Important or Recent Updates
| Historic Updates | Date |
|---|---|
| Updated guide for Container Manager and using Macvlan | 14/05/2023 |
| Added a new section to ensure DSM continues having network access. | 02/06/2023 |
| Guide updated so you can choose between Macvlan or Bridge mode | 12/08/2023 |
| Added additional security option to the compose to restrict the container from gaining new privileges | 25/10/2023 |
| Fixed issues I introduced with the recent changes in my mission to make things more secure. It was so secure I broke it! Added the appropriate permissions/capabilities at start up for the container. | 29/10/2023 |
| Removed the requirement for the synobridge as this container can just use its own bridge, and added the Host network mode, so all three are a choice. | 28/01/2024 |
| Removed the WEB_UID and WEB_GID from the config to avoid issues with ID’s conflicting inside the container. I will update again once I have some time to work around this. | 03/04/2024 |
| Some minor amends to sync up the information across this guide and the AdGuard one | 01/08/2024 |
| Removed two uneeded capabilites from the bridge version of the docker compose as they are not required. | 16/11/2024 |
What is Pi-hole?
If you are looking to get advertising and tracking blocked across all the devices on your network a Pi-hole will have you covered. It’s a locally hosted Domain Name Server and uses block lists to stop adverts.
This guide will get you set up with Pi-hole and cover some basic initial settings, I recommend checking out the documentation for all the various features available.
Host vs Macvlan vs Bridge Network Modes
Host:
Host mode uses your NAS underlying network to run the containers network services, so it will be reliant on the NAS not using any of the required ports for the container. However, this makes it easy to set up, but you need to make sure no other service is using the required ports. All your clients will appear correctly as independent devices and stats.
Macvlan:
This gives you the benefit of Pi-hole having its own IP address on your network, all clients appear with their real IP addresses allowing you to assign specific rules and give you some nicer stats. However, one downside is that your NAS will not be able to use Pi-hole for DNS, due to the additional security features of Macvlan and its communication with its host. This is generally not an issue unless you wanted to use your Ad blocking with Tailscale.
Bridge Mode:
The main benefit of Bridge Mode will be the ease of setup however you will find that all clients on your network will appear under the same IP as the Bridge 172.20.0.1. This won’t impact ad blocking, but it will mean you can apply device specific rules etc.
Let’s Begin
In order for you to successfully use this guide you will need to check that your Router allows you to change your network DNS servers, this is usually found in the DHCP settings.
Please follow the two initial guides below to get a restricted Docker user set up, then come back here.
Folder Setup
Let’s start by getting some folders set up for the container to use. Open up File Station create the following.
/docker/projects/pihole-compose
/docker/pihole
/docker/pihole/dnsmasq.d
/docker/pihole/pihole
Container Manager
Next we are going to set up a ‘Project’ in Container Manager. Open up Container Manager and click on Project then on the right-hand side click ‘Create’.
In the next screen we will set up our General Settings.
In the next screen we will set up our General Settings, enter the following:
| Section | Setting |
|---|---|
| Project Name: | pihole |
| Path: | /docker/projects/pihole-compose |
| Source: | Create docker-compose.yml |
Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration. You now need to decide if you are going to go with Macvlan or Bridge Mode and copy the appropriate compose from below and paste it into line ‘1’ just like the screenshot.
What on earth is a Docker Compose? Docker Compose allows us to define how Docker should set up one or more containers within a single configuration file. This file is yaml formatted and Container Manager uses the Projects feature to manage them.
Please note you will not be able to use Macvlan with a Bonded network connection e.g. ‘Bond0’. You will need to remove the bond in order to use this method.
Host
services:
pihole:
image: pihole/pihole:latest
container_name: pihole-host
cap_add:
- CAP_NET_RAW
- CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
- CAP_CHOWN
environment:
- PIHOLE_UID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
- PIHOLE_GID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
- TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
- WEBPASSWORD=YOURPASSWORD
- DNSMASQ_LISTENING=local
- WEB_PORT=8000
- DNSMASQ_USER=pihole
- FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4=YOURIPV4ADDRESS
volumes:
- /volume1/docker/pihole/dnsmasq.d:/etc/dnsmasq.d
- /volume1/docker/pihole/pihole:/etc/pihole
network_mode: host
restart: unless-stoppedMacvlan
services:
pihole:
image: pihole/pihole:latest
container_name: pihole-macvlan
cap_add:
- CAP_NET_RAW
- CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
- CAP_CHOWN
environment:
- PIHOLE_UID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
- PIHOLE_GID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
- TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
- WEBPASSWORD=YOURPASSWORD
- DNSMASQ_LISTENING=local
- WEB_PORT=8000
- DNSMASQ_USER=pihole
- FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4=YOURIPV4ADDRESS
volumes:
- /volume1/docker/pihole/dnsmasq.d:/etc/dnsmasq.d
- /volume1/docker/pihole/pihole:/etc/pihole
networks:
macvlan:
ipv4_address: 192.168.0.129
restart: always
networks:
macvlan:
name: macvlan
driver: macvlan
driver_opts:
parent: eth0
ipam:
config:
- subnet: "192.168.0.0/24"
ip_range: "192.168.0.254/24"
gateway: "192.168.0.1"Bridge Mode
services:
pihole:
image: pihole/pihole:latest
container_name: pihole-bridge
cap_add:
- CAP_CHOWN
environment:
- PIHOLE_UID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
- PIHOLE_GID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
- TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
- WEBPASSWORD=YOURPASSWORD
- DNSMASQ_LISTENING=local
- WEB_PORT=8000
- DNSMASQ_USER=pihole
- FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4=YOURIPV4ADDRESS
volumes:
- /volume1/docker/pihole/dnsmasq.d:/etc/dnsmasq.d
- /volume1/docker/pihole/pihole:/etc/pihole
ports:
- 53:53/udp
- 8000:8000/tcp
restart: unless-stoppedWe are now changing some settings this applies to all versions of the YAML above.
