[SOLVED] Can I create a duplicate of a network connection in control panel?

[Minaz]

I have a PC that only connects via ethernet. The DNS is configured to go through Pihole, and works fine most of the time. However, when Pihole is down (e.g. when the Pi crashes or loses power), then I have to go in to manually change the settings to go back to using my router/ISP's DHCP server, and later I have to remember to change it back again (after I reboot the Pi or the power comes back, etc...)
I noticed that many softwares/utilities create their own entries in the Network Connections (Control Panel) and I am wondering if it is possible for me to do the same? I.e. have to different connections Eth 1 and Eth2 say, which are identical and use the same physical adapter, except they point to different DNS (one for Pihole, the other using DHCP), and just switch between the two as necessary?

Or is there another way to quickly switch between two different DNS configurations (DHCP and Pihole)? Using a secondary DNS won't work because for Pihole to work properly, I don't want to allow routing through a secondary source, and also the secondary source is DHCP not a static DNS IP adress.

 

[kanewolf]

I have a PC that only connects via ethernet. The DNS is configured to go through Pihole, and works fine most of the time. However, when Pihole is down (e.g. when the Pi crashes or loses power), then I have to go in to manually change the settings to go back to using my router/ISP's DHCP server, and later I have to remember to change it back again (after I reboot the Pi or the power comes back, etc...)
I noticed that many softwares/utilities create their own entries in the Network Connections (Control Panel) and I am wondering if it is possible for me to do the same? I.e. have to different connections Eth 1 and Eth2 say, which are identical and use the same physical adapter, except they point to different DNS (one for Pihole, the other using DHCP), and just switch between the two as necessary?

Or is there another way to quickly switch between two different DNS configurations (DHCP and Pihole)? Using a secondary DNS won't work because for Pihole to work properly, I don't want to allow routing through a secondary source, and also the secondary source is DHCP not a static DNS IP adress.

You setup a second DNS address. First one the PIHole, second the router. If the PI is down, the PC should use the router.
I added a second PI to my home network to have a failover PI Hole.

 

[Minaz]

You setup a second DNS address. First one the PIHole, second the router. If the PI is down, the PC should use the router.
I added a second PI to my home network to have a failover PI Hole.

Now I have two holes.

 

[kanewolf]

Now I have two holes.

Set your router to provide the two PIs as two DNS servers. For any static IP hosts, update them to have both PIs. There are tools to help keep whitelists sync'ed between PIs. You pick a primary and it gets replicated to secondaries.