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this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
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A reverse proxy takes all your web-based services, e.g.
and allows you to map these to domain names, so instead of typing
server.example.com:32400you can typeplex.example.com. I have simplified this quite a bit though - you need DNS configured as well, and depending on your requirements you may want to purchase a domain name if you intend on accessing content from outside your home without a self hosted VPN.Cloudflare is a DDoS mitigation service, a caching web proxy, and a DNS nameserver. Most users here would probably be using it for Dynamic DNS. You can use it in combination with a reverse proxy as a means to mask your home IP address from people connecting to your self hosted web-based services remotely, but on its own it cannot be used as a reverse proxy (at least easily - would not recommend attempting to). Do note that Cloudflare can see all the data you transmit through their systems, something to bare in mind if you are privacy conscious.
In my opinion though, it would be much better for you to use a self hosted VPN to access your self hosted services (can be used in combination with the reverse proxy), unless there is a specific need to expose the services out to the internet
Edit: fix minor typo, add extra info about cloudflare
Very good points all around.
So far, I have WireGuard set up, and activate it when I need access.
This year I have considered Cloudflare tunnels to enable them only to issue SSL certificates (instead of signing my own like I did last year). But not sure if it is worth it or if I should just keep signing myself.
(Cert is mainly to avoid SSL warnings on iOS and browsers, so far I am the only one using what I host)
Might also be nice to not have to configure each device to use a different dns server (my own), but not sure the benefit is worth having that dns record “out there” and Cloudflare “in here”.
The DNS-01 challenge [1] allows for issuing SSL certificates without a publicly routable IP address. It needs API support from your DNS provider to automate it, but e.g. lego [2] supports many services.
I personally leave my Wireguard VPN always on, but as its only routing the local subnet with my services, it doesn't even appear in my battery statistics.
[1] https://letsencrypt.org/docs/challenge-types/#dns-01-challenge
[2] https://github.com/go-acme/lego
Thank you for the info and the links. That seems like a more sensible approach. Hope to try it out after the work week is done.