Pi-hole with pfSense

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 6:52 PM

@keyser Thanks for the reply; if I disable my DNS forwarder and Resolver how can I get my local DNS names i have set in Host overrides? I am using that in connection with HAProxy.

Also if i set one DNS server under DHCP, i am worried if that Pi ever goes down or reboots (as its installed on a LXC container via Proxmox) then all my clients will loose DNS. I tired adding that Pi-hole DNS in that section already but I also added 8.8.8.8 as DNS2 and my clients did not like that as some were using 8.8.8.8 and some were using my pi. I guess I am trying to say, can can i add redundancy? Would I need 2xPi-holes and then put both PI DNS IP's under DNS1 and DNS2?

Thank you,

AndyRH · Jan 25, 2024, 7:27 PM

Mine is setup somewhat differently than you propose.
pfSense is pointed at Cloudflare. pfSense can always get to a DNS server.
PiHole is using unbound, but could as easily be pointed at Google, functionally it does not matter.
PiHole is pointed to pfSense for local queries. *.home.arpa
DHCP gives out only PiHole DNS. I have more than one for redundancy.

I also force all DNS queries to PiHole through a small series of rules. Should all the PiHoles die at one time I just need to change 1 alias on pfSense and then all queries could be forced to pfSense.
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/156453/pfsense-dns-redirect-to-local-dns-server?_=1663853296484

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 7:33 PM

@AndyRH is unbound on Pi-hole something that needs to be installed extra? So a DNS request from Client1 goes directly to Pi-hole first then Pi-hole upstreams to pfsense and gets a response from Cloudflare?

the other · Jan 25, 2024, 7:41 PM

@iptvcld last time i used it, yes...needs to be installed extra.
You could also set pihole in pfsense dhcp as dns, make some rule all clients are only allowed to use that IP (pihole) for dns.
In pihole forward to pfsense.
Have unbound run on pfsense to resolve.
Use pfblocker to add geoIP blocking.
I had that running and it worked well in my little home network.
Now i only use pfblocker and unbound, all running on pfsense. Save some energy, less complicated, same effect... :)

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 7:47 PM

@the-other Thank you, just want to confirm - on pfSense did you have any DNS servers under System\General? If Pi-hole is upstreaming back to pfSense and pfSense is the resolver, where does pfSense get the response from?

AndyRH · Jan 25, 2024, 7:53 PM

@iptvcld Yes, unbound is an extra step. It is popular, but it is not required.

the other · Jan 25, 2024, 7:59 PM

@iptvcld hey there,
No, i do not have anything under general > dns servers...
Unbound does what it...well does. Asking those top level domain servers and caching those commen ones.
No need to enter a specific dns.

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 8:23 PM

Now.. what if I dump Pi-hole and go with installing AdGuard Home directly on pfSense and then just use the resolver within pfSense?

AndyRH · Jan 25, 2024, 9:27 PM

@iptvcld Why not go with pfBlocker?

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 9:37 PM

@AndyRH I had pfBlock going on for a while now but I find it hard to navigate and also want something new to tinker with

johnpoz · Jan 25, 2024, 10:06 PM

@iptvcld said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

Would someone be able to let me know if my setup is correct?

That is not how I use pihole, nor would I ever do it that way ;) not a fan of forwarding to external dns..

But forwarding is for sure a viable option.. I am just not a fan..

How I use pihole is pihole is set to forward to unbound on pfsense. My clients point to pihole.. pfsense has zero need to ask pihole for anything.. Really the only thing pfsense ever needs to lookup is for updates and packages, or if you click an IP in your firewall log for example. So it just uses itself (unbound in resolver mode)

Pfsense is what holds all the dns records for all my local devices, etc. So if some client says hey pihole whats the IP of nas.home.arpa it forwards that to pfsense and gets the answer.

If a client says hey pihole, whats the IP of somethingblocked.com - it just gets back the blocked IP, and done. Now if client asks pihole for something not blocked, it forwards to unbound, unbound resolves it, dnssec is enabled because I am resolving.. And hands what it resolves back to pihole to hand back to the client.

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 10:18 PM

@johnpoz Thank you, and what resolves the website? as if what public resolver is used if pihole is using pfsense as its reslover and in pfsense, there is not public DNS IP anywhere.

johnpoz · Jan 25, 2024, 10:19 PM

@iptvcld said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

here is not public DNS IP anywhere.

huh.. Out of the box unbound resolves, any public domain via walking down from roots.. That is how a resolver works.

CloudNode · Jan 25, 2024, 10:21 PM

@johnpoz said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

any public domain via walking down from roots.. That is how a resolver works.

ahh ok.. so it has its built in roots. got it

RacerX330 · Feb 27, 2025, 4:11 AM

@johnpoz said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

@iptvcld said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

Would someone be able to let me know if my setup is correct?

That is not how I use pihole, nor would I ever do it that way ;) not a fan of forwarding to external dns..

But forwarding is for sure a viable option.. I am just not a fan..

How I use pihole is pihole is set to forward to unbound on pfsense. My clients point to pihole.. pfsense has zero need to ask pihole for anything.. Really the only thing pfsense ever needs to lookup is for updates and packages, or if you click an IP in your firewall log for example. So it just uses itself (unbound in resolver mode)

Pfsense is what holds all the dns records for all my local devices, etc. So if some client says hey pihole whats the IP of nas.home.arpa it forwards that to pfsense and gets the answer.

If a client says hey pihole, whats the IP of somethingblocked.com - it just gets back the blocked IP, and done. Now if client asks pihole for something not blocked, it forwards to unbound, unbound resolves it, dnssec is enabled because I am resolving.. And hands what it resolves back to pihole to hand back to the client.

sorry to revive old thread, would you mind sharing the DNS Resolver config that you use for pointing pihole to unbound on pfsense?

johnpoz · Feb 27, 2025, 4:24 AM

@RacerX330 pretty much default out of the box..

Other than I set min ttl to 3600 and serve zero, and have outgoing set to localhost only.. There is nothing special you need to do to the unbound settings, out of the box default works.

tman222 · Feb 28, 2025, 12:19 AM

@johnpoz said in Pi-hole with pfSense:

@RacerX330 pretty much default out of the box..

Other than I set min ttl to 3600 and serve zero, and have outgoing set to localhost only.. There is nothing special you need to do to the unbound settings, out of the box default works.

Hi @johnpoz - curious as to why you have outgoing interfaces for Unbound set to Localhost only? Is it more secure that way? Also, great suggestion on setting the cache-min-ttl to 3600 seconds. Amazing how much that decreases the DNS chatter on the network. Thanks in advance.

johnpoz · Feb 28, 2025, 12:30 AM

@tman222 localhost not really for security - but localhost would always be up, so unbound kind bind to it when starting - it will route out any wan interface you have and be natted to that ip

Not something to worry about really or set, like I said out of the box is fine - but those were things that popped into my head that are different than default.