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EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
222
8
I googled on "how to run pi-hole on macs", and it seems quite complicated. Would it be easier to run pi-hole on Ubuntu(Linux)?

Any suggestion about Raspberry Pi or Pi-Hole is appreciated.

Thanks.
 

S.B.G

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 8, 2010
26,634
10,379
Detroit
I googled on "how to run pi-hole on macs", and it seems quite complicated. Would it be easier to run pi-hole on Ubuntu(Linux)?

Any suggestion about Raspberry Pi or Pi-Hole is appreciated.

Thanks.
Pi-Hole doesn't run on macOS natively, you need Linux or Raspbian OS. You can run it in a virtual machine on a Mac if you want. Then all you have to do is point your DNS to the IP of the virtual machine running Pi-Hole. I've done it before and it works just fine.
 

EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
222
8
You can run it in a virtual machine on a Mac if you want. Then all you have to do is point your DNS to the IP of the virtual machine running Pi-Hole.

Virtual Machine? Can you be more specific?

(I only know Parallels Desktop. But isn't it for Macs to run Windows?)

Thanks.
 
Last edited:

S.B.G

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 8, 2010
26,634
10,379
Detroit
Virtual Machine? Can you be more specific?

(I only know Parallels Desktop. But isn't it for Macs to run Windows?)

Thanks.
Virtual Machines can run just about any OS from numerous versions of Windows, Linux, BSD, and many others.

Parallels, VMware and Virtualbox all support these types of virtual machines.
 

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
I googled on "how to run pi-hole on macs", and it seems quite complicated. Would it be easier to run pi-hole on Ubuntu(Linux)?

Any suggestion about Raspberry Pi or Pi-Hole is appreciated.

Thanks.
What is pi hole? Is that a ide?
 

EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
222
8
I need an ad blocker. The Ads are more and more, and is starting to be annoying.

I'm working on installing the Ubuntu on my old iMac which I'm no longer using, and see if I can setup the Pi-Hole.

BTW, about the Virtual Machines, Parallels and VirtualBox which is better?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:

MrRabuf

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2019
105
106
BTW, about the Virtual Machines, Parallels and VirtualBox which is better?

I use VirtualBox with about a dozen or so different VMs that I need for work. I'm not saying it's better but it is free. I suggest you start with that and see if it's good enough for you before shelling out for Parallels or VMWare.
 

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
Now what to do with it hehe. Learn python?
1fb9982cfbfe57caae28baf209b9e899.jpg
 

lixuelai

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2008
965
337
Just got a Pi4 to use PiHole and very happy with it. I got the 4GB model and it is way overkill for PiHole + file server.
 
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EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
222
8
I'm installing Ubuntu and Pi-Hole on my old iMac.

After the: One-Step Automated Install

And the: Post-Install: Make Your Network Take Advantage Of Pi-Hole

After configuring the router to have DHCP clients use Pi-hole as their DNS server. Will I be able to surf the web using my MacBook Pro(macOS High Sierra) when the iMac is not powered on(meaning that I'm not running Pi-Hole).

Moreover, how do I set up the DHCP clients?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194

S.B.G

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 8, 2010
26,634
10,379
Detroit
I'm installing Ubuntu and Pi-Hole on my old iMac.

After the: One-Step Automated Install

And the: Post-Install: Make Your Network Take Advantage Of Pi-Hole

After configuring the router to have DHCP clients use Pi-hole as their DNS server. Will I be able to surf the web using my MacBook Pro(macOS High Sierra) when the iMac is not powered on(meaning that I'm not running Pi-Hole).

Moreover, how do I set up the DHCP clients?

Thanks.
If you want Pi-hole to handle DHCP, go to your router and turn DHCP off and then in Pi-Hole go to the settings page and DHCP tab and tick the box to enable it. Give it a range of IP's of your private, non-routable network, to hand out and set the gateway to the IP of your router.

You will probably need to reboot all of your client devices to have them search out a new DHCP server (the Pi-hole) and grab its address from that.
 

EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
222
8
Give it a range of IP's of your private, non-routable network, to hand out and set the gateway to the IP of your router.

How do I give it a range of IP's of the private, non-routable network?

You will probably need to reboot all of your client devices to have them search out a new DHCP server (the Pi-hole) and grab its address from that.

Can I still surf the web using client devices when the iMac(Ubuntu and Pi-Hole) is not powered on? Does the iMac(Ubuntu and Pi-Hole) need to be constantly powered on?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,702
7,264
Can I still surf the web using client devices when the iMac(Ubuntu and Pi-Hole) is not powered on? Does the iMac(Ubuntu and Pi-Hole) need to be constantly powered on?

Thanks.
For the Pi Hole to work, all the clients on your network need to have the Pi Hole set as their DNS server. If you don't have the Pi Hole running, your clients won't be able to resolve any websites without changing their network configuration. It's not a good idea to have your network configured to rely on devices which aren't on all the time, and with a Raspberry Pi costing $40 or less, it's the best way to set this up.
 
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