Help me get started with VPN

PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 38 points –

TLDR: VPN-newbie wants to learn how to set up and use VPN.

What I have:

Currently, many of my selfhosted services are publicly available via my domain name. I am aware that it is safer to keep things closed, and use VPN to access -- but I don't know how that works.

  • domain name mapped via Cloudflare > static WAN IP > ISP modem > Ubiquity USG3 gateway > Linux server and Raspberry Pi.
  • 80,443 fowarded to Nginx Proxy Manager; everything else closed.
  • Linux server running Docker and several containers: NPM, Portainer, Paperless, Gitea, Mattermost, Immich, etc.
  • Raspberry Pi running Pi-hole as DNS server for LAN clients.
  • Synology NAS as network storage.

What I want:

  • access services from WAN via Android phone.
  • access services from WAN via laptop.
  • maybe still keep some things public?
  • noob-friendly solution: needs to be easy to "grok" and easy to maintain when services change.
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I wanted to do something similar for a long time but somehow all my atempts failed. I tried the build in into a Fritzbox but my laptop never could connect. Later I tried the wireguard addon in homeassistant but same there.

But does port forwarding work for you, can you access your servers from outside your network?

If not, it's probably carrier-grade NAT. There are several ways to fix this:

  1. Call your ISP and ask them to give you your own dynamic IPv4 address.
  2. Use a service like tailscale (also available in Home Assistant)

Yes port forwarding with everything else works well, I have no problem with port forwarding, running a lot of services from home.

Then I don't know, I've set up several Wireguard VPNs on several Fritzboxes and everything works fine.

Dynamic IP is one that changes. I think you meant static IP.

No, I specifically meant dynamic, because most ISPs only give static IPv4 for business plans, and a dynamic IP is fine if you use a dynamic DNS service (the Fritzbox has one).

If you don't have a static IP then you will automatically have a dynamic one. You don't need to ask for a dynamic IP as that is the default. And I'm no idiot, I've used dynamic DNS services for for over 20 years.

There is also Carrier Grade NAT, which basically means that you share an IP with other customers, so if you try to access your network from the outside, you will only end up at your ISP's router, where the network is divided up for a group of customers.