I have a lot of stuff self-hosted.
Just no outside access. Well, that’s not quite true, I do have a Tailscale VPN for remote management, but only certain machines are allowed to join, joins require my authorization, and access to the account is via two-factor.
The big thing with external access is to never permit it directly through your local connection. Do it though a Virtual Private Server (VPS) - let it get hit with access attempts. And then only allow specific traffic from the VPS to a specific service in your network using a VPN of some sort.
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Don’t let this discourage you.
You can self host on your local network just fine and never portforward which is what exposes it to the outside.
I don’t need to watch tv or upload pictures to my server outside of my home. Its perfectly useable.
When you are ready and feel more confident you can setup your own wireguard vpn and only expose that.
Then Your device can connected to that vpn tunnels inside and can acces everything like home.
Currently without vpn your device is at risk every time it connects to a network you don’t own. A third party vpn is not a guarantee your data is safe either. Your home vpn though means all your outside the home networking is fully encrypted and outsiders cant even detect your home adresses is running a vpn to hack. (No ping unless you have the key)
SusanoStyle@lemmy.ml 23 hours ago
This! Good advice! I went this path last year so i can give some extra advice for everyone who wants to start:
Before doing anything, buy a new router and put your iot devices and phones in a isolated guest network. Maintain the router updated. After that, you can work, learn and test without fear. Everything stays in your home.
Then like @webghost0101@sopuli.xyz already said, once you get confident, you can run a vpn tunnel to access your lan. This setup is pretty robust, hard to fuck up, and doable even for newbies. (If i can do it, everyone can, i assure you). Lots of guides out there.
Last advice, which you should already be doing, but setup a backup.