Homelab Series Pt 2: Wireguard

The first step to accessing our homelab from anywhere

Hello, Hoodies!

One of the coolest things about making a homelab is, if done right, you can access your lab from anywhere. You don’t have to be limited to simply your local network. It’s going to take some work and this may stretch two posts, but it won’t be as bad as you think.

Prerequisites:

Some knowledge of Linux. I don’t explain absolutely everything here, just most things.
Still looking to learn the basics and start a career? Check out Bootcamp Express here or upgrade to a paid hoodie in the stack.

Here’s the idea:

• Connect your devices on one logical network

• Connect to said network

• ???

• Profit

So let’s dive in.

First off, what is wireguard?

An open source software that plays very nicely with Linux. Install, configure, and you’re off to the races.

But what does it do? It’s a virtual LAN. It’s officially a lightweight VPN protocol and software that establishes secure, encrypted connections between devices by creating a private, point-to-point network. It uses state-of-the-art cryptography to ensure fast, reliable, and secure communication, making it ideal for scenarios requiring minimal configuration and high performance (thanks chatgpt).

We configure a wireguard server that everything connects to and it’s all on the same logical network from anywhere in the world. Really neat stuff.

First thing you’ll need is a droplet on digital ocean.

Really you can use a public cloud server anywhere. What I DO NOT recommend is opening up your HOME firewall to the outside internet. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. This is a practice lab. Let it be practice. Give yourself room to make mistakes. Now on with the show.

Go to digitalocean.com.

Get your droplet. It’s $6/mo.

To do this, we’ll make a project.

No resources to move since we’re making them. Click “Spin up a Droplet”