Hello,
Some time ago, I started self-hosting applications, but only on my local network. So far, it’s working fine, but I can’t access them as soon as I go outside (which is completely normal).
For the past few days I’ve been looking for a relatively secure way of accessing my applications from outside.
I don’t need anyone but myself to have access to my applications, so from what I’ve understood, it’s not necessarily useful to set up a reverse-proxy in that case and it would be simpler to set up a VPN.
From what I’ve seen, Wireguard seems to be a good option. At first glance, I’d have to install it on the machine containing my applications, port-forward the Wireguard listening port and configure my other devices to access this machine through Wireguard
However, I don’t have enough hindsight to know whether this is a sufficient layer of security to at least prevent bots from accessing my data or compromising my machine.
I’ve also seen Wireguard-based solutions like Tailscale or Netbird that seem to make configuration easier, but I have a hard time knowing if it would really be useful in my case (and I don’t really get what else they are doing despite simplifying the setup).
Do you have any opinions on this? Are there any obvious security holes in what I’ve said? Is setting up a VPN really the solution in my case?
Thanks in advance for your answers!
Tailscale. You can make a free account and they have clients for most things. If you want to self host, Headscale.
I self-host various applications and have been really happy with Wireguard. After watching just how hard my firewall gets hammered when I have any detectable open ports I finally shut down everything else. The WG protocol is designed to be as silent as possible and doesn’t respond to remote traffic unless it receives the correct key, and the open WG port is difficult to detect when the firewall is configured correctly.
Everything - SSH, HTTP, VNC and any other protocol it must first go through my WG tunnel and running it on an OpenWRT router instead of a server means if the router is working, WG is working. Using Tasker on Android automatically brings the tunnel up whenever I leave my house and makes everything in my home instantly accessible no matter what I’m doing.
Another thing to consider is there’s no corporation involved with WG use. So many companies have suddenly decided to start charging for “free for personal use” products and services, IMO it has made anything requiring an account worth avoiding.
If you use Tasker only as VPN switch you could have a look at WG Tunnel from zaneschepke on Github. It has a built in function to switch to the tunnel when your local WIFI is not connected.
Can I ask how you have this setup? Do you also have a reverse proxy setup or just WG on your router and everything gets routed via your router?
I have everything route through the tunnel and my router. Along with allowing instant access to everything I self-host and my home server through VNC, it allows me to use Adguard Home for phone DNS lookups no matter where I am. Theoretically my cell carrier should no longer be able to see any of my Internet traffic which I consider an added bonus. I’ve found no downside except some weirdness from Google if I’m out of the country for an extended period.
I rarely if ever see ZeroTier mentioned as a solution, but it’s a self-hostable encrypted virtual mesh network (with a small free tier for corp-hosted), super secure, and really easy to setup. I use ZTnet instead of the free-tier corp-hosted controller
Ha, I use both wg and zt, for different situations. ZT for multi-player for old games with friends via ‘LAN’ across the WAN, wg for ‘actual’ VPN through my vps.
Though with zt I’m grandfathered on the old free tier, and they try pretty hard to get me to switch. Last time I logged in they had a full-page ‘you should upgrade to our new plans and features’. But I’m happy on the free level, just gaming.
If your traffic is pretty low, rent a VPS for $5/month or whatever and set up a Wireguard server on it, have your devices maintain a connection to it (search keepalive for Wireguard), and set up HAProxy to do SNI-based routing for your various subdomains to the appropriate device.
Benefits:
- you control everything, so switching to a new provider is as simple as copying configs instead of reconfiguring everything
- most VPN companies only route traffic going out, not in; you can probably find one that does, but it probably costs more than the DIY option
- easy to share with others, just give a URL
Downsides:
- more complicated to configure
- bandwidth limitations
If you only need access on devices you control, something like Tailscale could work.
Benefits:
- very simple setup - Tailscale supports a ton of things
- potentially free, depending on your needs
Downsides:
- no public access, so you’d need to configure every device that wants to access it
- you don’t control it, so if Tailscale goes evil, you’d need to change everything
I did the first and it works well.
I would not recommend relying on Tailscale. They have been soliciting a lot of venture capital lately and are probably going to go for an IPO sooner or later. I would not put a lot of trust in that company. The investors are going to want their money.