| Section | Explanation |
|---|---|
| PIHOLE_UID= | This UID is the one you obtained when setting up your dockerlimited user in the earlier guide at the start of the page. This tells Pi-hole to run under this user rather than root and gives it access to the folders we created. |
| PIHOLE_GID= | As per the above this line will be the GID you obtained earlier. |
| TZ= | You will need to change this line to your own timezone code – you can find the correct list of ones to use on wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones |
| WEBPASSWORD= | Change this to the password you would like to use for the Web UI |
| FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4= | If you are using the Bridge Mode this line will be the IP address of your NAS If you are using MACVLAN Mode this line will be the same as line 25 when you do that part below. |
If you are setting up the Bridge or Host versions you can now press next and jump ahead in the guide to Web portal settings for MACVLAN continue on below.
Settings Amendments for the Macvlan
OK we now need to make some further edits to the compose and sort out DNS for DSM
External DNS for DSM
Containers on a Macvlan cannot be accessed by the host they reside on (without network changes under the hood), this mean DSM cannot use Pi-hole for its own DNS requests. It’s better to put DSM on an external DNS provider to avoid it having any issues connecting to the Internet if your Pi-hole is down.
Go into the DSM Control Panel > Network and then in the ‘Manually configure DNS server’ set two good quality DNS providers such as Quad9 9.9.9.9 and Cloudflare1.1.1.1
Now you can make some edits to the compose information before moving on
| Section | Explanation |
|---|---|
| ipv4_address: 192.168.0.122 | Change to the IP address you want to use for the container. Make sure this is available and not in use by another device on your network. Don’t forget to go back up and change line 15. |
| parent: eth0 | This defines the network interface the container should use, I have used eth0 which will be the first Ethernet port on your NAS. If you want to use a different port change it accordingly. Note! If you have Virtual Machine Manager installed change this to ovs_eth0 |
| subnet: “192.168.0.0/24” | We need to change this in line with your networks’ subnet – in the example I have used 192.168.0.0/24. The super quick way to work out what to use is just take the IP of your NAS and change the final digit before the /24 to 0 |
| ip_range: “192.168.0.254/24” | This has to be changed to the highest available IP address within the range of your subnet. Again if your network is in the 192 range the final number used from the subnet above can be changed to 254 and added to this section. |
| gateway: “192.168.0.1” | This will be the IP address of your Router/Gateway/DHCP Server |
Once you have made the edits you can click ‘Next’
Web portal settings
You do not need to enable anything on the ‘Web portal settings’ screen click ‘Next’ again.
On the final screen click ‘Done’ which will begin the download of the container images and once downloaded they will be launched!
The image will now be downloaded and extracted. You should see ‘Code 0’ when it has finished.
You will now see your Pi-hole running and should have a green status on the left-hand side.
The web interface will now be available via the below.
Macvlan = the IP you specified in the compose followed by the port :8000/admin/login.php
OR
Bridge or Host = Your NAS IP followed by the port :8000/admin/login.php
You can access the UI with the password you specified in the compose.
Update your Router DNS
Now you need to add the appropriate IP address to your router depending on which method you used to set up Pi-hole
Bridge or Host = NAS IP
MACVLAN=The address you chose for the container on the line ‘ipv4_address:’
It can take some time for all of your devices to move over the new DNS settings so be patient, and you will gradually start to see your stats begin to start.
Also note as we are not using Pi-hole as the DHCP server you will not be able to see the names of the devices in the statistics just their IP addresses.
That’s it!
