Building a Self-Hosted DNS Server To Streamline My Workflow

3.2 Workflow / DNS Segmentation

The ability to create different filtering policies was what initially drew me to Pi-hole. Rather than applying the same blocklist at all times, I can tailor DNS filtering to whatever I am doing and automate when each policy takes effect. I currently use the following groups:

• Work - Blocks distracting websites to help me remain focused throughout the workday.
• Study - Similar to Work, but maintained separately so its restrictions can be adjusted around what and how I am studying.
• Leisure - Blocks sites I do not want occupying my free time, including both work-related resources and platforms that encourage passive consumption.
• Baseline - Always active. Provides general advertisement, tracking, and malicious-domain filtering using maintained public blocklists. (As of 9-22-2025: there are 800,000+ domains blocked)
• Unrestricted - Disables all restrictions. (Rarely used)

3.3 SSH & Custom Scripts

To streamline management, I developed a set of custom shell scripts that sit on the Pi-hole server & client-side scripts that stay synced to my Linux devices. They are configured to be executed over SSH.

Workflow selection script

Updater script interface

DNS statistics checker

The source-code for these are all hosted on my GitHub repository.

These allow me to not need to jump between devices constantly & let me perform maintenance tasks on Pi-hole remotely.

I began using Git early in this project to version my scripts and configuration files, synchronize them across devices, and keep a record of changes as the DNS stack evolved.

Because home-lab configurations can often contain sensitive info, I only publish files that I know are safe to share. Because of this, most of my broader home-lab repositories remain private, but the reusable parts of this project are available publicly in the roman-dns-stack repository. This allows others to adapt the project for their own environments while I continue refining it.

The repo contains all of my scripts, blocklists, unbound, some screenshots and a few txt & markdown documents.

Example - baseline.txt

4.1 Staying On Task

Before every work session, I make sure that I run my workflow script to set my group to "Work" along with pacman -Syu to synchronize my linux packages. I can then use piholeupdate to sync my pihole settings (officially applying them) and start the session.

Whenever I'm in this mode, the process is pretty self-explanatory: Anytime I'm distracted, I'm quickly confronted with the restrictions I put in place, and can't access any distracting sites.

This helps not only with not using the blacklisted sites but also enforces:

• Not falling into algorithmic pipelines & feedback loops, even if I'm using said site for a singular purpose.
• Forces me into starting work faster & getting into flow as soon as I begin.

Another advantage of this setup is being able to integrate some of the standard features offered by programs like Cold Turkey, a productivity-focused website blocker, directly into my own network infrastructure. Keeping the system self-hosted allows its filtering policies to work alongside my existing DNS, VLAN, and firewall configuration while remaining independent of a particular operating system or subscription service.

It also gives me opportunities to experiment with related technologies and configurations:

• Scheduled automation — Cron jobs can activate filtering policies at specific times.
• Platform-independent filtering — DNS policies can apply to any connected device, regardless of its operating system.
• VLAN-based policies — Devices can be separated and assigned rules appropriate to their purpose.
• Port and protocol filtering — Firewall rules and ACLs can supplement DNS filtering for applications that cannot be managed reliably through domain-based rules alone.

VLAN segmentation prevents my personal filtering policies from interfering with other users or clients on the network. More broadly, the project gives me a practical environment in which to apply my networking knowledge while reducing my reliance on proprietary applications and subscription-based services.

4.2 Leisure Time + Media Consumption

In the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, he outlines a concept he calls high-quality leisure: activities that are satisfying, mentally engaging, and personally meaningful. He contrasts these with lower-quality digital activities that encourage passive consumption and fragment our attention (I.E doomscrolling).

The goal in achieving high-quality-leisure is pretty simple: to reclaim time, attention, and mental energy within our free time and create space for more fulfilling and purposeful experiences.

This was the motivation behind my "Leisure" blocklist. Rather than removing every restriction outside of work or study, Leisure mode blocks platforms that I do not want occupying my free time. It also limits access to work-related sites, helping me avoid slipping back into work mode when I intend to rest. The goal is not to make every moment productive, but to make my leisure more intentional.

This plays into why I decided to start using Jellyfin + Kodi as well. Not only is it a highly customizable ecosystem that can be catered towards my preferences and experience, but allows me to jump right into whatever content, movies, and TV shows I'd like to enjoy without ads & being connected to the internet.

Additionally, I’ve recently developed a habit of writing notes and journaling about themes, quotes, and other details I pick up on while watching new movies or TV shows. I also record sentences and timestamps from foreign-language media so I can revisit them later for sentence mining. These practices have been extremely helpful in making the process of watching media more attentive and engaging without turning it into another form of work for me.

4.3 Conclusion

This project has been a simple and enjoyable way to apply scripting, networking, and DNS to my daily life. It is also my first blog post documenting part of my home lab. If you would like to learn more about how the rest of my lab supports my daily routine, I plan to explore it in greater detail here. If you took the time to read this or learned something useful from it, thank you!

---