How to secure Jellyfin hosted over the internet?
How to secure Jellyfin hosted over the internet?
I already host multiple services via caddy as my reverse proxy. Jellyfin, I am worried about authentication. How do you secure it?
143 comments
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Is it just you that uses it, or do friends and family use it too?
The best way to secure it is to use a VPN like Tailscale, which avoids having to expose it to the public internet.
This is what I do for our security cameras. My wife installed Tailscale on her laptop and phone, created an account, and I added her to my Tailnet. I created a home screen icon for the Blue Iris web UI on her phone and mentioned to her, "if the cameras don't load, open Tailscale and make sure it's connected". Works great - she hasn't complained about anything at all.
If you use Tailscale for everything, there's no need to have a reverse proxy. If you use Unraid, version 7 added the ability to add individual Docker containers to the Tailnet, so each one can have a separate Tailscale IP and subdomain, and thus all of them can run on port 80.
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if the cameras don’t load, open Tailscale and make sure it’s connected
I've been using Tailscale for a few months now and this is my only complaint. On Android and macOS, the Tailscale client gets randomly killed. So it's an extra thing you have to manage.
It's almost annoying enough to make me want to host my services on the actual internet....... almost... but not yet.
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I use plain wireguard on me phone, always on essentially with no issues. I wonder why tailscale app can't stay open.
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Same, wireguard with the 'WG Tunnel" app, which adds conditional Auto-Connect. If not on home wifi, connect to the tunnel.
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conditional Auto-Connect. If not on home wifi, connect to the tunnel.
You don't need this with Tailscale since it uses a separate IP range for the tunnel.
Edit: Tailscale (and Wireguard) are peer-to-peer rather than client-server, so there's no harm leaving it connected all the time, and hitting the VPN IPs while at home will just go over your local network.
The one thing you probably wouldn't do at home is use an exit node, unless you want all your traffic to go through another node on the Tailnet.
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I also have a different subnet for WG. Not sure I understand what you're saying...
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If you have a separate subnet for it, then why do you only want it to be connected when you're not on home wifi? You can just leave it connected all the time since it won't interfere with accessing anything outside that subnet.
One of the main benefits of Wireguard (and Tailscale) is that it's peer-to-peer rather than client-server. You can use the VPN IPs at home too, and it'll add barely any overhead.
(leaving it connected is assuming you're not routing all your traffic through one of the peers)
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My network is not publicly accessible. I can only access the internal services while connected to my VPN or when I'm physically at home. I connect to WG to use the local DNS (pihole) or to access the selfhosted stuff. I don't need to be connected while I'm at home... In a way, I am always using the home DNS.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying...
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He's saying that while there is no benefit to being connect to WG at home, there is also no downside so many people just stay connected all the time.
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Oh, I get that, but it just doesn't make any sense to me to be physically next to the server, and connect to it via VPN...
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My point is that since the VPN uses a different subnet, it's fine to keep it connected even at home. It'll only use the VPN if you access the server's VPN IP, not its regular IP.
In any case, Tailscale and Wireguard are peer-to-peer, so the connection over the VPN is still directly to the server and there's no real disadvantage of using the VPN IP on your local network.
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Yeah, this. Plus if you leave it connected, you can use the VPN IPs while at home instead of having to use a different IP when at home vs when out (or deal with split horizon DNS)
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I just stay connected to wireguard even at home, only downside is the odd time I need to chromecast, it needs to be shut off.
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Can you add a split tunnel for just the Chromecast app (I presume that's how it works idk I don't use Chromecast) so that just that specific app always ignores your VPN?
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I haven't tried it, but the app has the ability to select which app it tunnels.
When you make a new tunnel, it says "all applications" if you click on that you can select specific ones to include or exclude
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Oh shit, you may have just solved my only issue with Symfonium
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I can stay connected, still works, but I don't think I need the extra hoops.
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I suspect that it goes down and stays down whenever there is an app update, but I haven't confirmed it yet.
Does the plain wireguard app stay up during updates?
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Android wireguard all hasn't been updated in 18mo. Its extremely simple with a small code base. There basically isn't anything to update. It uses wireguard kernel module which is itself is only like 700 lines of code. It so simple that it basically became stable very quickly and there is nothing left of update right now.
https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-android/about/
I personally get the from obtainium to bypass play store
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Look up your phone on dontkillmyapp.com and make sure tailscale is excluded from battery and network "optimization".
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If you make Tailscale your VPN in Android it will never be killed. Mileage may vary depending on flavor of Android. I've used this on stock Pixel and GrapheneOS.
Under Settings > Network and internet > VPN
Tap the Cog icon next to Tailscale and select Always-on VPN.
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Holy moly, I did not know this existed! Thanks! Just turned this on!
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Have you tried disabling battery optimization for tailscale?
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I did this and it still seems to randomly disconnect.
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Yeah my wife and I are both on Android, and I haven't been able to figure out why it does that.
The Android client is open-source so maybe someone could figure it out. https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale-android
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It loses its foreground notification I've found that kills it for me
even thou the Quick Toggle and the app itself, shows as runningIf I disconnect/reconnect the notification comes back, and I've found something even more weird on my device (A Xiaomi with its infamous OOM / background app killer....) is Tailscale still actually works fine most of the time without the foreground notification. I'm hazarding a 70% of the time for me?
A lot of us a while back found v1.5.2 fugged around with the persistent notification going RIP
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Oh the Quick Toggle has never, ever worked correctly. I hoped they fixed it after the UI refresh update but unfortunately not yet.
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What device/ROM are you using?
It's been very iffy for me on and off from Miui > HyperHyperOS, but just checking now?
Works fine
Like I say, the foreground notification seemed to be the lifeline to some of us using it and keeping it alive, even after IIRC some more restrictions came in with future versions of Android (forgive me, I'm very lazy these days and just skim Mishaal's TG feed 😇)?
e: also
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For me it's always been busted both on AOSP and Miui/HyperOS...
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Huh. The nearest I have to an actual "AOSP" device is my King Kong Cubot phone that has probably the cleanest version of "stock Android" I've ever seen, and I'm going to presume you mean like a Google Pixel / Graphene etc?
Tailscale and the QS tile / notification was solid on that Cubot but to be honest, I've barely turned it on these days and is now one of those drawer phones.
Miui / HyperHyperOS though is a different kettle of fish and exempting Tailscale from its App lel Killer does seem to work. 70-80%ish.....
But there is something that just fuggs up and turn it off/on like most thingys I own 🙈
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Works great and has been for some time on my P7P.
Ensure you've allowed background usage and turn off manage app if unused.
Keep the notification on and allow notifications.
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Oh the Quick Toggle has never, ever worked correctly. I hoped they fixed it after the UI refresh update but unfortunately not yet.
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Maybe headscale will do better?
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Headscale is a replacement for the coordination servers, which are only used to distribute configs and help nodes find each other. It won't change client-side behaviour.
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Try WG Tunnel instead. It will reconnect on loss, but you lose the Tailscale features (no big deal with dynamic DNS)
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143 comments