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Pi-hole DNS Rate

petertgreenpetertgreen Member, Beta Tester Posts: 4
First Comment Photogenic
✭
edited August 2019 in Devices & Security

Pi hole is telling me the finhbox is doing close to 10,000 DNS requests per day. Why so many and what happens if I block it.

SmartSelect_20190827-133101_Chrome.jpg


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Best Answer

  • RobinRobin Administrator, Fing Team Posts: 3,734
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    admin
    Accepted Answer
    petertgreen said:

    Pi hole is telling me the finhbox is doing close to 10,000 DNS requests per day. Why so many and what happens if I block it.


    @petertgreen
    Do you use Domotz along with your Fingbox? Also, the requests which are being made are reverse DNS lookups which by default for Fingbox users so Fingbox can provide more security to network. If you want, you can disable the reverse DNS lookups. 

    Here is how to do that: 
    1. Open the Fing App 
    2. Click on the avatar of you in the upper right hand corner under the clock.  This will open Account and Settings. 
    3. Click on 'App Settings' 
    4. Click on on the green enable beside 'Reverse DNS Lookup'.  This will disable this feature. 
    5. Make sure that 'Maximum network size' match your network size based on the number of devices in the house. Normally it should be a /24  size.

    6. Click on <-- to return to Account and Settings 

    7. Click on <-- to return to the Device, Network, and People tab

    Robin (Admin at Fing)
    Getting Started? Please refer to Community guidelines & Community User Guides("Helping Hand"). HAPPY POSTING!!!
    Hronospetertgreen

Answers

  • kltaylorkltaylor Moderator, Beta Tester Posts: 1,231
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    petertgreen said:

    Pi hole is telling me the finhbox is doing close to 10,000 DNS requests per day. Why so many and what happens if I block it.


    Any monitoring app will want to seek information as often as possible, it's honestly no big surprise that Pi-Hole advises as such.   I don't seem to find a 'frequency' option in the Fing App itself, I'll have to check the Fing Box later to see if there is an option for that.
    If you block it, then you won't receive the information that the Fing Box is intended to be used for.  As long as the information stays LAN-based, there really isn't an issue.  Fing just needs to access the network information in order to present 'near-instant' notifications of changes, additions, etc.
    "There's a fine line between audacity and idiocy."
    -Warden Anastasia Luccio, Captain
    VioletChepil
  • VioletChepilVioletChepil London, UKMember Posts: 2,471
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    Thanks for your response @kltaylor I'll check if there is any other known config to be added! 

    Community Manager at Fing

  • VioletChepilVioletChepil London, UKMember Posts: 2,471
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    Just modifying this title a bit since I think we have some other Pi-Hole users on here who may be more familiar with this. 

    Community Manager at Fing

  • AlonzoMosleyAlonzoMosley Member Posts: 1
    First Comment
    ✭

    Thanks all. I'm happy to see this topic posted as I'm about to build, install, configure and deploy a pi-hole on my home lan as well. It'll be interesting to see the results. I'll report back here with my own findings regarding the DNS question. Thanks again.

    VioletChepilGidster
  • joltdudejoltdude Member, Beta Tester Posts: 33
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    edited August 2019
    Im tempted to add a pi-hole but whats the cost of throughput and/or bandwidth... Anyone know the percentages? 
    Have DSL and not VDSL or ADSL-2... So its not by the previous US definition "Broadband" 
    Used to have a device called the Ad-Trap until the vendor basically went AWOL.. Pretty sure they are completely out of business... 
    VioletChepil
  • tx_hermittx_hermit Member, Beta Tester Posts: 4
    5 Likes Founder First Comment Photogenic
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    I am currently running a Pi-Hole (VM on an XCP-NG box) in our office which handles roughly a 500,000 requests a day. I also run one at home to knock down a lot of pua type traffic from "smart devices." Our office has a dedicated 500mb line and I am running full GB at home; I haven't noticed any degradation in service/speed from using the Pi-Hole as opposed to the DNS supplied by our ISP (Suddenlink in both locations). Every once in awhile, a site will act funny because of the way in which their trackers/ads are built in, but all in all, the Pi-Hole generally makes surfing a much more enjoyable experience.

    One piece of advice, do not go over board on the Blocklists. Start off with the default, recommended list that shows during the initial install. Use that setup for a little bit (you may need to add a few things to the Whitelist over time) and see if there is something else you want to block. If you go wild to begin with and start installing every Blocklist you can find, you will spend a lot of time walking it back or adding domain after domain to the Whitelist. This advice does not apply if you are approaching the Pi-Hole from an anti-phishing/malware angle; you will have to be a little more heavy handed to keep the ever changing lists up to date, but this is overkill for the average user.

