Need help for setup pihole incl. unbound

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EmmJay

New Member
Mar 31, 2025
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Hi @ all!
I'm running a thin client with Debian 13, Docker, Portainer and stuff like Nginx, PaperlessNGX, Dash, Sterling-PDF, Scrutiny, ..., all works well.
Now I want to add Pihole incl. Unbound to this setup, preferably with a docker-compose file. Tried almost all docker compose files out there but everytime i set Pihole as local DNS-Server I loose all internet connection. Same happens, when I setup Pihole and Unbound on operating system level (outside docker). I guess there is always a problem with port 80 used already by Nginx but there may be some more probs that I didn't see. Is there anybody helping an old man across the street?
 

EmmJay

New Member
Mar 31, 2025
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still work in (non-)progress, here is how far I am.
docker-compose.yml:
YAML:
# INFO for all copy'n'pasters as I am one: This yaml DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY!
services:
  pihole:
    container_name: pihole
    hostname: pihole
    depends_on:
      - unbound
    image: pihole/pihole:latest
    ports:
      - "53:53/tcp"
      - "53:53/udp"
      - "5035:5035/tcp"
      - "8080:80/tcp"
      - "8443:443/tcp"
    environment:
      TZ: 'Europe/Berlin'
      FTLCONF_webserver_api_password: 'pihole'
      FTLCONF_dns_listeningMode: 'all'
      #FTLCONF_webserver_port: '8080o,[::]:8080o,8443os,[::]:8443os'
      #FTLCONF_dns_upstreams: 127.0.0.1#5053
      #FTLCONF_dns_dnssec: 'true'
      PIHOLE_DNS_: unbound
    volumes:
      - '/home/chef/pihole/etc:/etc/pihole'
    networks:
      dns_network:
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
      - SYS_TIME
      - SYS_NICE
    restart: unless-stopped

  unbound:
    image: klutchell/unbound:latest
    container_name: unbound
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - '/home/chef/pihole/unbound:/etc/unbound'
    networks:
      dns_network:

networks:
  dns_network:
    driver: bridge
the unbound-folder contains unbound.conf and root.hints
environments-variables with prefix "#" are "switched-off", according to my experiments.
Well - I must confess - I'm far away of knowing what I'm doing here. Expert's advice is urgently needed!
 

EmmJay

New Member
Mar 31, 2025
4
0
1
Well, no help from nobody, ..., in case someone is curious: I installed Pihole and Unbound in Debian (not in Docker). This way it is much easier to keep Pihole up-to-date as it would be in a docker container. All the Docker, Portainer and other stuff like Nginx, PaperlessNGX, Dash, Sterling-PDF, Scrutiny, ..., is still doing good and were never affected during Pihole-install.