I've looked at it but never actually given the Synology proxy a go despite using their DNS server. Does it do auto certificate renewal?

Have you considered using a Cloudflare tunnel to bypass the CGNAT? You can do that into a proxy or straight into the service.

same, i've been very happy with Caddy, even with lots of subdomains and weird configs it's been rock solid.

Simple question but can be a complex answer. Basically it depends where your phone gets DNS from: if it's using the ISP DNS (or some other public DNS server) it will resolve the public internet IP of your server and the data will route out to the ISP WAN before being routed back in.

On the other hand you can configure a split DNS system, so say you are using your modem/gateway as your DNS server and it forwards DNS queries up to your ISP (or other) DNS server - a common setup, 1. you can add in a static host entry for your local server. Eg 'yourservice.yourserverdomain.com = 192.168.1.20 (your server's LAN IP)'

Now when your phone is on the WiFi and it looks up your server's address it gets the local IP and routes locally, which will be faster.

If you need more info, search for terms like 'reverse proxy split DNS best practice'.

Traefik is a PITA.

Caddy all the way. If you build it with Docker support (or grab the prebuilt), you can use docker container names to reverse proxy using names instead of any IP addresses or ports. It's nice because if the IP updates, so does caddy. All automatically.

Here's what my caddyfile looks like;

{
        acme_dns cloudflare {key}
}

domain.dev {
        encode zstd gzip
        root * /var/www/html/domain.dev/
        php_fastcgi unix//run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock
        tls {
                dns cloudflare {key}
        }
}
*.domain.dev {
        encode zstd gzip
        tls {
                dns cloudflare {key}
        }
        @docker host docker.domain.dev
        handle @docker {
                encode zstd gzip
                reverse_proxy {portainer}
        }
        @test host test.domain.dev
        handle @test {
                encode zstd gzip
                reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:10000
        }
        @images host i.domain.dev
        handle @images {
                encode zstd gzip
                reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:9002
        }
        @proxy host proxy.domain.dev
        handle @proxy {
                encode zstd gzip
                reverse_proxy proxy
        }
        @portal host portal.domain.dev
        handle @portal {
                encode zstd gzip
                reverse_proxy portal
        }
        @ping host ping.domain.dev
        handle @ping {
                encode zstd gzip
                respond "pong!"
        }
}

DNS hosted by cloudflare but because caddy handles ACME certs, all the subdomains automatically get SSL.

Caddy all the way!

If you're just going to VPN in to your home network, I've found caddy to be the simplest.

I tried using PiVPN to route my phone's Internet access through my home network, but it kept breaking and I found I don't have a head for networks.

Would caddy be able to do that in an easier to maintain way?

I had a poor experience with NPM which turned me to SWAG, it worked, but was a tad slow. Moved to Traefik and haven’t looked back.

Set up wireguard in a docker container and then forward the port to wireguard, the default container on docker hub is fairly straightforward and you can always ask me for help if you need :).

However, If you are using ipv4, you need to make sure that you're not behind a CG-NAT (If you think you might be, call your ISP and tell them you have security cameras that need to get out or something like that).

You could also try tailscale which is built using wireguard with nat-busting features and a bit easier to configure (I dont personally use it as wireguard is sufficient for me).

After that Caddy + DNSMasq will simply allow you to map different URLs to IP addresses

• dnsmasq
  • will let you map, E.g. my_computer -> 192.168.1.64
• Caddy (Or nginx, but caddy is simpler)
  • will let you map to ports so e.g.:
    • with DNS (DNSMasq as above)
      • http://dokuwiki.my_computer -> http://my_computer:8080
    • Without DNS
      • http://dokuwiki.192.168.1.64 -> http://192.168.1.64:8080

Caddy and DNSmasq are superfluous, if you've got a good memory or bookmarks, you don't really need them.

VPN back into home is a lot more important. You definitely do not want to be forwarding ports to services you are running, because if you don't know what you're doing this could pose a network security risk.

Use the VPN as the entry point, as it's secure. I also recommend running the VPN in a docker / podman container on an old laptop dedicated just to that, simply to keep it as isolated as you can.

Down the line you could also look into VLan If your router supports that.

I personally would not bother with SSL If you're just going to be providing access to trusted users who already have access to your home network.

If you are looking to host things, just pay for a digital droplet for $7 a month, It's much simpler, You still get to configure everything but you don't expose your network to a security risk.

I want to just mention frp, I use it to get around firewalls

Thank you, that looks like a good set of hooks for me to get into at a weekend, child allowing.

I very much appreciate the guide. I'll let you know when I've had a fiddle.

Does it do auto certificate renewal?

Yes.

Have you considered using a Cloudflare tunnel to bypass the CGNAT?

I did before when I had some free domain over there, but I don't think there are any worthy free domains out there anymore, and even when they are cheap, I really don't need it and don't feel comfortable to pay for something that I can't use in its fullest (due to CGNAT).

For example, I am aware cloudflare tunnels can't be used for a Plex/Video streaming and that is the number 1 service that I want to be exposed to the Internet.

For now I am living with my IPv6 address and the Synology DDNS with the reverse proxy features... My personal fallback are Tailscale and Zerotier.

Nginx installed directly, I use nano over ssh to edit configs. Forces you to learn some things and I never moved passed it because it works so well.

I think NGINX has the best reverse proxy

Yes, but it is a different cron job that needs to run, and you need to monitor it for failures. Caddy does everything out of the box, including retries.

Actually I found traefik rather easy, I just had to make the proper docker labels and config.

PITA

Unrelated, I'm going to sound like a grammar nazi here, but holy shit there are so many acronmys, how am I supposed to know every one of them without googling? Please just say "traefik is a pain in the ass". Also please don't take this as a snarky reply.

I used NPM, It was pretty solid

Then I changed headspace and now I run SearXNG through cloudflare, and tailscale everything that doesn't need to be public.

I am using nginx on a separate machine (VM)
I have yet to try it in docker, I just have not found a reason to change it yet.

I've tried npm, caddy and traefik but they are always way more complicated then adding a new config file in nginx...

I feel the others add too much to the docker configs and limit what can be added to the reverse proxy.
I have control of access from the nginx server, without having to change the apps configuration.

NPM is the closest to what I would like (only needing the same network in docker) if I go the docker way but for some reason it never works as it should when I configure it. So I am sticking to plain nginx.

NPM was the first one that worked for me. I used a YouTube tutorial. I tried Nginx and Caddy, but couldn't figure them out. For context, I try to run anything I can out of Docker, which adds some complexity I think. I must not have been doing the templates correctly or something.

I plan on trying to go for Nginx or Caddy later, but right now NPM works wonders for my use case.

PITA = pain in the ass.

I never said it was hard. Just a real pain in the ass. Like iptables vs UFW. They're the same thing, but one is easy and a pain in the ass and the other is just easy... So I opt to make my life easier. lol