Hello! I want to set up a pi-hole on my home and connect from my parent’s. Both setups have a dynamic IP assigned by my isp and are different networks.

I have a couple of questions:

  1. I can get a domain that updates automatically. But how would I resolve it on the client side?
  2. Is there any way to authenticate on the server? By Mac maybe? That can be spoofed right?

Edit: my bad, thanks for correcting me, Mac is another layer completely

  1. Can setting up a VPN solve both (1) and (2)?
  2. Is there any other way?

Thanks!

  • @blessEnglish
    5•7 months ago

    I would get a domain name and use ddns to update your rotating IP. Then I would setup wireguard VPN in split tunnel and have your parents network tunnel back to your piholes for dns resolution.

    I use cloudflare API for ddns updates but there are plenty of choices for that. If you’re using cloudflare for DNS just keep in mind you can’t proxy the DNS entry for the ip for your VPN host as CF only forwards traffic over certain ports and they are not configurable (on free plan anyway not sure about paid).

      • NeshuraEnglish
        3•7 months ago

        yes but most isp’s (at least where I live) change the IP in the middle of nobody-should-be-awake-anyway o’clock

        Plus the connection drops only for a minute or two at most unless ypu set a really high ttl on the domain dns record

    • @[email protected]English
      1•7 months ago

      You can do DoH over proxied cloudflare I believe

      edit: now I’m wondering, is it possible to proxy headscale??

  • @[email protected]English
    5•7 months ago

    You can’t configure DNS server by name on anything, so you’d need some kind of script/automation to query current IP address of your pihole from google/your ddns provider/someone and update that on your parents router which can be a bit tricky or straight impossible depending on the hardware.

    VPN would solve both 1 and 2 from your list as your pihole would be available with static address on both locations. You can’t authenticate on DNS server by MAC as you don’t receive originating MAC at all. Other solution would be to get a static IP address from some provider and tunnel traffic so that your pihole could be reached trough that static address.

  • ClickyMcTicker
    3•7 months ago

    @papelitofeliz
    VPN for sure:

    1. Set up both locations with Dynamic DNS providers. DuckDNS is free, but if you’re building infrastructure you may as well buy your own domain and set it up through that (Namecheap is what I use and recommend).

    2. Set up a Wireguard tunnel between both locations. Do *not* specify an endpoint for either. You could specify endpoints to boost security (barely), but it will cause your system to fail during IP changes, for the duration of the TTL.

    • ClickyMcTicker
      3•7 months ago

      @papelitofeliz
      3. Set up your PiHole on a static private IP.

      1. Ensure both sites can route across the tunnel. Based on your experience level and scope, dynamic routing is not recommended or necessary, which means static routes. Point a route for each side’s subnet to the Wireguard tunnel IPs so your firewalls know how to reach and respond to each other across the tunnel.

      2. Configure your devices to use PiHole for their DNS, via DHCP ideally.

      • @papelitofelizOPEnglish
        1•7 months ago

        I didn’t look anything up yet. But can the wireguard tunnel be setup on the router level (I have a cheap Mikrotik) or as a network service? So clients don’t have to install custom stuff

  • @[email protected]English
    2•7 months ago

    DynDNS. That will give you a hostname, but check if your ISP offers a static IP tbh. Client side shouldn’t matter overmuch if you’re returning requests it’s made

    • @[email protected]English
      3•7 months ago

      I’ll second this recommendation and add a bit more. I’d recommend using DuckDNS’s dynamic DNS service. It’s free (donate if you can!) and fairly simple to set up. I run it on my router since it supports it but it’s easy to run in a docker container too.

      • @darkan15English
        1•7 months ago

        I recommend DuckDNS as well, you can run it both sides and set up a daemon to update the domain when there is an IP change automatically.

        And with Wireguard you can set up a tunnel between both locations so you can share anything you need.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•7 months ago

    If both routers support it: S2S VPN. Also has the advantage of being able to access the stuff from each others side.
    Disadvantage: Viruses can traverse the tunnel.

  • @[email protected]BEnglish
    1•7 months ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    CF CloudFlare
    DNS Domain Name Service/System
    IP Internet Protocol
    PiHole Network-wide ad-blocker (DNS sinkhole)
    VPN Virtual Private Network

    [Thread #315 for this sub, first seen 30th Nov 2023, 16:15] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

  • @[email protected]English
    0•7 months ago

    A lot of people are suggesting VPNs

    But there’s some beauty in DoH/DoT/Quic ports opened

    You should check adguard-home for the dns stuff For your questions:

    1. I don’t quite get what you mean. But if you say “my domain’s dns updates regularly, how would one of the clients of the dns get the new IP”, then I would say upstream dns, and maybe pi-hole/adguard have something up their sleeve

    2. In adguard you can have client ids, it can be different things I forgot, but mainly it can be the domain you’re using as dns, so john.dns.mysite.com, and you can give 0.0.0.0 response to every client that is not a client. Maybe there are more clever ways to do this

    3. Yes, but for 1 is not so straightforward, you have many options, you either need to update your dns in some way anyway to connect to VPN, or rent a cloud to host(or port forward) the entry point there (or the theoretical option, some selfhosted vpns allow you to do everything without any ports opened)

    4. Adguard-home, using a public dns, route through tor, cloudflare’s tunnels, host on a cloud, forward ports to a cloud, and many more

    And for dynamic IP, I personally use cloudflare(although I don’t trust them) (he-he, I didn’t expect previous point to be so long, I wrote this at the beginning)

    Ah, and for the VPN I personally use headscale