    A good test site for your new Pi-Hole setup is dailymail.co.uk, it is so rampant with many different types of ads that it is a great location for fine tuning. BTW, I consider that site almost complete garbage and am not a fan of tabloids, but it is a reliable test site.

    A quick note on the original post regarding the FingBox... I have deployed the Domotz box, and while not the same device there are similarities, during the 24 hour period for 8/27, that box bounced through the Pi-Hole 131798 times. 
    LinkedIn
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    kltaylorVioletChepilGidsterjoltdudeHronos
  • kltaylorkltaylor Moderator, Beta Tester Posts: 1,231
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    AlonzoMosley said:

    Thanks all. I'm happy to see this topic posted as I'm about to build, install, configure and deploy a pi-hole on my home lan as well. It'll be interesting to see the results. I'll report back here with my own findings regarding the DNS question. Thanks again.

    Ahh ... Raspberry Pi. =)
    "There's a fine line between audacity and idiocy."
    -Warden Anastasia Luccio, Captain
    VioletChepilHronos
  • kltaylorkltaylor Moderator, Beta Tester Posts: 1,231
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    tx_hermit said:
    I am currently running a Pi-Hole (VM on an XCP-NG box) in our office which handles roughly a 500,000 requests a day. I also run one at home to knock down a lot of pua type traffic from "smart devices." Our office has a dedicated 500mb line and I am running full GB at home; I haven't noticed any degradation in service/speed from using the Pi-Hole as opposed to the DNS supplied by our ISP (Suddenlink in both locations). Every once in awhile, a site will act funny because of the way in which their trackers/ads are built in, but all in all, the Pi-Hole generally makes surfing a much more enjoyable experience.

    One piece of advice, do not go over board on the Blocklists. Start off with the default, recommended list that shows during the initial install. Use that setup for a little bit (you may need to add a few things to the Whitelist over time) and see if there is something else you want to block. If you go wild to begin with and start installing every Blocklist you can find, you will spend a lot of time walking it back or adding domain after domain to the Whitelist. This advice does not apply if you are approaching the Pi-Hole from an anti-phishing/malware angle; you will have to be a little more heavy handed to keep the ever changing lists up to date, but this is overkill for the average user.

    A good test site for your new Pi-Hole setup is dailymail.co.uk, it is so rampant with many different types of ads that it is a great location for fine tuning. BTW, I consider that site almost complete garbage and am not a fan of tabloids, but it is a reliable test site.

    A quick note on the original post regarding the FingBox... I have deployed the Domotz box, and while not the same device there are similarities, during the 24 hour period for 8/27, that box bounced through the Pi-Hole 131798 times. 
    Absolutely great suggestion!
    "There's a fine line between audacity and idiocy."
    -Warden Anastasia Luccio, Captain
    tx_hermitVioletChepil
  • RomulusRomulus Member, Beta Tester Posts: 35
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    I am running a Pi-Hole server (Raspberry Pi), does a great job making some sites that are horribly laden with adverts pleasant to use. I am seeing a lot of DNS queries by my Fingbox (17k yesterday), it may be the highest one but it's not ridiculous against my next two clients.
    I went went with the default  black lists and ended up white listing a few sites and have had no problems whatsoever.
    tx_hermitVioletChepilpetertgreen
  • VioletChepilVioletChepil London, UKMember Posts: 2,471
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    @petertgreen please choose a BEST ANSWER if the replies have helped you.
    This will let other members know they can find a good resolution in this thread too.

    Community Manager at Fing

  • petertgreenpetertgreen Member, Beta Tester Posts: 4
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    Still wondering why this Fingbox is making so many DNS queries.
  • VioletChepilVioletChepil London, UKMember Posts: 2,471
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    I'm requesting more details on this from @Robin

    Community Manager at Fing

  • petertgreenpetertgreen Member, Beta Tester Posts: 4
    First Comment Photogenic
    ✭
    Thank you for this additional information. I am not using domotz. I have updated my setting based upon the details that you provided.

    Thanks
    Peter Green
    VioletChepil
  • RobinRobin Administrator, Fing Team Posts: 3,734
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    admin
    Hi @petertgreen
    Fingbox does reverse DNS queries by default. In computer networks, a reverse DNS lookup or reverse DNS resolution (rDNS) is the querying technique of the Domain Name System (DNS) to determine the domain name associated with an IP address – the reverse of the usual "forward" DNS lookup of an IP address from a domain name.
    If you have disabled the Reverse DNS requests and have enabled the Slower Network Discovery then the number of reverse DNS queries will reduce but some queries will take place. 
    After making changes, do you see any change in number of DNS queries?
    Robin (Admin at Fing)
    Getting Started? Please refer to Community guidelines & Community User Guides("Helping Hand"). HAPPY POSTING!!!
    VioletChepil
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