@Tigra.UA 

I have a raspberry pi zero running Pi-Hole to block ads on my network. Raspberry pi zero's are cheap and the software is free. Works for all devices on my network, phones, laptops, tablets. It has an administrative web page to allow control and monitor it's status. I assigned it a fixed IP address and set the Deco to use that IP address as the DNS server when Deco assigns DHCP addresses to clients.

https://docs.pi-hole.net/

Don.M wrote

@Tigra.UA 

I have a raspberry pi zero running Pi-Hole to block ads on my network. Raspberry pi zero's are cheap and the software is free. Works for all devices on my network, phones, laptops, tablets. It has an administrative web page to allow control and monitor it's status. I assigned it a fixed IP address and set the Deco to use that IP address as the DNS server when Deco assigns DHCP addresses to clients.

 

https://docs.pi-hole.net/

 

 

@Don.M There are too many unknowns :)

@Don.M

Don.M wrote

@Tigra.UA 

I have a raspberry pi zero running Pi-Hole to block ads on my network. Raspberry pi zero's are cheap and the software is free. Works for all devices on my network, phones, laptops, tablets. It has an administrative web page to allow control and monitor it's status. I assigned it a fixed IP address and set the Deco to use that IP address as the DNS server when Deco assigns DHCP addresses to clients.

 

https://docs.pi-hole.net/

 

 

@Tigra.UA: I fully support adding ad-blocker as a function directly in the router.

The suggestion of using Pi-Hole above is great but the fact that if using that or another local DNS (with a lan ip address assigned) as a DNS server for DHCP in most cases result in the DECO switching to a different LAN subnet all together if losing WAN IP or after restart/power loss which will make the entire network suffer greatly if static IP addresses are configured on some devices and a manual reconfiguration of the DECO routers LAN IP is needed before restoring function.

This issue has been mentioned in numerous threads in the forum. Here's one example: https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/255316

Also, the reason for configuring static IP on some units might be necessary to somewhat mitigate the issue described in this feature request: https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/255970

A built-in implementation of something similar to Pi-Hole might be a good trade-off as long as the above mentioned issues still isn't mitigated/solved.

I must have just accidentally found how to setup my Pi-hole and avoid those problems. I only learned there was such a problem when I read that thread this week.

I have AT&T internet (fiber), and the AT&T modem is still connected to the optical network terminator. I used the web interface in that modem to shut off the wifi, and the only wired connection I'm using goes to my Deco M9 plus which is in router mode. The Deco sees the AT&T LAN address (192.168.1.254) and chose to use 192.168.68.x for its subnet.

The Deco provides DHCP to my LAN. I reserved 192.168.68.4 for my Pi-hole and set the DHCP to inform all clients to use 192.168.68.4 for both primary and secondary DNS. The Pi-hole uses one of the common free DNS addresses for its upstream lookups. Reboots/restarts (of the Deco or the AT&T modem) do not change any of these network addresses, so all my static devices (there are just a couple) remain unchanged.

Don.M wrote

I must have just accidentally found how to setup my Pi-hole and avoid those problems. I only learned there was such a problem when I read that thread this week.

 

I have AT&T internet (fiber), and the AT&T modem is still connected to the optical network terminator. I used the web interface in that modem to shut off the wifi, and the only wired connection I'm using goes to my Deco M9 plus which is in router mode. The Deco sees the AT&T LAN address (192.168.1.254) and chose to use 192.168.68.x for its subnet.

 

The Deco provides DHCP to my LAN. I reserved 192.168.68.4 for my Pi-hole and set the DHCP to inform all clients to use 192.168.68.4 for both primary and secondary DNS. The Pi-hole uses one of the common free DNS addresses for its upstream lookups. Reboots/restarts (of the Deco or the AT&T modem) do not change any of these network addresses, so all my static devices (there are just a couple) remain unchanged.

@Don.M 

Thanks for sharing your user case. Always interesting to compare.

Yeah, I guess that some users are having issues with this and some don't. I've experienced it a few times and it bugged me so I just browsed the forum for a solution.

@Don.M 

I recommend the use of AdGuard Home or Pi-hole

SrDarkWarrior wrote

@Don.M 

I recommend the use of AdGuard Home or Pi-hole

Thank you for the idea. But I do not want to dance with a tambourine :)))))) I just want to press 1 button and turn on the pre-installed AdGuard. Like in ASUS. And nothing more 🙂

This is a bit old, but I have an update to share. My Deco M9 has apparently restarted itself and changed the subnetwork (twice now). Each time it upsets my address reservations and most important, the Pi.hole DNS server.

For months the Deco was using 192.168.68.x, and then about two weeks ago it changed to 192.168.0.x. This was in the middle of the night, and was not due to a power outage of any kind. (No other devices in the house showed a power cycle, and the Deco and other network important devices are on a UPS). I spent hours setting things back to normal, and ended up leaving the Deco on 192.168.10.x. I used Address Reservation in the Deco and set the dozen reserved devices to use DHCP.

Last night again the Deco changed subnet selection. This time it went back to 192.168.0.x. When I tried to change the DHCP setting for the DNS server to match that, it shows an error message ("DNS server IP address and LAN IP address cannot be in the same subnet "). This seems odd since they were in the same subnet for months and were working fine. There are posts on this forum asking why TP-Link blocks this, but nobody seems to be able to explain it. Other suggestions are to disable the Deco DHCP and use the DHCP service in the Pi-hole. But it seems the Deco DHCP cannot be disabled.

I have now moved the Pi-hole onto the ATT router network (which only had the Deco as the sole client). The DNS server is now at 192.168.1.xxx, and I changed the Deco DHCP to announce that address for all LAN clients. The clients are finding their new addresses on 192.168.0.x, and everything looks like it works again. Now that the DNS is off the Deco subnet, maybe the Deco will stabilize and not change again. Only two of my reserved addresses are static in their devices, the others use DHCP and (through address reservations) get known 'static' IP addresses. Those two needed manual update, but the others no longer need my attention.

If somehow this doesn't give me a permanent fix, I will post more updates.

@Tony

@TP-Link      

Are There any news about this?