Pi as a Network Device (Pi-hole Concept)

Relax. We'll talk through this in plain words — no textbook voice.

What you'll walk away with

Understand Pi as a Network Device (Pi-hole Concept) without any of the intimidation
Be able to run the hardware wiring/code yourself
Apply this concept right away in a real project

Let's think about it this way for a moment

Pi-hole is DNS-level ad-blocking software — install it on a Raspberry Pi, and every device on the home network (phone, laptop, smart TV) has its ad/tracker requests filtered through Pi-hole. It's the concept of blocking ads once at the router level instead of installing an ad blocker on every individual device. This is where the Networking chapter of the Linux tutorial (ip, DNS concepts) becomes a practical, hands-on application.

Let's connect it to a real scenario

Run the Pi-hole install script (curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash) and it sets up an admin dashboard for you; point the router's DNS setting at the Pi's IP address, and every device on the network automatically starts using Pi-hole as its DNS server — blocking a list of ad/tracker domains, and letting you check statistics (how many queries got blocked) from the dashboard.

Pi-hole = DNS-level, network-wide ad blocking
Pointing the router's DNS setting at the Pi's IP
A practical application of Linux networking concepts (DNS)

Let's look at it together

bash

# High-level overview (do not run blindly — read docs first)
curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

# After install, note the Pi's IP address, then:
# Router settings → DNS → point to Pi's IP

# Check status
pihole status

You should see

After installing Pi-hole, you should be able to open the admin dashboard (http://raspberrypi.local/admin) in a browser and see block statistics.

5-minute try-it

Read through Pi-hole's official documentation (before running 'curl | bash' directly, read for yourself what the script actually does) and list out 3 install requirements.

A quick word of caution

If you use the Pi as a DNS server (Pi-hole), your whole home network can lose internet access if the Pi ever dies or goes offline — you should configure a backup DNS server setting, as covered in the Pi-hole documentation.

Easy traps

Blindly running a curl | bash pattern without reading what the script actually does first — remember the malware/trust concept from the Cybersecurity tutorial, and avoid this pattern except from a source you truly trust
Switching the router's DNS over and then turning off/disconnecting the Pi, which can knock out internet connectivity for the whole home network

Now try it yourself

Read through Pi-hole's official documentation (before running 'curl | bash' directly, read for yourself what the script actually does) and list out 3 install requirements.

You'll know it worked when: After installing Pi-hole, you should be able to open the admin dashboard (http://raspberrypi.local/admin) in a browser and see block statistics.