ENLIL – Local DNS Resolver (Pi-hole)

Hostname: ENLIL
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.125 (STATIC)
IPv6 Address: 2a00:23c7:593:6501:ba27:ebff:fe0f:e3f2 (STATIC)
Assigned IPv4 DNS: obtained automatically (not to be mistaken with the pi-hole configuration dns)
Assigned IPv6 DNS: obtained automatically (not to be mistaken with the pi-hole configuration dns)
Architecture: ARMv6 (Raspberry Pi 1 Model B)

Purpose

ENLIL is our DNS resolver within the home-lab. It currently runs Pi-hole, providing network-wide ad blocking, DNS sinkholing, and improved privacy across all devices on the home network.

Provides network-wide ad blocking and DNS services
Acts as primary DNS server for the home network
Hosts web interface for Pi-hole administration
Improves privacy and reduces unnecessary network traffic
Serves as centralized network filtering solution

System Information

Kernel / OS

Kernel: 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v6
Build: #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.62-1+rpt1 (2025-12-18)
Architecture: armv6l
Distro: Debian (Raspberry Pi variant)

SSH Stack

OpenSSH: OpenSSH_10.0p2 Raspbian-7
OpenSSL: 3.5.4 (30 Sep 2025)

Pi-hole

Pi-Hole: v6.3

Setup Steps

ENLIL was setup using the following steps and instructions:

1. Setup Network Manager CLI for ENLIL

We will use the following command to set a static IPv4 and IPV6 on our device.

auzlex@ENLIL:~ $ sudo nmcli connection modify "target connection" \
    ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.125/24 \
    ipv4.method manual \
    ipv6.addresses 2a00:23c7:593:6501:ba27:ebff:fe0f:e3f2/64 \
    ipv6.method manual

We then apply changes by rebooting

auzlex@ENLIL:~ $ sudo reboot

verify

auzlex@ENLIL:~ $ nmcli connection show "target connection"

2. Setup Pi-hole

auzlex@ENLIL:~ $ curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Current Status

Pi-hole is up and running and actively filtering traffic.

Information here is from 2026-01-18 to 2026-01-19:

Total domains on blocklists: 261,914
Total queries: 6,563
Blocked queries: 1,420
Percentage blocked: 21.6%

Blocklists Configuration

Blocklists were sourced from Firebog.

For each category, two lists were selected and applied, followed by a manual Gravity Update via the Pi-hole web interface.

Categories in use:

Suspicious Lists
Advertising Lists
Tracking and Telemetry Lists
Malicious Lists

Additional manual blocking:

Facebook domains

General guidance followed: less is better. Lists were kept minimal to reduce false positives while maintaining effective filtering, based on community recommendations from other Pi-hole users.

DNS Configuration

Primary upstream DNS: Cloudflare

Notes

Long-term DNS strategy review
Ongoing monitoring and tuning
Security hardening