## Making your network take advantage of Pi-hole

Once the installer has been run, you will need to [configure your router to have **DHCP clients use Pi-hole as their DNS server**](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-do-i-configure-my-devices-to-use-pi-hole-as-their-dns-server/245) which ensures all devices connected to your network will have content blocked without any further intervention.

If your router does not support setting the DNS server, you can [use Pi-hole's built-in DHCP server](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-do-i-use-pi-holes-built-in-dhcp-server-and-why-would-i-want-to/3026); just be sure to disable DHCP on your router first (if it has that feature available).

As a last resort, you can manually set each device to use Pi-hole as its DNS server.

## Making your Pi-hole host use Pi-hole

Pi-hole will not be used by the host automatically after installation. To have the host resolve through Pi-hole and your configured blocking lists, you can make the host use Pi-hole as upstream DNS server:

!!! warning
    If your Pi-hole host is using Pi-hole as upstream DNS server and Pi-hole fails, your host loses DNS resolution. This can prevent successful repair attempts, e.g. by `pihole -r` as it needs a working internet connection.

  If your OS uses `dhcpcd` for network configuration, you can add to your `/etc/dhcpcd.conf`

```code
static domain_name_servers=127.0.0.1
```

## Adding your local user to the 'pihole' group

Pi-hole v6 uses a new API for authentication. All CLI commands use this API instead of e.g. direct database manipulation. If a password is set for API access, the CLI commands also need to authenticate. To avoid entering the password everytime on CLI, Pi-hole allows users which are members of the 'pihole' group to authenticate without manually entering the password (this can be disabled by setting `webserver.api.cli_pw` to `false`.)
To add your local user to the 'pihole' group use the following command

For Debian/Ubuntu/Raspberry Pi OS/Armbian/Fedora/CentOS

```code
sudo usermod -aG pihole $USER
```

For Alpine

```code
sudo addgroup pihole $USER
```
