Access Linux Homeserver from everywhere with external server and no port-forwarding

[Jahtzey]

Hello,

I'm currently running a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB with Nextcloud. To access my files from on the go I'm simultanusly running ZeroTier on the Pi and on all my mobile devices.

Since I got access to a little Linux VPS (nothing special, 1core/512mb ram/10gb ssd) with its own IPv4 adress I was wondering if it would be possible to somehow set up this VPS-Server that I could access my Cloud without ZeroTier (or any other software) by simply open the IP of the VPS or even better, click on a button on a little website running on the vps (maybe to access mulitple devices such as another raspberry pi). Preferably without routing all the traffic over the VPS since it only has around 100mbit/s connection.

I'm using ZeroTier because I can't change any settings on my router (port-forwarding etc.) and stuck with ds-lite.

Thank you in advance!

Jahtzey

[brwainer]

The only way I know how to do it right now is by routing all the traffic through the VPS. But in theory could could use the VPS to perform the same sort of assisted hole punching that ZeroTier performs. I know the theory behind how that works, but I don’t know how you actually set it up, or if there is software available to do that. The end result would be similar to ZeroTier though.

[jake9000]

What you are looking for is a reverse proxy. Your phone accesses the VPS which in turn accesses your home network. 

There are lots of options but nginx and caddyserver are popular with the latter being a lot easier to implement 

 

You will want to consider authentication, too. Your vps (and therefore the tunnel to your home network) will be accessible on the public internet. Make sure you set up some kind of authentication be it keys, passwords, 2fa or whatever. These are features of the proxy software. 

[brwainer]

19 minutes ago, jake9000 said:

What you are looking for is a reverse proxy. Your phone accesses the VPS which in turn accesses your home network. 

There are lots of options but nginx and caddyserver are popular with the latter being a lot easier to implement 

 

You will want to consider authentication, too. Your vps (and therefore the tunnel to your home network) will be accessible on the public internet. Make sure you set up some kind of authentication be it keys, passwords, 2fa or whatever. These are features of the proxy software. 

That still means the traffic goes through the VPS though. OP doesn’t want that.

 

8 hours ago, Jahtzey said:

Preferably without routing all the traffic over the VPS since it only has around 100mbit/s connection.