I’ve been researching different ways to expose Docker containers to the internet. I have three services I want to expose: Jellyfin, Omnivore (Read-it-later app), and Overseerr.
I’ve come across lots of suggestions, like using Nginx with Cloudflared, but some people mention that streaming media goes against Cloudflared tunnel TOS, and instead recommend Tailscale, or Traefik, or setting up a WireGuard VPN, or using Nginx with a WireGuard VPN.
The amount of conflicting advice has left me confused. So, what would be the best approach to securely expose these containers?
Is it just you that needs access? VPN like Tailscale or Wireguard is the most secure option then, as it’s not exposing any services to the internet.
Otherwise a reverse proxy in front of things like Traefik or Nginx, make sure things are automatically updated ASAP, and make sure auth is enabled on the services.
Thankyou. Since it’s just my devices (laptop/phone) that need access, I think WireGuard—or possibly Tailscale—seems like the best solution for me.
Tailscale is very easy and handles everything for you but you are relying on their services, so if you want to be 100% self hosted Wireguard is the way to go.
Yeah, I feel like exposing ports 80 and 443 towards an up to date nginx/whatever is referred to as a super dangerous thing in this community and also the selfhosted subreddit. Recommending cloudflare is almost the default, which I find a bit sad given many people selfhost to escape the reliance on big monopolist companies.
One can add different layers of security of course, but having nginx with monitoring in it’s own VM without keys to jump to another VM is enough of risk mitigation for me.