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Pi-hole DNS lab

A Pi-hole on an Ubuntu Server VM filtered ad and tracker domains for my desktop, a small first look at DNS-level blocking.

Date
Stack
Pi-hole, Ubuntu Server, VirtualBox, DNS

The finding

With my desktop’s DNS pointed at a Pi-hole running in a local VM, requests for known ad and tracker domains stopped resolving, and the Pi-hole dashboard showed every query the desktop made. It was a temporary lab, and it is offline now.

Context

I wanted to see how DNS-level filtering works before relying on it anywhere that matters.

What was built

  • An Ubuntu Server VM in VirtualBox on my desktop.
  • Pi-hole installed on the VM.
  • My desktop’s DNS settings pointed at the VM. Nothing else on the network used it; this was not a router or DHCP change.

Evidence

A quick check from the desktop that a blocked domain no longer resolves to a real address:

nslookup doubleclick.net

I did not keep the dashboard numbers from the run.

What it means

Once queries pass through a resolver you control, you get a block list and a log of what a machine talks to. Covering a whole network means changing DHCP or the router, which is the step this lab stopped short of.