Ubuntu Pi-hole DNS Fix: Pi-hole could not start DNS service after upgrading Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a widespread Linux distribution that has gained popularity over the years. One of the advantages of Ubuntu is its Long-Term Support (LTS) releases, which have been supported for several years and receive regular updates and security patches. Upgrading from one LTS release to another is a common task for Ubuntu users. However, sometimes things don’t go as planned, and some services may fail to start after the upgrade. In this blog post, we will explore one issue that Ubuntu users may encounter when upgrading from 18.04LTS to 20.04LTS or 22.04LTS and how to fix it.
The problem we will discuss is related to Pi-hole, a popular network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Pi-hole uses DNS (Domain Name System) to stop unwanted traffic on your network. After upgrading from Ubuntu 18.04LTS to 20.04LTS or 22.04LTS, some users may encounter an issue where the DNS service for Pi-hole fails to start. The reason behind this is a broken symbolic link at /etc/dnsmasq.d/lxd.
LXD is a system container manager that allows users to run multiple isolated Linux systems (containers) on a single host. During the upgrade process, the symbolic link for LXD may become broken, causing the DNS service for Pi-hole to fail to start. Fortunately, the solution to this problem is simple. Users can remove the broken symbolic link by running the following command in the terminal:
sudo rm /etc/dnsmasq.d/lxd;
Once the broken symbolic link is removed, users can restart the DNS service for Pi-hole by running the following command:
pihole restartdns;
This command will restart the Pi-hole FTL (Faster Than Light) daemon, which handles DNS requests and blocks unwanted traffic.
In conclusion, upgrading from one LTS release to another is a common task for Ubuntu users. However, sometimes things may not go as planned, and some services may fail to start after the upgrade. One such issue that users may encounter is related to Pi-hole, where the DNS service fails to start due to a broken symbolic link at /etc/dnsmasq.d/lxd. Fortunately, the solution to this problem is simple, and users can fix it by removing the broken symbolic link and restarting the Pi-hole FTL daemon.
