Yeah you got it. Primary and Secondary DNS. I call it Dual DNS. So my DHCP hand out give Primary and Secondary DNS IPs as the two Pi-hole's. It will act as a fail-safe if one goes down, then the other will answer. Under normal operation it's an 80/20 split between Primary and Secondary with requests.Why dual DNS? I was thinking dual Pi-Hole is for fail-safe purposes. Share some ideas.
Why not? Main reason is redundancy in case one fails. Probably the same reason why there are two DNS fields in the router interface. Redundancy. Like some others here I've been running two Pi's (Pi 3B+ and Pi Zero W) with Pi-Hole and Unbound for a while. I typically see around 90/10 or higher split between LAN DNS 1 and LAN DNS 2 requests.Why dual DNS? I was thinking dual Pi-Hole is for fail-safe purposes. Share some ideas.
those are rookie numbersWhy not? Main reason is redundancy in case one fails. Probably the same reason why there are two DNS fields in the router interface. Redundancy. Like some others here I've been running two Pi's (Pi 3B+ and Pi Zero W) with Pi-Hole and Unbound for a while. I typically see around 90/10 or higher split between LAN DNS 1 and LAN DNS 2 requests.
While SD card failure is possible on a Raspberry Pi, if it does happen the other Pi-Hole is there to pick up the slack. Or if one is updating or reconfiguring one Raspberry Pi/Pi-Hole and it crashes (been there, done that) the other will pickup the slack. Pi's are relatively cheap. Pi-Hole can be run on the lowly dirt cheap Raspberry Pi Zero's. On the newer Pi's one can use USB/SSD boot drives instead of SD cards if one is worried about SD card failure. If one is using an SD card, using Log2RAM can help reduce the writes to the SD card extending it's life span.
As others have posted one can go hog wild and get very aggressive with large block lists (into the millions). I don't. I typically just use the main ones from Firebog.net via jacklul/pihole-updatelists update script.
View attachment 39304
.
I'm still in manual mode - not a lot of changes to the block lists once I got mine set, but white lists do change every now and then.For those running dual pi-hole, any recommendations for syncing local DNS entries, white lists etc?
The Pi-hole sub on Reddit is a good place to check: https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/
And there are folks like me who are still using the original microSD card in their Raspberry Pi/Pi-Hole more than four years later without (knock on wood) issues. There tends to be a number of factors that go into an SD card failure on an Pi. From using cheap (knockoff) SD cards, to many read/writes. There are ways to backup/clone the SD card so it can be restored to a new card/storage device if a card does go bad. Which leads to another reason to use dual Pi-Holes, take one down to clone it for backup while the other continues to run with no network interruption.I never run Pi-Hole on RPi long enough, but the folks there are talking about common yearly SD cards failure issues.
I like the solution of a mitm HTTPS proxy as well
And there are folks like me who are still using the original microSD card in their Raspberry Pi/Pi-Hole more than four years
Not sure how "high endurance" a dirt cheap ($5) generic 32GB Microcenter branded memory card is that runs my Pi Zero W. The card's been in that Pi for a few years. As to a USB flash drive for boot, I've been using a old 32 GB Sandisk 2.0 USB stick as a boot drive for a Pi 3B+ for a couple of years now. Log2RAM takes only a minute or two post Raspberry Pi OS Lite installation and boot to install. It is only four commands (or five commands manual method) to issue and a reboot then one more command post reboot to ensure Log2RAM is running.Yes, with memory logging and high endurance SD cards. I also believe it's possible, but with some extra cost/configuration involved.
I have 4 Pi's and apart from the earlier years with cheap(er) cards haven't had an SDCard failure for over 6 years. I found the cheaper 'no-name' cards are not up to it. Spend your money and buy a decent, more expensive San-Disk - they just work.I never run Pi-Hole on RPi long enough, but the folks there are talking about common yearly SD cards failure issues. I get the dual Pi-Hole idea now. I would run it on mini PC and Ubuntu (for example) for added reliability. I actually had it running on HP 800 Mini at one point, with Unbound. The little guys are very reliable and can be found for about the same price as RPi4 kit. HP 705 Mini (AMD version) are usually cheaper.
Daaaaaaammmmmnn.... the only time I got numbers like that is when the Internet cut out and all my devices start going crazy trying to find home.those are rookie numbers
Welcome To SNBForums
SNBForums is a community for anyone who wants to learn about or discuss the latest in wireless routers, network storage and the ins and outs of building and maintaining a small network.
If you'd like to post a question, simply register and have at it!
While you're at it, please check out SmallNetBuilder for product reviews and our famous Router Charts, Ranker and plenty more!