If you want to be able to access your homelab from the outside of your network without the need of opening your network to the world and dealing with all the security issues that this means.
Turning your Raspberry into a VPN is pretty easy thanks to the folks developing PiVPN. The simplest way to setup and manage a VPN, designed for Raspberry Pi. But as everything in these docs, it also works with any kind of server like Ubuntu Server.
If you are running a Raspberry, it is recommended to run Raspbian Lite.
I had an old Raspberry Pi 3b+ at home which was unused for ages. I will be using this RPI3 as my PiVPN and I will also setup a second PiHole as a backup of the main one.
To install PiVPN you just need to run:
curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash
This will guide you though a step-by-step process which will help you configure your PiVPN. I strongly recommend you to use Wireguard as it is much more efficient than OpenVPN.
Once you have set up your PiVPN don't forget to forward the port you set up (default is 51820) from your router to your PiVPN local IP. You can do this from your router configuration, probably under a section called Port Forwarding.
Your configuration should look like somtething like this:
| Name | Type | Port Start | Port End | NAT interface | Private IP | Private Port |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wireguard | Port-Range | 51820 | 51820 | TPC or UDP (Both) | eth0.vxxx | 192.168.1.223 |
To add a new device is quite easy, just run pivpn add on your PiVPN server, give it a name, and you are good to go.
Once you have created your PiVPN client profile (using pivpn add) you can connect form various devices.
Install the Wireguard client on your machine (Android app, iOS app, Linux CLI client, etc). If you are on a desktop machine, import your configuration following the PiVPN guide, which should be pretty easy.
If you are on Android or iOS you can just run pivpn -qr, then select the client profile and scan the QR code from the Wireguard app. That's it, connected!