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Outline · Raspberry Pi

Pi-hole for your home office: decide, test and recover

Start with a failed sign-in and decide what the evidence supports. Take a short no-hardware route, or continue with a reversible personal-device deployment. Optional build lessons and advanced workshops preserve the full technical reference without making every topic a prerequisite.

Chapter 01
Decide: is Pi-hole useful for your situation?
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Lesson 1.1 · Preview
Start with an incident: choose your route
· 8 min
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Lesson 1.2 · Preview
Before setup: permission, managed devices and privacy
· 8 min
Chapter 02
Trace: networking from zero
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Lesson 2.1 · Preview
Networking from zero: devices, addresses and routers
· 15 min
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Lesson 2.2 · Preview
What is DNS? Names, addresses and answers
· 15 min
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Lesson 2.3 · Preview
What is DHCP? Settings, leases and reservations
· 15 min
Chapter 03
Trace: follow requests and cached answers
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Lesson 3.1 · Preview
Follow a DNS request
· 8 min
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Lesson 3.2 · Preview
Watch a DNS cache age
· 8 min
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Lesson 3.3 · Preview
Decide from a DNS evidence pack
· 12 min
Check
Chapter 04
Test one personal device
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Lesson 4.1 · Preview
Read a real DNS answer
· 12 min
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Lesson 4.2 · Preview
Point one test device at Pi-hole
· 15 min
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Lesson 4.3 · Preview
Make a narrow rule and undo it
· 15 min
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Lesson 4.4 · Preview
Use logs as evidence, not a browsing history
· 10 min
Chapter 05
Diagnose: choose a test from evidence
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Lesson 5.1 · Preview
Find the failing layer
· 8 min
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Lesson 5.2 · Preview
Diagnose the failing layer
· 15 min
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Lesson 5.3 · Preview
Restore a broken service with a narrow exception
· 12 min
Chapter 06
Operate: privacy, maintenance and recovery
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Lesson 6.1 · Preview
Choose what logs reveal
· 8 min
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Lesson 6.2 · Preview
Choose logging deliberately
· 12 min
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Lesson 6.3 · Preview
Create a backup you can explain
· 15 min
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Lesson 6.4 · Preview
Update with a baseline and a recovery plan
· 15 min
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Lesson 6.5 · Preview
Design DNS resilience
· 8 min
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Lesson 6.6 · Preview
Recover from an outage and retire cleanly
· 12 min
Chapter 07
Demonstrate and hand over your home-office result
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Lesson 7.1 · Preview
Home-office challenge: trace, test and recover
· 30 min
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Lesson 7.2 · Preview
Hand over a maintainable service
· 10 min
Chapter 08
Build route: prepare your Raspberry Pi
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Lesson 8.1
Find and use the official instructions
A short browser walkthrough, a terminal Cast, and a check of your understanding. · 8 min
Check
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Lesson 8.2 · Preview
Prepare the card and boot your Pi
· 20 min
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Lesson 8.3 · Preview
Use the terminal: navigate, read and recover
· 25 min
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Lesson 8.4 · Preview
Give the DNS server a stable address
· 15 min
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Lesson 8.5 · Preview
Check readiness before installation
· 15 min
Chapter 09
Build route: install and open Pi-hole
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Lesson 9.1 · Preview
Download and run the official installer
· 20 min
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Lesson 9.2 · Preview
Make each installer choice with confidence
· 20 min
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Lesson 9.3 · Preview
Open the dashboard and find your bearings
· 12 min
Chapter 10
Optional workshops: domain and client policies
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Lesson 10.1 · Preview
Explain a blocking decision
· 8 min
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Lesson 10.2 · Preview
Maintain lists without collecting problems
· 12 min
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Lesson 10.3 · Preview
Give clients different policies
· 8 min
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Lesson 10.4 · Preview
Apply different policies to different devices
· 15 min
Chapter 11
Optional workshops: local names and DHCP
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Lesson 11.1 · Preview
Give a local device a name
· 8 min
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Lesson 11.2 · Preview
Name a local printer or service
· 15 min
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Lesson 11.3 · Preview
Build a DHCP lease
· 8 min
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Lesson 11.4 · Preview
Hand DHCP to Pi-hole only when needed
· 20 min
Chapter 12
Advanced route: shared-network administration
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Lesson 12.1 · Preview
Move from one client to a controlled rollout
· 15 min
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Lesson 12.2 · Preview
Find paths that bypass your DNS policy
· 12 min
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Lesson 12.3 · Preview
Advanced challenge: administer a shared workspace
· 30 min
Chapter 13
Advanced workshops: DNS trust and upstream choices
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Lesson 13.1 · Preview
Validation is not encryption
· 8 min
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Lesson 13.2 · Preview
Validate answers without confusing encryption
· 12 min
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Lesson 13.3 · Preview
Plan a local recursive resolver
· 20 min
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Lesson 13.4 · Preview
Choose an upstream and understand encrypted DNS
· 15 min
Chapter 14
Advanced workshops: resolver behaviour and configuration
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Lesson 14.1 · Preview
Understand FTL and make one controlled change
· 15 min
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Lesson 14.2 · Preview
Read blocking answers and cache behaviour
· 15 min
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Lesson 14.3 · Preview
Keep time and secure the web interface
· 15 min
Chapter 15
Advanced workshops: regular expressions and databases
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Lesson 15.1 · Preview
Build a regex rule with a counterexample
· 15 min
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Lesson 15.2 · Preview
Understand query data, policy data and recovery
· 15 min
Chapter 16
Advanced workshops: Docker and version migrations
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Lesson 16.1 · Preview
Design a persistent container deployment
· 15 min
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Lesson 16.2 · Preview
Rehearse a container upgrade and v5 migration
· 15 min
Chapter 17
Advanced workshops: remote access and automation
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Lesson 17.1 · Preview
Extend administration without exposing it publicly
· 15 min
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Lesson 17.2 · Preview
Automate one action with a clear recovery path
· 15 min
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Lesson 17.3 · Preview
Plan Pi-hole access through WireGuard
· 15 min
Chapter 18
Expert extras: diagnostics and specialist integrations
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Lesson 18.1 · Preview
Collect the smallest useful diagnostic evidence
· 15 min
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Lesson 18.2 · Preview
Evaluate performance and specialist privacy claims
· 15 min
Chapter 19
Workshop directory and reference: router guides and the wider Pi-hole project
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Lesson 19.1 · Preview
Find an advanced workshop by topic or symptom
· 5 min
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Lesson 19.2 · Preview
Use the right guide for your router
· 15 min
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Lesson 19.3 · Preview
Get help and contribute a useful improvement
· 15 min
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Lesson 19.4 · Preview
Find every official documentation topic
· 15 min