My current setup is a TP-Link wireless extender. From that I have my own little network that connects my computer, wireless devices and a Raspberry Pi 4. The RPi4 runs the Home Assistant OS for my small network of lights and switches. The TP-Link extender does not have enough memory to support OpenWRT which means I am dependent on the proprietary android app to configure it.
I thought I could use the integrations in HA to add OpenWRT and Pi-Hole but it looks like those integrations are for communicating with instances and devices not within the HA operating system.
What I was hoping to accomplish was to run HA, OpenWRT and Pi-Hole on the same RPi4 device and re-use the TP-Link extender elsewhere in the house to serve ad-blocked internet that extends beyond my little network of devices.
Would running multiple services like this be too demanding for the RPi4? And if it is possible, where is a good place to start?
I wouldn’t recommend running them on the same device, mostly because you’ll want everything to be sitting behind openwrt as your firewall.
I have achieved that on a mini pc with 4 Ethernet ports running Proxmox
That makes sense. I guess it’s not necessary for me to put OpenWRT on there. More than anything, I’m just severely annoyed I must log into an online account just to access my WiFi extender’s settings. I can deal with that issue at a later time.
I’ve successfully run HA and PiHole (and also HA and Adguard) on the same pi4 before now.
First I would check and see if you can get your current router to use a DNS address other than the one your IP put on it. If that’s the case (unlike me) you can just point your router at your PiHole (or Adguard) DNS and have adblocking network wide.
If you can’t do that (like me) then I’ve had quite good results from having PiHole (or Adguard) running as my DHCP server. This is the thing in your network that gives all your devices their IP address. First you turn it off in your router, then turn it on in PiHole and configure it from there. You can then have this DHCP server point at your PiHole DNS and have adblocking network wide.
The downside is that all your devices will then have a new IP address given by the new DHCP server. To combat this, you should save your IP reservations or maybe even all the IP addresses on your network, and set them as static IP addresses on your PiHole DHCP server.
It works. But if your Pi goes down at any time your devices may forget who they are (lose their IP address reservations) and have a bit of an existential crisis. Easy fix, usually just turn it off and on again and reboot your router, and maybe all your devices, so they can “Find Themselves” again.
Best of luck
Fortunately the ISP provided modem/router has DNS support. I managed to install Adguard as an add-on in Ha OS. I just need to figure out why HA OS refuses to change my IPv4 address to static mode. After that I can change the DNS address and hopefully I can get rid of ads in my house.
Good news then! Try setting your IP in your router for your Pi, that should give it a static address if you can’t set it on the pi
Depends on how much RAM your RasPi 4 has. And if you use HA-addons that use lots of RAM. You could also switch from PiHole to AdGuard. The latter is available as a HA-addon.
Maybe have a look at something like Docker to set up containers for multiple services on the same RasPi. Docker can also set up networking so you can route everything through something like OpenWRT.
So today I learned the difference between an integration and add-on in HA OS. Adguard seems like the most reasonable solution for me.
You could maybe virtualize HomeAssistant and Pi-Hole on the Raspberry Pi (using Proxmox, Docker, etc.) depending on exactly which model it is and how much CPU and RAM those services need for your use-case, but IMO as cheap as Pis are [supposed to be], kind of the point of them is to be able to buy several and use one per service.
Anyway, you told us about your TP-Link wireless extender, but what’s your actual router? That’s the important thing to be running OpenWRT on. (Don’t get me wrong: putting OpenWRT on the range extender would be nice in a “all my devices are running trustworthy FOSS firmware as a matter of principle” kind of way, but it shouldn’t actually be doing anything non-trivial other than extending your wifi range, so it’s not as if there’d be a practical benefit in terms of functionality that would make sense.)
The actual router rented out by the service provider. I don’t think they would be happy with me messing with their property.
I also lived somewhere else where I didn’t have access to the main router so I use the extender as my personal network for file transfers, a few lights with a couple switches and my terrarium thermostat. If anything happens to the main router, I can just turn my extender into an access point and still have my personal network.
TP-Link requires an account to use my own extender which annoys me. Their app redirects my connection to my extender through their cloud service. It’s not my VPN because I can still connect through the browser. Seems shadey and I don’t like having the account already.
A Pi4B 8GB is like $75. Add a power supply, case, heat sink, storage, and you’re at like $150.
Recently I purchased a used Dell USFF PC with a 4-core i5-4590S, 8 GB RAM for $50, shipped, from eBay. I mean it does use more power, but it is also more powerful than a RPi. I know, not an apples to apples comparison. But if you don’t need to do stuff with the GPIO, and your machine is just plugged in to the wall, and is just running apps in containers, then a USFF PC (e.g. STH’s project tiny mini micro machines) may be a much better option than a RPi.
I really don’t understand the RPi4’s price point right now. But glad the Pi Zero W exists, that makes so much more sense and at the right price point.