(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @09:28PM
(8 children)
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday January 26 2020, @09:28PM (#949012)
It can do more than just block like a hosts file. For example, you can do surrogates, transparent or white pixels, DNSSEC verification by default, encrypted DNS, and more. And you get all of that without having to configure clients individually.
by Anonymous Coward
on Monday January 27 2020, @07:40AM (#949225)
And you get all of that without having to configure clients individually.
Ah yes, you can do a global configuration across you whole network from your local client machines. Just do one and the configuration magically copies itself from one to the next. How could I forget?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:27AM
(4 children)
by Anonymous Coward
on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:27AM (#949899)
Honest misunderstanding. The singular noun in your statement "from your local machine" made it sound like you were talking about your local client machines, not any random server (whether Linux or not) attached to your network. The Pi Hole uses standard packages available on a ton of distros and other OSes can run those or their own alternatives and accomplish the same thing. There really isn't special sauce behind the scenes.
In that light, I suppose its real selling point is that it is a slick and easy way to set it up with a nice frontend interface. It is literally so easy to set up that my octogenarian father went from nothing to protecting the entire network from ads, phishing, and malware domains in 15 or so steps, including opening the packaging. Can't quite say the same about a random Linux box, at least without consulting reams of docs, man pages, and conf files.
Honest misunderstanding. The singular noun in your statement "from your local machine" made it sound like you were talking about your local client machines, not any random server (whether Linux or not) attached to your network. The Pi Hole uses standard packages available on a ton of distros and other OSes can run those or their own alternatives and accomplish the same thing. There really isn't special sauce behind the scenes.
In that light, I suppose its real selling point is that it is a slick and easy way to set it up with a nice frontend interface. It is literally so easy to set up that my octogenarian father went from nothing to protecting the entire network from ads, phishing, and malware domains in 15 or so steps, including opening the packaging. Can't quite say the same about a random Linux box, at least without consulting reams of docs, man pages, and conf files.
The only issue I have with this is that unless you (generic, not you personally) always VPN back to your local network, you lose all of those features if you ever leave the basement. Of course you should be doing defense in depth, but your have essentially just filled in your moat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 02 2020, @04:52PM
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday February 02 2020, @04:52PM (#952749)
It's probably enough if you do your internet shopping/taxes/important stuff from your home and don't do anything you want to keep private on your phone or outside networks. For most people, this is enough. People that need a VPN are probably already using one.
(Score: 1) by ze on Sunday January 26 2020, @07:55PM (9 children)
Isn't pihole a hosts file/dns block, just deployed as a dns server for the local network?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @09:28PM (8 children)
It can do more than just block like a hosts file. For example, you can do surrogates, transparent or white pixels, DNSSEC verification by default, encrypted DNS, and more. And you get all of that without having to configure clients individually.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 27 2020, @04:53AM (7 children)
You can get all that from your local machine as well. It's just another Linux box.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:40AM (6 children)
Ah yes, you can do a global configuration across you whole network from your local client machines. Just do one and the configuration magically copies itself from one to the next. How could I forget?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 27 2020, @03:35PM (5 children)
Deliberate misunderstanding or do you really not get that any Linux box can do the same job as a pihole, for itself or for the entire network.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:27AM (4 children)
Honest misunderstanding. The singular noun in your statement "from your local machine" made it sound like you were talking about your local client machines, not any random server (whether Linux or not) attached to your network. The Pi Hole uses standard packages available on a ton of distros and other OSes can run those or their own alternatives and accomplish the same thing. There really isn't special sauce behind the scenes.
In that light, I suppose its real selling point is that it is a slick and easy way to set it up with a nice frontend interface. It is literally so easy to set up that my octogenarian father went from nothing to protecting the entire network from ads, phishing, and malware domains in 15 or so steps, including opening the packaging. Can't quite say the same about a random Linux box, at least without consulting reams of docs, man pages, and conf files.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:50AM
Ah, no worries then. Carry on.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Fnord666 on Saturday February 01 2020, @04:21AM (2 children)
The only issue I have with this is that unless you (generic, not you personally) always VPN back to your local network, you lose all of those features if you ever leave the basement. Of course you should be doing defense in depth, but your have essentially just filled in your moat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 02 2020, @04:52PM
It's probably enough if you do your internet shopping/taxes/important stuff from your home and don't do anything you want to keep private on your phone or outside networks. For most people, this is enough. People that need a VPN are probably already using one.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday February 19 2020, @04:45PM
There is already a pronoun to use for the you(generic) that avoids confusion.
one.
as in
... unless one always VPNs back ...