this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
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82
How do you handle SSL certs and internet access in your setup? (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

A few reasons

  1. My partner has plenty of hobbies but sys-admin isn't one of them. I know I'll show them how to turn off wireguard to troubleshoot why "the internet isn't working" but eventually they would forget. Shit happens, sometimes servers go down and sometimes turning off wireguard would allow the internet to work lol
  2. I'm a worrier. If there was an emergency, my partner needed to access the internet but couldn't because my DNS server went down, my wireguard server went down, my ISP shit the bed, our home power went out, etc., and they forgot about the VPN, I'd feel terrible.
  3. I was a little too ambitious when I first got into self hosting. I set up services and shared them before I was ready and ended up resetting them constantly for various reasons. For example, my Plex server is on it's 12th iteration. My partner is understandably weary to try stuff I've set up. I'm at a point where I don't introduce them to a service I set up unless accessing it is no different than using an app (like the Homeassistant app) or visiting a website. That intermediary step of ensuring the VPN is on and functional before accessing the service is more than I'd prefer to ask of them

Telling my partner to visit a website seems easy, they visit websites every day, but they don't use a VPN everyday and they don't care to.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

you're talking to a community of admins that force their family to "use the thing". they can't understand why anyone can't debug tech issues because they have surrounded themselves with people who can.

I get it, my wife isn't technical at all. she gets online about once a week to check email. I couldn't even begin to explain to her how to debug her connection problems past turn it off and on again.

so, to simplify things, she doesn't connect to the home network outside of the home network. but I was able to teach her how to download movies/shows from Plex to her phone and I was able to explain why ads show up on her apps when she's out of the house.

it's not perfect, but it's the best I can give her with her understanding of the technology. knowing the limitations of your user base is just as important as developing the tools they will use and how they will access them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I get where the original commenter is coming from. A VPN is easy to use, why not have my partner just use the VPN? But like, try adding something to your routine that you don't care about or aren't interested in. It's an uphill battle and not every hill is worth dying on.

All that to say, I appreciate your comment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago
  1. I don’t think this is a problem with tailscale but you should check. Also you don’t have to pipe all the traffic through your tunnel. In the allowed IPs you can specify only your subnet so that everything else leaves via the default gateway.
  2. in the DNS server field in your WireGuard config you can specify anything, doesn’t have to be RFC1918 compliant. 1.1.1.1 will work too
  3. At the end of the day, a threat model is always gonna be security vs. convenience. Plex was used as an attack vector in the past as most most people don’t rush to patch it (and rightfully so, there are countless horror stories of PMS updates breaking the whole thing entirely). If you trust that you know what you’re doing, and trust the applications you’re running to treat security seriously (hint: Plex doesn’t) then go ahead, set up your reverse proxy server of choice (easiest would be Traefik, but if you need more robustness then nginx is still king) and open 443 to the internet.