FAQ:
What ports does Pi-hole use?
| Port | Protocol | Used For |
|---|---|---|
| 53 | TCP/UDP | DNS |
| 67 | IPv4 UDP | DHCP – Only used when the ipv4 DHCP server is enabled. |
| 547 | IPv6 UDP | DHCP – Only used when the ipv6 DHCP server is enabled. |
| 8000 | TCP | For the WebUI |
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The bridge version : [✗] DNS resolution is currently unavailable
The host version : /bin/bash: line 1: 477 Real-time signal 0 /usr/bin/pihole-FTL no-daemon > /dev/null 2>&1
Stopping pihole-FTL
pihole-FTL: no process found
Remove the FTL no-daemon fixes the error, but pihole doesnt show Queries
The host version after redo the ip nrs : [✗] DNS resolution is currently unavailable and doesnt eben come up
cap_add: : only neded if you use Pihole as DHCP
And :
For Synology :
DNSMASQ_USER:root
FTLCONF_LOCAL_IPV4=0.0.0.0
So its time to redo this guide. Its A or incorrect or incorect cause of out of date.
Hi
I will remove the two lines below from the Bridge version of the YAML as you are correct that won’t support DHCP due to the lack of ports being exposed so it won’t need the extra caps. However, the other two could be used for that purpose so will leave them in place as well as the chown.
– CAP_NET_RAW
– CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
You should be able to use a non-root user for DNSMASQ successfully. It has been in the guide that way since pre DSM7 as we are granting the user permissions via the UID/GID of our dockerlimited user not the default Pi-hole internal user permissions of 999:1000. I know there were reports of issues back in 2022, but they seem to have been resolved avoiding the need for root. Double-check the folders have the dockerlimited user as owner or has read/write permissions.
The guides go through regular amendments and testing so no ‘redo’ is required to be sure I just spun up all 3 versions on my DSM VM which is purely for the guides, and this exact same versions are in use on my live server.
Happy to check your full logs to see what else must be going on.
https://paste.drfrankenstein.co.uk
Cheers
Thanks for the great guide!
Up until this morning I was running pi hole on a raspberry pi, and I powered it off to do something and it wouldn’t boot again when I powered it back on, so time to run it on the NAS!
Now that it’s in docker, what’s the equivalent to the pihole -up command? Stop the container, then Action>Build the project and it will pull the latest files, rebuild, and restart?
Hey – Have a look at the container update guide on the left menu 🙂
Hey Dr_Frankenstein,
I am a new visitor and must say, you created some great Guides here.
First I followed your „Initial Setup“ Guides and I want to use the Bridge Mode. Not sure if that is important for my question.
I followed this Guide and the Container is starting perfectly fine in the first place. However, in the logs I can see a lot of messages like this:
„pihole-FTL: no process found“
Do you have an idea what could cause this issue?
Or did miss something?
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Dominic
Hey
Just catching up on some comments, did you get this going? You may want to stop the container. delete the contents of each folder and start up the project again. See if that then allows FTL to start up.
Hi,
sadly I still have the same issue after deleting folder contents and restarting the project. However, I noticed the following error messages:
– „Failed to set capabilities on file /usr/bin/pihole-FTL (Operation not supported)“
– „The value of the capability Argument is not permitted for a file. Or the file is not a regular (non-symlink) file
– ERROR: Unable to set cababilities for pihole-FTL. Cannot run as non-root
Thank you for your Support.
Best Regards,
Dominic
OK I suspect this is permissions related, First check the PIHOLE_UID and GID are correct if they are can you jump back to the User and Group guide, towards the bottom there are a couple of commands to run…. Adjust the paths mentioned to just /volume1/docker/pihole and then start the container up again.
drwxrwxr-x 4 docker dockergroup 4096 Jun 2 21:13 .
drwxrwxr-x 6 docker dockergroup 4096 May 31 12:39 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 docker dockergroup 4096 Jun 2 21:13 dnsmasq.d
drwxrwxr-x 2 docker dockergroup 4096 Jun 3 21:26 pihole
Permissions should be fine.
My Docker User already was present before. Maybe I just try to recreate it once again tomorrow.
I will let you know if it worked.
Hi,
I got it to work, but only with a compromise on my Synology NAS (DS723+):
DNSMASQ_USER:root
However, this seems to be a Knowledge issue:
– https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole?tab=readme-ov-file#experimental-variables
– https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/issues/963
Maybe in future there will be another Solution.
Its weird as I have never had this issue as well as others, it must be related to permissions, can you try doing the permissions fix mentioned in the User and Group guide, adjust the paths it mention to purely do /volume1/docker/pihole and then see if it works with the pihole user not root.
Hey Doc, hope you’re doing well. Question: with host mode, do I still need to update my DNS servers/DHCP settings? I recently had an issue with my router where everything on my network stopped working due to those settings so I had to put them back to 8.8.8.8 to get them running again. I’m just trying to figure out the best way to get this going. Thanks!
Hey – So yes in Host Mode you still need to update the IP be given out by your DHCP server otherwise your devices won’t be using the NAS for DNS requests. Keep in mind if the Pi-hole is ever off you will lose internet access.