base off Reddit but you’re right.

I think I know my problem though (something I’m not able to fix aaaaa)

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

I agree. Unfortunately I don't think u/jfb-pihole is on Lemmy and they're one of the devs (I think) for Pihole. Best of luck with your issue!

[–] Dhar@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

First thought: Is your PiHole's static IP within the range of addresses your DHCP server hands out?

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My Pihole lives on my server computer and so the DNS is the same IP address as that computer

[–] whynotzoidberg@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Irrelevant, unless your pihole is running on your DHCP server. Does the server running pihole have a statically assigned IP that is within the DHCP range being assigned to other devices?

Static addresses should be outside of your DHCP range, ideally. If you can’t change the range, and assuming sequential handouts of IPs from your router among other things, you can try setting the server’s static IP to a bigger number.

[–] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are we getting a repeat of the guy who's wifi didn't work because of a smart bulb?

[–] RajaGila@feddit.nl 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait, smart bulbs run rogue dhcp servers now?

[–] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're called too-smart bulbs, now.

[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would HIGHLY recommend that for something as essential as DNS, you should be running it on its own hardware. Considering, as you’ve experienced, that any issues result in a complete loss of normal access to the internet.

You can run pihole on something as small as a Raspberry Pi zero w, then just set it with a static IP and forget about it.

Considering you said you’re currently using WSL I suspect there is an extra layer of networking bullshit that is breaking your routing. If you haven’t already looked at this document, it might have the information you need https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/networking#accessing-windows-networking-apps-from-linux-host-ip

But for the sake of stable DNS services you will thank yourself for just getting a dedicated device of any power level to ONLY handle DNS.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where does he mention wsl?

[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Down in a reply to some other comments https://lemmy.ca/comment/3915756

I am horrified, but equally impressed 😂