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[Question] Why should I not open ports to the internet on my home router? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/selfhost@lemmy.ml
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I'm in the process of setting up homelab stuff and i've been doing some reading. It seems the consensus is to put everything behind a reverse proxy and use a vpn or cloudflare tunnel.

I plan to use a VPN for accessing my internal network from outside and to protect less battle tested foss software. But I feel like if I cant open a port to the internet to host a webserver then the internet is no longer a free place and we're cooked.

So my question is, Can I expose webserver, SSH, WireGuard to the internet with reasonable safety? What precautions and common mistakes do I need to watchout for.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The application doesn't have to actively reach outside, just to listen at that port. If there is no application listening an open port does nothing. Though a port can really only be called open if an application is listening.

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  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That's the point of port forwarding. Yes, normally applications aren't reachable and have to reach out first. That's how your browser can receive answers. With port forwarding you instruct your router to always forward incoming traffic for a specific port to a specific computer in your LAN.

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