Hy everyone, I have a PiHole instance running on my home server, and I changed my router (Fritz box) DNS in order to use my PiHole. Everything runs great.
I was wondering if I can put another DNS provider on my “alternative DNS server” in my router, in order to have a fallback alternative in case my server is down, or if I should avoid it.
I’m asking this because I don’t know if the request will be handled in parallel between the two DNS provider (that would make my PiHole useless) or not. Thank you.
When you specify more than one DNS server for network clients, the order in which these servers are used is not random. The following sequence is observed:
Primary DNS Server: Clients will first attempt to use the primary DNS server specified in their network settings. This server is often considered the default.
Secondary DNS Server: If the primary DNS server is unavailable or unable to resolve a query, clients will then attempt to use the secondary DNS server. This server acts as a backup.
So in OPs case his Pihole will always be used if it’s available, and only when it’s not will the secondary be used.
Except that, as I’ve already mentioned, I have two piholes, and sometimes both will be receiving requests. Based on your description, the second would never receive requests as long as the first is online. Perhaps this is router dependent, but it’s what I’ve observed.
There’s no RFC that specifies that a specific order is applied to DNS servers.
What you stated is generally a Windows only feature. Other OSes don’t adhere to that. Drives me crazy on Windows Servers too.