Yeah, that’s the “you don’t control it” angle here. There are alternatives, but you’ll have to do a fair amount of work to switch vs something you do control (i.e. to switch to a different VPS, just copy configs and change the host config on each client, everything else is the same).
Not running anything myself but am part of a self hosting discord that swears by Netbird because its basically Tailscale but with a bunch more ease of use features apparently
Tailscale is great in that config is super simple. Downsides tailscale ssh has to be called at launch if you want ssh access over that network… Could be a benefit for security…however its a tailscale specific ssh and not everything is available.
Data servers moved to the USA a few ears back.Wireguard is more setup, but a better (self host option ). There is also Headscale if you want to selfhost a tailscale type server
Zero tier. I went tailscale originally, and they’re good, but their mdns support doesn’t exist and several services rely on it. (For me, the showstopper was time machine backups)
I like zerotier over wireguard because it’s one layer lower. So anything that uses Ethernet frames can be routed over it like it was a network switch plugged into your computer. This is probably why mdns works.
Do you test public WiFi with ZeroTier at all?
I ask because there’s a few public networks where WG won’t connect and I’m trying to find ways around it. I could always use cell data but this is more fun to me.
Yeah it’s worked everywhere I’ve tested. But that’s only really been airport WiFi, so I’m not sure it’s indicative of it working in general. It’s easy enough to setup for testing that it’s probably worth a shot
huh. I knew there was a reason for me to go back to ZT. mdns, you say? Nice to know!
I run pfsense as my router on a small form factor PC with two Ethernet cards. I run Wireguard which is pretty easy to setup in pfsense. I have the client installed on my PC at work and my mobile devices. I’m never more than a click from being connected to my home network.
In the past I used ssh tunnels with port forwards to the services I wanted to access remotely.
I use a mixture of tailscale and zerotier. Both are pretty powerful.
Wireguard with WG Tunnel on my phone so it automatically connects when I leave my WiFi. Some Apps excluded to use it like Android Auto because it doesn’t work with an active vpn.
Tailscale. You don’t need to open up ports + you can set up exit nodes, which are useful if you’re sailing the seven seas.
The only downside of Tailscale is a few years back they moved their data servers from Canada to the USA…so with the current administration this could become a privacy issue at some point
I used wireguard self hosted for a bit but my work network is pretty locked down and I couldn’t find a UDP port that wasn’t blocked. How are you guys setting up wireguard in your home network? Or is it better to host it on a cloud VM?
I’m using tailscale right now because it punches through every firewall but I don’t like using external providers and I’m worried it will eventually enshittify. I have a cloudflare domain but I can’t really use any UDP port for my VPN as it’s blocked.
I got a VPS because I’m behind CGNAT, and then configured WireGuard on the server and HAProxy to proxy requests to my devices.
It works well for me.
Ah thanks for that info I’ll definitely take a look
I do have both (VPN and Reverse Proxy) running. For VPN my router uses Wireguard and at work we use Wireguard as well. You can alter the config in such a way, that only internal traffic would get routed through your VPN. I love this, because for regular traffic, I’m not bound to the upload at my home network or with work, route my personal traffic through the company internet or lose access to my own network.
Reverse proxy isn’t bad either. I have a DNS running at home, that redirects my domain used for home stuff, directly to the reverse proxy. This way I can block certain stuff, I want a fancy domain but not be accessed from the outside, because its not needed or not set up properly.
With a VPN, you would be more secure, because its a single instance you need to keep safe. With regular updates and set up properly, this shouldn’t be an issue. But I would suggest reading tech news portals, that do cover security breaches of well known software.
With a reverse proxy setup I use, I must trust so many things. I must trust my reverse proxy with the firewall and then each server I run.
But keep one thing in mind. If you for example use stuff like Home Assistant, that you access in the background, it wouldn’t work if you connect via a VPN. With Wireguard I can be connected 24/7 to my VPN, even at home. With the previous VPN my router used (I guess it was OpenVPN), this wasn’t possible.
WireGuard is the fastest method, it’s free, there is no reason not to use it.
I use OpenVPN. It’s pretty easy. You set it up with docker, download the client.ovpn file, then turn off port 80 (only needed for downloading that file). Now you can take that file and use it all of your devices to connect.
