
Raspberry Pi 4 with Pi-Hole, OpenVPN and DNSCrypt
A simple how-to guide on installing and configuring a Raspberry Pi 4 to make your internet connection more safe and private by installing Pi-Hole network-wide ad-blocker, OpenVPN to encrypt your internet data and DNSCrypt to secure your DNS queries.
Table of Contents
Raspberry Pi OS
Using Raspberry Pi OS, the official operating system for the Raspberry Pi, you can be sure that it is well optimized and supported for the Raspberry Pi.
Download Raspberry Pi Imager for an effortless way to install onto a Micro-SD card.
Update the system once the installation has been completed.
sudo apt uptdate && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt install -y unattended-upgrades
Optional: Tweak Raspbian
sudo raspi-config
- Select
1 Change User Password
- Select
3 Boot Options
->B1 Desktop / CLI
->B2 Console Autologin
- Select
4 Localisation Options
->I2 Change Timezone
- Select
4 Localisation Options
->I4 Change Wi-Fi Country
- Select
7 Advanced Options
->A1 Expand filesystem
- Select
7 Advanced Options
->A3 Memory Split
-> Enter16
- Reboot
Prep Work
Find the required IP addresses which will be needed for OpenVPN.
- External IP
curl ifconfig.me
- Local IP
hostname -I
OpenVPN
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between the client and a VPN server. All the internet data is routed through this tunnel, so the data is secure from any man in the middle attacks.
Another benefit of a VPN is, is that it allows clients to remotely access the local network securely.
Install
wget https://git.io/vpn -O openvpn-install.sh
chmod 755 openvpn-install.sh
sudo ./openvpn-install.sh
Example settings at setup:
- Public IPv4 address / hostname []:
123.456.789.000
- Protocol [1]:
UDP
- Port [1194]:
11948
- DNS [1]:
Current system resolvers
- Client name [client]:
yinchie-phone
Press enter once the correct settings have been chosen. The script will then install OpenVPN with the configured settings.
The generated opvn file can be used with an OpenVPN client on e.g. a cell phone. It can be found inside the /root
directory, in my case /root/yinchie-phone.ovpn
. I copy this over to the home directory ~/
for easy transferring it off the Raspberry Pi using SFTP.
Configure OpenVPN
First, find out the tun0
interface IP address which is what OpenVPN uses using the command ifconfig tun0 | grep 'inet'
. In my case, it is 10.8.0.1
.
[email protected]:~ $ ifconfig tun0 | grep 'inet'
inet 10.8.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 destination 10.8.0.1
inet6 fe80::32f5:3e61:b36e:b29b prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
- Edit OpenVPN server config.
sudo nano /etc/openvpn/server/server.conf
- Add the tun0 interface IP address, PiHole will be using it.
push "dhcp-option DNS 10.8.0.1"
- Comment out other
dhcp-option
references by adding a#
in front of it. #push "dhcp-option DNS 192.168.1.1"
- Restart OpenVPN server.
sudo systemctl restart openvpn
DNSCrypt
It is a protocol that authenticates communications between a DNS client and a DNS resolver. It prevents DNS spoofing. It uses cryptographic signatures to verify that responses originate from the chosen DNS resolver and haven't been tampered with.
Install
Install DNSCrypt-Proxy into the directory /opt
, which is for installation of add-on application software packages.
cd /opt
sudo wget https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy/releases/download/2.0.44/dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
sudo tar xf dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
sudo rm dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
sudo mv linux-arm dnscrypt-proxy
cd dnscrypt-proxy
sudo cp example-dnscrypt-proxy.toml dnscrypt-proxy.toml
Detailed installation:
- Go to the installation directory.
cd /opt
- Download DNSCrypt-Proxy.
sudo wget https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy/releases/download/2.0.44/dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
- Unpack the archive.
sudo tar xf dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
- Remove the archive.
sudo rm dnscrypt-proxy-linux_arm-2.0.44.tar.gz
- Rename the unpacked archive.
sudo mv linux-arm dnscrypt-proxy
- Go to the renamed directory.
cd dnscrypt-proxy
- Create a copy of the configuration file.
sudo cp example-dnscrypt-proxy.toml dnscrypt-proxy.toml
Configure DNSCrypt
For DNSCrypt-proxy to work correctly alongside Pi-Hole some changes must be made to the configuration file dnscrypt-proxy.toml
.
Open dnscrypt-proxy.toml
by running the commandsudo nano dnscrypt-proxy.toml
while still in /opt/dnscrypt-proxy
.
- Change port, since
53
is already being used by Pi-Hole.
This is thelisten_addresses
line.
Change it tolisten_addresses = ['127.0.0.1:54','[::1]:54']
- Change
require_dnssec = false
torequire_dnssec = true
- Install the dnscrypt-proxy service.
sudo ./dnscrypt-proxy -service install
- Start the dnscrypt-proxy service.
sudo ./dnscrypt-proxy -service start
- Check the service status.
sudo systemctl status dnscrypt-proxy
Feel free to change additional options inside the configuration file to suit your needs as I have done.

Pi-Hole
It is a network-wide ad blocker that protects your devices from unwanted content, without installing any client-side software.
Install
At the installation pick whatever upstream DNS server. Modify it later in the configuration file.
wget -O basic-install.sh https://install.pi-hole.net
sudo bash basic-install.sh
Take note of the login password once the installation is complete.
Configure Pi-Hole
Add the DNSCrypt-Proxy server to Pi-Hole on the Pi-Hole admin page.

Configure clients
Configure clients to use the Pi-Hole IP address as the DNS server or configure the router so that every client on the local network will be using Pi-Hole filtering while being DNSCrypt secured.

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