So far, my self-hosting has been limited to Pi-Hole, and a static website. I now want to try out something new, an Immich server.
I have a static IP from my ISP, so I don’t need to rent out a VPS. However, given that this IS a home internet, I want to be extra sure that it is going to be secure.
In my existing website, I use Fail2Ban + BadBotBlocker + Anubis + Nginx rate limits to protect it from scrapers, bots and malicious users, and it works well. With photos (especially family photos) at stake, I just want to know more on how to protect my server.
Add: thanks for the helpful replies. I will be sharing the photos with family, many of whom live abroad.
Definitely put it behind Netbird.
Also. I have a Jellyfin instance that I share with family, where I actually can’t put all of their client devices behind Netbird.
For that case, I used Netbird’s reverse proxy feature. So technically the Jellyfin instance is exposed to the public internet. HOWEVER, Netbird allows you to block or allow certain IP addresses. So while my Jellyfin instance is technically on the public internet, it’s only accessible from 1 specific public IP.
Otherwise, if you’re on the Netbird VPN, then the domain I have set resolves to the internal IP.
I have that but with caddy.
On the caddyfile you can put to only serve the site to certain IPs and reject the others with any status normally 403 or 404.
Attackers probe the site, but all they get it’s a connection error.