Quadlet file to run pihole as a systemd managed podman container on RedHat Enterprise Linux 10

pihole.container

# pihole.container
# This is a podman quadlet file to run Pi-hole as a container
# On my lab this runs in the context of a limited user account named `pihole`
# This file goes to `/home/pihole/.config/containers/systemd/pihole.container`
# 
# Here are the steps to set it up. Oh for sure there are other ways to get it done, but this is my way!
# 0. Enable user lingering for the `pihole` user, if not already done:
#    sudo loginctl enable-linger pihole
# 1. Open a shell as the `pihole` user:
#    sudo machinectl shell pihole@
# 2. Create the Quadlet directory and save this file as pihole.container:
#    mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/systemd
#    # Paste the contents of this file into ~/.config/containers/systemd/pihole.container
# 3. Create persistent data directories in the user's home:
#    mkdir -p ~/pi-hole/etc-pihole
# 4. Run systemd daemon-reload to pick up the new quadlet file (from within the user context):
#    systemctl --user daemon-reload
# 5. Start the container:
#    systemctl --user start pihole.container
# 6. Verify that the container is running:
#    systemctl --user status pihole.container  OR podman ps

[Unit]
Description=Pi-hole DNS container
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Container]
ContainerName=pihole
Environment=TZ=Europe/Amsterdam
Environment=FTLCONF_webserver_api_password=AddYourPasswordHere
Environment=FTLCONF_dns_listeningMode=ALL

# Tagged with the current docker image tag of the pihole container image 2025.11.1
Image=docker.io/pihole/pihole:2025.11.1

# I am using non-standard ports and using my firewall to forward the standard ports to these
PublishPort=1053:53/tcp
PublishPort=1053:53/udp
PublishPort=9443:443/tcp

# Persist the data on the host in the user's home directory
Volume=%h/pi-hole/etc-pihole:/etc/pihole:Z

[Service]
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target