### v[ChangeMeBeforeTagging] has been entirely redesigned from the ground up and contains many breaking changes. Environment variable names have changed, script locations may have changed. Please read the the Readme carefully before proceeding
- Some users [have reported issues](https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/issues/963#issuecomment-1095602502) with using the `--privileged` flag on `2022.04` and above. TL;DR, don't use that mode, and be [explicit with the permitted caps](https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole#note-on-capabilities) (if needed) instead
`cron` is baked into the container and will grab the newest versions of your lists and flush your logs. This happens once per week in the small hours of Sunday morning.
There are multiple different ways to run DHCP from within your Docker Pi-hole container but it is slightly more advanced and one size does not fit all. DHCP and Docker's multiple network modes are covered in detail on our docs site: [Docker DHCP and Network Modes](https://docs.pi-hole.net/docker/DHCP/)
It is recommended that you use environment variables to configure the Pi-hole docker container (more details below), however if you are persisting your `/etc/pihole` directory, you may choose instead to set them via the web interface or by directly editing `pihole.toml`.
**Please Note**: Settings that are set via environment variables effectively become read-only, meaning that you will not be able to change them in the web interface or CLI. This is to ensure a "single source of truth" on the config.
To set a specific password for the web interface, use the environment variable `FTLCONF_webserver_api_password`. If this variable is not detected, and you have not already set one via `pihole setpassword` / `pihole-FTL --config webserver.api.password` inside the container, then a random password will be assigned on startup, this will be printed to the log. Run `docker logs pihole | grep random password` to find it.
| `TZ` | UTC | `<Timezone>` | Set your [timezone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones) to make sure logs rotate at local midnight instead of at UTC midnight.
| `FTLCONF_webserver_api_password` | random | `<Admin password>` | <http://pi.hole/admin> password. Run `docker logs pihole \| grep random` to find your random pass.
| `FTLCONF_dns_upstreams` | `8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4` | IPs delimited by `;` | Upstream DNS server(s) for Pi-hole to forward queries to, separated by a semicolon <br/> (supports non-standard ports with `#[port number]`) e.g `127.0.0.1#5053;8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4`<br/> (supports [Docker service names and links](https://docs.docker.com/compose/networking/) instead of IPs) e.g `upstream0,upstream1` where `upstream0` and `upstream1` are the service names of or links to docker services <br/> Note: The existence of this environment variable assumes this as the _sole_ management of upstream DNS. Upstream DNS added via the web interface will be overwritten on container restart/recreation |
| `FTLCONF_[SETTING]` | unset | As per documentation | Customize pihole.toml with settings described in the <!!!Add Link To New API docs here before release!!!>. Replace `.` with `_`, e.g for `dns.dnssec=true` use `FTLCONF_dns_dnssec: 'true'`<br/> Array type configs should be delimited with `;`|
| `PIHOLE_UID` | `100` | Number | Overrides image's default pihole user id to match a host user id<br/>**IMPORTANT**: id must not already be in use inside the container! |
| `PIHOLE_GID` | `101` | Number | Overrides image's default pihole group id to match a host group id<br/>**IMPORTANT**: id must not already be in use inside the container!|
| `FTL_CMD` | `no-daemon` | `no-daemon -- <dnsmasq option>` | Customize the options with which dnsmasq gets started. e.g. `no-daemon -- --dns-forward-max 300` to increase max. number of concurrent dns queries on high load setups. |
| `FTLCONF_ENV_ONLY`|unset|`<true\|false>`|If set to true, FTL will use default values for all config values unless explicitly set as an environment variable|
| `DNSMASQ_USER` | unset | `<pihole\|root>` | Allows changing the user that FTLDNS runs as. Default: `pihole`, some systems such as Synology NAS may require you to change this to `root` (See [#963](https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/issues/963)) |
| `ADDITIONAL_PACKAGES`| unset | Space separated list of APKs | HERE BE DRAGONS. Mostly for development purposes, this just makes it easier for those of us that always like to have whatever additional tools we need inside the container for debugging |
| `--net=host`<br/>_Optional_ | Alternative to `-p <port>:<port>` arguments (Cannot be used at same time as -p) if you don't run any other web application. DHCP runs best with --net=host, otherwise your router must support dhcp-relay settings.
| `--cap-add=NET_ADMIN`<br/>_Recommended_ | Commonly added capability for DHCP, see [Note on Capabilities](#note-on-capabilities) below for other capabilities.
- A good way to test things are working right is by loading this page: [http://pi.hole/admin/](http://pi.hole/admin/)
- Port conflicts? Stop your server's existing DNS / Web services.
- Don't forget to stop your services from auto-starting again after you reboot
- Ubuntu users see below for more detailed information
- Docker's default network mode `bridge` isolates the container from the host's network. This is a more secure setting, but requires setting the Pi-hole DNS option for _Interface listening behavior_ to "Listen on all interfaces, permit all origins".
Modern releases of Ubuntu (17.10+) and Fedora (33+) include [`systemd-resolved`](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man8/systemd-resolved.service.8.html) which is configured by default to implement a caching DNS stub resolver. This will prevent pi-hole from listening on port 53.
