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Pi-hole

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: pihole

Overview

This collector monitors Pi-hole instances using PHP API.

The data provided by the API is for the last 24 hours. All collected values refer to this time period and not to the module's collection interval.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn't support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per Pi-hole instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

MetricDimensionsUnit
pihole.dns_queries_totalqueriesqueries
pihole.dns_queriescached, blocked, forwardedqueries
pihole.dns_queries_percentagecached, blocked, forwardedpercentage
pihole.unique_clientsuniqueclients
pihole.domains_on_blocklistblocklistdomains
pihole.blocklist_last_updateagoseconds
pihole.unwanted_domains_blocking_statusenabled, disabledstatus
pihole.dns_queries_typesa, aaaa, any, ptr, soa, srv, txtpercentage
pihole.dns_queries_forwarded_destinationcached, blocked, otherpercentage

Alerts

The following alerts are available:

Alert nameOn metricDescription
pihole_blocklist_last_update pihole.blocklist_last_updategravity.list (blocklist) file last update time
pihole_status pihole.unwanted_domains_blocking_statusunwanted domains blocking is disabled

Setup

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/pihole.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/pihole.conf

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

Config options
NameDescriptionDefaultRequired
update_everyData collection frequency.5no
autodetection_retryRecheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled.0no
urlServer URL.http://127.0.0.1yes
setup_vars_pathPath to setupVars.conf. This file is used to get the web password./etc/pihole/setupVars.confno
timeoutHTTP request timeout.5no
usernameUsername for basic HTTP authentication.no
passwordPassword for basic HTTP authentication.no
proxy_urlProxy URL.no
proxy_usernameUsername for proxy basic HTTP authentication.no
proxy_passwordPassword for proxy basic HTTP authentication.no
methodHTTP request method.GETno
bodyHTTP request body.no
headersHTTP request headers.no
not_follow_redirectsRedirect handling policy. Controls whether the client follows redirects.nono
tls_skip_verifyServer certificate chain and hostname validation policy. Controls whether the client performs this check.nono
tls_caCertification authority that the client uses when verifying the server's certificates.no
tls_certClient TLS certificate.no
tls_keyClient TLS key.no

Examples

Basic

A basic example configuration.

Config
jobs:
- name: local
url: http://127.0.0.1

HTTPS with self-signed certificate

Remote instance with enabled HTTPS and self-signed certificate.

Config
jobs:
- name: local
url: https://203.0.113.11
tls_skip_verify: yes
password: 1ebd33f882f9aa5fac26a7cb74704742f91100228eb322e41b7bd6e6aeb8f74b

Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Collecting metrics from local and remote instances.

Config
jobs:
- name: local
url: http://127.0.0.1

- name: remote
url: http://203.0.113.10
password: 1ebd33f882f9aa5fac26a7cb74704742f91100228eb322e41b7bd6e6aeb8f74b

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the pihole collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

  • Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s
  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m pihole

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the pihole collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

  • Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
  • Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep pihole

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep pihole /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep pihole

Do you have any feedback for this page? If so, you can open a new issue on our netdata/learn repository.