Entware Pi-hole directly on the router? Yes!

[eclp]

Where are you seeing that?

I tried to track down the error yesterday using AI. There was a link with which I should check if the api is reachable. Then there was this issue in the FTL.log

AI:

The interfaces page in Pi-hole v6 on Entware/Asus-Merlin often loads empty or faulty, because the API endpoint (/api/interfaces) in Entware is incomplete and br0:pihole (a VLAN alias) is not recognized perfectly.

 

[jacklul]

I tried to track down the error yesterday using AI. There was a link with which I should check if the api is reachable. Then there was this issue in the FTL.log

AI:

The interfaces page in Pi-hole v6 on Entware/Asus-Merlin often loads empty or faulty, because the API endpoint (/api/interfaces) in Entware is incomplete and br0:pihole (a VLAN alias) is not recognized perfectly.

Please don't use AI for troubleshooting.
The web UI wouldn't let you login without the API working.

First command:

And how about the second one, you said it was way longer so you might have to run pihole api network/gateway?detailed=true > /tmp/apitest.txt to capture full output into that file.
But the fact it does have an output and you're not seeing it in the browser makes me think something in your browser is blocking it for some reason.

 

[eclp]

But the fact it does have an output and you're not seeing it in the browser makes me think something in your browser is blocking it for some reason.

In different browsers on different devices, the error is everywhere.

 

[jacklul]

In different browsers on different devices, the error is everywhere.

At least we confirmed that the issue is not on the API side.
Have you tried going to interfaces page using HTTP insteado HTTPS ?

 

[eclp]

At least we confirmed that the issue is not on the API side.
Have you tried going to interfaces page using HTTP insteado HTTPS ?

Yes, I tested that right away at the beginning, it doesn't change anything or is the same.

 

[eclp]

But why WAN br101 and not br0 or alias br0ihole?
Wouldn't a real VLAN subinterface (not only alias) be better for persistent isolation (e.g. VLAN 4095 = “Pi-hole only”)?

 

[jacklul]

But why WAN br101 and not br0 or alias br0ihole?

It's your router gateway interface, not interface Pi-hole's webserver is listening on.
You will not see br0:pihole in that output as it doesn't fetch custom labels, instead you will see two IPs assigned to br0.

Wouldn't a real VLAN subinterface (not only alias) be better for persistent isolation (e.g. VLAN 4095 = “Pi-hole only”)?

Any advanced configuration with VLANs or isolation must be done manually, I do not provide any examples.
Note that in that case if you want to isolate Pi-hole you have to consider other ports (53 dns), not just 443, 80, 5080, 5443 etc.

 

[eclp]

Any advanced configuration with VLANs or isolation must be done manually, I do not provide any examples.
Note that in that case if you want to isolate Pi-hole you have to consider other ports (53 dns), not just 443, 80, 5080, 5443 etc.

No, I'd rather not.
Actually, I'm only concerned with the interfaces page, not because it would be absolutely necessary (Pihole works perfectly) but because it's obviously a mistake.

@bibikalka apparently uses an older pihole version from August 2025 (if I interpret it correctly) on another router. Can it possibly be related to changes to the new variant of pihole?

 

[jacklul]

Actually, I'm only concerned with the interfaces page, not because it would be absolutely necessary (Pihole works perfectly) but because it's obviously a mistake.

Something is wrong - yes - but it doesn't seem to affect the primary functionality.
I'm out of ideas as to what is wrong here.

@bibikalka apparently uses an older pihole version from August 2025 (if I interpret it correctly) on another router. Can it possibly be related to changes to the new variant of pihole?

I'm pretty sure they stay up to date as I release the updates.
Whenever Pi-hole releases updates I update my package as well, you get updates through Entware.

 

[eclp]

Something is wrong - yes - but it doesn't seem to affect the primary functionality.
I'm out of ideas as to what is wrong here.

@SomeWhereOverTheRainBow could you provide further support here? It would be fantastic.
@Viktor Jaep

 

[eclp]

@jacklul

I installed pihole (with unbound) as a docker on a Qnap NAS to test, the interfaces side works of course flawlessly (unfortunately Qnap + docker can not IPv6). So it can't be the browser.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

@jacklul

I installed pihole (with unbound) as a docker on a Qnap NAS to test, the interfaces side works of course flawlessly (unfortunately Qnap + docker can not IPv6). So it can't be the browser.

How have you configured your ipv6 for the docker?

 

[jacklul]

@jacklul

I installed pihole (with unbound) as a docker on a Qnap NAS to test, the interfaces side works of course flawlessly (unfortunately Qnap + docker can not IPv6). So it can't be the browser.

Then it's something in between, because when you query the API from the SSH it answers correctly.

 

[eclp]

How have you configured your ipv6 for the docker?

On a Qnap NAS + Docker, IPv6 does not work at all or only extremely cumbersome.
The interfaces UI on Pihole is meant (tools > interfaces), which does not work for me when Pihole runs on the router.

 

[eclp]

Then it's something in between, because when you query the API from the SSH it answers correctly.

Then all that remains is to find out what can be "in between" and how can you find out?

 

[jacklul]

Then all that remains is to find out what can be "in between" and how can you find out?

Have you checked the dev tools and that network/gateway request on other browsers too?
It still confused me how the headers said there is content returned yet browser had no data, it's almost like it was stripped by something.

 

[eclp]

Yes! With Chrome & Firefox on Windows and Safari MacOS. Everywhere the same result, empty...

@jacklul
Thank you for your perseverance to help me! This is not self-evident.

Maybe there are problems with the alias

br0:pihole

and Entware? Why did @bibikalka have to change that for AsusWRT Merlin?

 

[jacklul]

Maybe there are problems with the alias

br0:pihole

and Entware? Why did @bibikalka have to change that for AsusWRT Merlin?

This is to add the secondary IP to the br0 interface, my version of the guide is doing the same.
You can notice that Asus firmware does exactly the same thing with lo interface.

 

[jacklul]

For context - this is the interfaces page we are talking about:

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

On a Qnap NAS + Docker, IPv6 does not work at all or only extremely cumbersome.
The interfaces UI on Pihole is meant (tools > interfaces), which does not work for me when Pihole runs on the router.

I dont see how i am of any help to you here.