Deploy Pi-hole and Take Control of Your Home Network

Deploy Pi-hole and Become the One Who Finally Took Control of the Internet in Your Home

Every home has one person who quietly becomes responsible for things working. The Wi-Fi. The laptops. The tablets. The smart TVs. The ads. The tracking.

Deploying Pi-hole is how you step into that role with confidence. It blocks ads, trackers, and malicious domains for every device on your network — even the ones that don’t support ad blockers.

This isn’t about tinkering. This is about reclaiming time, attention, and safety for your family.

What We’re Installing (and Why It Matters)

Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole. Instead of letting ads and trackers resolve to real servers, it silently blocks them at the network level.

  • Ads disappear on phones, TVs, tablets, and laptops
  • Trackers are blocked before they ever load
  • Malicious domains never resolve
  • Your network becomes quieter, faster, and safer

This is one of the rare tools that improves privacy, performance, and peace of mind at the same time.

Deployment Platform

This guide is written for deploying Pi-hole using Docker on a Linux host.

That host can be:

  • An old desktop or laptop
  • A small home server
  • A virtual machine on your existing PC
  • A Raspberry Pi

Docker keeps the installation clean, repeatable, and easy to update.

What You’ll Need

  • A system running Linux (Ubuntu recommended)
  • Docker and Docker Compose installed
  • A static IP address on your local network
  • Router access (to change DNS settings)
  • Optional: a domain name for remote access

Step 1: Prepare the Host

Ensure your system has a static IP. This is critical — DNS servers cannot move.

Install Docker: 

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Step 2: Deploy Pi-hole with Docker

Create a working directory: 

mkdir -p ~/pihole
cd ~/pihole

Create a docker-compose.yml file: 

version: "3"

services:
  pihole:
    image: pihole/pihole:latest
    container_name: pihole
    hostname: pihole
    environment:
      TZ: "America/Chicago"
      WEBPASSWORD: "ChangeThisPassword"
    volumes:
      - ./etc-pihole:/etc/pihole
      - ./etc-dnsmasq:/etc/dnsmasq.d
    ports:
      - "53:53/tcp"
      - "53:53/udp"
      - "80:80/tcp"
    restart: unless-stopped

Start the container: 

docker compose up -d

Step 3: Access the Admin Interface

From any device on your network, open: 

http://<server-ip>/admin

Log in using the password you set earlier.

From here, you can:

  • View blocked queries
  • Add blocklists
  • Whitelist important services
  • Monitor which devices talk the most

Step 4: Redirect Your Network to Pi-hole

To make Pi-hole effective, your router must hand it out as the DNS server.

On your router:

  • Set Primary DNS: Pi-hole IP
  • Set Secondary DNS: leave blank

This forces all devices to use Pi-hole without needing manual configuration.

Firewall Rules You Must Allow

  • UDP 53 — DNS queries
  • TCP 53 — fallback DNS
  • TCP 80 — admin interface

Block external access to port 53 from the internet. DNS should only be reachable internally.

Optional: Secure Remote Access from the Internet

If you want access while away from home:

  • Buy a domain name
  • Create a DNS record pointing to your home IP
  • Use a reverse proxy (Nginx or Traefik)
  • Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

Do not expose Pi-hole directly without HTTPS and authentication.

Why This Changes How Your Home Feels

After deployment, something subtle happens.

Pages load cleaner. Kids stop seeing garbage ads. Smart TVs calm down. Your network feels intentional — not exploited.

You didn’t install a toy. You installed infrastructure.

And the person who installs infrastructure? That’s the person everyone relies on.

Final Thought

Pi-hole is not about blocking ads. It’s about choosing what enters your home.

And once you make that choice, you don’t go back.