tldr: I’d like to set up a reverse proxy with a domain and an SSL cert so my partner and I can access a few selfhosted services on the internet but I’m not sure what the best/safest way to do it is. Asking my partner to use tailsclae or wireguard is asking too much unfortunately. I was curious to know what you all recommend.

I have some services running on my LAN that I currently access via tailscale. Some of these services would see some benefit from being accessible on the internet (ex. Immich sharing via a link, switching over from Plex to Jellyfin without requiring my family to learn how to use a VPN, homeassistant voice stuff, etc.) but I’m kind of unsure what the best approach is. Hosting services on the internet has risk and I’d like to reduce that risk as much as possible.

  1. I know a reverse proxy would be beneficial here so I can put all the services on one box and access them via subdomains but where should I host that proxy? On my LAN using a dynamic DNS service? In the cloud? If in the cloud, should I avoid a plan where you share cpu resources with other users and get a dedicated box?

  2. Should I purchase a memorable domain or a domain with a random string of characters so no one could reasonably guess it? Does it matter?

  3. What’s the best way to geo-restrict access? Fail2ban? Realistically, the only people that I might give access to live within a couple hundred miles of me.

  4. Any other tips or info you care to share would be greatly appreciated.

  5. Feel free to talk me out of it as well.

  • Burn1ngBull3t@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    Either tailscale or cloudflare tunnels are the most adapted solution as other comments said.

    For tailscale, as you already set it up, just make sure you have an exit node where your services are. I had to do a bit of tinkering to make sure that the ips were resolved : its just an argument to the tailscale command.

    But if you dont want to use tailscale because its to complicated to your partner, then cloudlfare tunnels is the other way to go.

    How it works is by creating a tunnel between your services and cloudlare, kind of how a vpn would work. You usually use the cloudlfared CLI or directly throught Cloudflare’s website to configure the tunnel. You should have a DNS imported to cloudflare by the way, because you have to do a binding such as : service.mydns.com -> myservice.local Cloudlfare can resolve your local service and expose it to a public url.

    Just so you know, cloudlfare tunnels are free for some of that usage, however cloudlfare has the keys for your ssl traffic, so they in theory could have a look at your requests.

    best of luck for the setup !