Reverse Proxy SSL

[TheDreadPirate]

You don't necessarily need a pihole to have custom DNS entries.  A lot of routers allow you to do this.  Unless you have a super super super locked down ISP provided router.

In that case, yes, you would need a pihole.

Without a custom DNS entry, when you type in your domain your domain will reach our to your ISP DNS (or Cloudflare or Google DNS, etc) to try to figure out what the IP address is.  Adding a custom DNS entry in your router or pihole just cuts out that latter step since your router/pihole has an "answer" for that DNS request.

Having a pihole or your router respond to DNS requests with your server's LAN IP is no different than an external DNS resolver.  Try not to overthink it.

Again, piholes just for DNS is not necessary for a lot of users.  If you want to setup a pihole for its other functionality, ad blocker, etc., go for it.  But if you only want DNS functionality, check whether your router already allows you to add custom DNS entries.

An example from my router.