The stub resolver should be disabled with: `sudo sed -r -i.orig 's/#?DNSStubListener=yes/DNSStubListener=no/g' /etc/systemd/resolved.conf`
This will not change the nameserver settings, which point to the stub resolver thus preventing DNS resolution. Change the `/etc/resolv.conf` symlink to point to `/run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf`, which is automatically updated to follow the system's [`netplan`](https://netplan.io/):
`sudo sh -c 'rm /etc/resolv.conf && ln -s /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf'`
Once pi-hole is installed, you'll want to configure your clients to use it ([see here](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-do-i-configure-my-devices-to-use-pi-hole-as-their-dns-server/245)). If you used the symlink above, your docker host will either use whatever is served by DHCP, or whatever static setting you've configured. If you want to explicitly set your docker host's nameservers you can edit the netplan(s) found at `/etc/netplan`, then run `sudo netplan apply`.
Note that it is also possible to disable `systemd-resolved` entirely. However, this can cause problems with name resolution in vpns ([see bug report](https://bugs.launchpad.net/network-manager/+bug/1624317)). It also disables the functionality of netplan since systemd-resolved is used as the default renderer ([see `man netplan`](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man5/netplan.5.html#description)). If you choose to disable the service, you will need to manually set the nameservers, for example by creating a new `/etc/resolv.conf`.
Users of older Ubuntu releases (circa 17.04) will need to disable dnsmasq.
The primary docker tags are explained in the following table. [Click here to see the full list of tags](https://store.docker.com/community/images/pihole/pihole/tags). See [GitHub Release notes](https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/releases) to see the specific version of Pi-hole Core, Web, and FTL included in the release.
The Date-based (including incremented "Patch" versions) do not relate to any kind of semantic version number, rather a date is used to differentiate between the new version and the old version, nothing more. Release notes will always contain full details of changes in the container, including changes to core Pi-hole components
The standard Pi-hole customization abilities apply to this docker, but with docker twists such as using docker volume mounts to map host stored file configurations over the container defaults. However, mounting these configuration files as read-only should be avoided. Volumes are also important to persist the configuration in case you have removed the Pi-hole container which is a typical docker upgrade pattern.
Do not attempt to upgrade (`pihole -up`) or reconfigure (`pihole -r`). New images will be released for upgrades, upgrading by replacing your old container with a fresh upgraded image is the 'docker way'. Long-living docker containers are not the docker way since they aim to be portable and reproducible, why not re-create them often! Just to prove you can.
- **Warning** When removing your pihole container you may be stuck without DNS until step 3; **docker pull** before **docker rm -f** to avoid DNS interruption.
Why is this style of upgrading good? A couple reasons: Everyone is starting from the same base image which has been tested to known it works. No worrying about upgrading from A to B, B to C, or A to C is required when rolling out updates, it reduces complexity, and simply allows a 'fresh start' every time while preserving customizations with volumes. Basically I'm encouraging [phoenix server](https://www.google.com/?q=phoenix+servers) principles for your containers.
To reconfigure Pi-hole you'll either need to use an existing container environment variables or if there is no a variable for what you need, use the web UI or CLI commands.
Occasionally you may need to try an alternative branch of one of the components (`core`,`web`,`ftl`). On bare metal you would run, for example, `pihole checkout core custombranchname`, however in Docker world we have disabled this command as it can cause unpredictable results.
We install all pihole utilities so the the built in [pihole commands](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/the-pihole-command-with-examples/738) will work via `docker exec <container> <command>` like so:
The webserver and DNS service inside the container can be customized if necessary. Any configuration files you volume mount into `/etc/dnsmasq.d/` will be loaded by pihole-FTL when the container starts or restarts.
-`CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE`: Allows FTLDNS binding to TCP/UDP sockets below 1024 (specifically DNS service on port 53)
-`CAP_NET_RAW`: use raw and packet sockets (needed for handling DHCPv6 requests, and verifying that an IP is not in use before leasing it)
-`CAP_NET_ADMIN`: modify routing tables and other network-related operations (in particular inserting an entry in the neighbor table to answer DHCP requests using unicast packets)
This image automatically grants those capabilities, if available, to the FTLDNS process, even when run as non-root.\
By default, docker does not include the `NET_ADMIN` capability for non-privileged containers, and it is recommended to explicitly add it to the container using `--cap-add=NET_ADMIN`.\
However, if DHCP and IPv6 Router Advertisements are not in use, it should be safe to skip it. For the most paranoid, it should even be possible to explicitly drop the `NET_RAW` capability to prevent FTLDNS from automatically gaining it.
We have noticed that a lot of people use Watchtower to keep their Pi-hole containers up to date. For the same reason we don't provide an auto-update feature on a bare metal install, you _should not_ have a system automatically update your Pi-hole container. Especially unattended. As much as we try to ensure nothing will go wrong, sometimes things do go wrong - and you need to set aside time to _manually_ pull and update to the version of the container you wish to run. The upgrade process should be along the lines of:
Please report issues on the [GitHub project](https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole) when you suspect something docker related. Pi-hole or general docker questions are best answered on our [user forums](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/c/bugs-problems-issues/docker/30).