Pi-Hole is a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) project, supported entirely by volunteer developers and user donations. The project creates a DNS sinkhole on your network which blocks ads and trackers at a network level without any additional software being required on each device. This also allows you to block adverts on devices which cannot normally block ads.
How does it work?
Pi-Hole is often associated with Raspberry Pi’s running Raspbian/Pi OS, however it is officially supported on five different Linux distributions and often runs on other unsupported distros and devices. To use a Pi-Hole your device (or router) has to be configured to use the Pi-Hole as its DNS server. A DNS server translates Domains such as example.com to an IP address such as 93.184.216.34. The Pi willnot translate requests for domains on the blocked list but will instead reply saying the IP could not be found; This prevents ads, trackers and almost anything else the user wishes to block from being loaded.
Why use a Pi-Hole?
Most people use PiHole to block ads or online trackers, however a Pi-Hole can be used to block much more including malware, adult content and spam websites. Pi-Hole can essentially block anything with a URL. For example, most modern malware will “phone home” to the hackers web-server for instructions. By blocking malicious domains in your Pi-Hole you can potentially prevent the malware from activating.
Blocking adverts and trackers is essential for anyone concerned about privacy and usability on the modern internet. Many websites track user behaviour which is then sold to data brokers often without user knowledge. Many websites are also difficult to navigate if you do not block ads. A Pi-Hole is best used as one layer of a multi-layer privacy and security model. Other layers may include AdBlock plugins (e.g. uBlock), blocking JavaScript, and having a properly configured firewall.
A Pi-Hole may also increase network performance as blocking ads at the DNS level reduces the amount of data devices needs to load.
How to set up a Pi-Hole?
There are many good guides online for setting up a Pi-Hole and I will shortly be writing my own guide on setting up Pi-Hole using docker. In the meantime check out these guides below which helped me set up my Pi-Hole.
https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-pi-hole/
https://pimylifeup.com/pi-hole-docker/