I’ve been on a mission to streamline my smart home setup, and integrating PiHole with OpenHAB has been a game-changer! For those who aren’t familiar, PiHole is a network-wide ad blocker that runs on a Raspberry Pi, and OpenHAB is a powerful open-source home automation platform. Combining these two allows for seamless monitoring and control of your network’s ad-blocking performance directly from your OpenHAB dashboard. Here’s how I made it work:1. Understanding the Basics: First, I needed to understand how PiHole and OpenHAB communicate. PiHole provides a REST API that offers detailed statistics about DNS queries, blocked domains, and more. OpenHAB can fetch this data using its built-in HTTP binding or through custom scripts.2. Setting Up the Script: I came across a Bash script that collects statistics from PiHole and publishes them to an MQTT broker. This script, which I slightly modified, uses curl to fetch data from PiHole’s API and mosquitto_pub to send the data to MQTT topics. The script includes functions to handle authentication, fetch statistics, and format the data for MQTT.3. Configuring OpenHAB: Once the script was set up and running, I needed to configure OpenHAB to listen to the MQTT topics. I created items in my items.cfg file to represent each statistic, such as total queries, blocked queries, and the status of PiHole’s blocking feature. I also set up transformations to convert the raw data into readable formats.4. Designing the Dashboard: Using OpenHAB’s Paper UI, I designed a dashboard to display the PiHole statistics. I used gauge widgets to show the number of queries and blocked queries, and a switch widget to toggle PiHole’s blocking feature on and off. The dashboard also includes a tile showing the last update time of PiHole’s gravity database, which is crucial for ensuring that the ad-blocking rules are up to date.5. Testing and Refinement: After setting everything up, I thoroughly tested the integration to ensure that all data points were updating correctly. I also added error handling to the script to make it more robust. For example, if the script fails to authenticate with PiHole, it now logs the error and exits gracefully.6. Tips for Success: - Security: Make sure that your MQTT broker is secure and that only authorized devices can publish or subscribe to topics. - Performance: Consider running the script on a dedicated device if you have a large network, as it can generate a significant amount of data. - Updates: Keep both PiHole and OpenHAB updated to ensure compatibility and to take advantage of new features.This integration has not only enhanced my understanding of how my network operates but has also added a new layer of control and monitoring to my smart home setup. If you’re looking to take your home automation to the next level, I highly recommend exploring the possibilities of integrating PiHole with OpenHAB!