Recently, I’ve been watching some videos about pfsense and planning to set up a home server with jellyfin, invoicing software like invoice ninja, and a few other things, using a router running pfsense.
I want to access all these remotely and securely. I saw this video where the guy mentions that for privacy, using openvpn with pia is a good option, while for easier connectivity, tailscale works better.
Does this mean I should run both? One for privacy and one for easier remote access? Or is routing everything through the VPN a better option? I appreciate any responses.
You can use a VPN solution directly on pfsense. I have set up both Wireguard for testing and OpenVPN for production. Both are good options, and you will be able to securely access your home network/devices with them.
You don’t need to route your traffic through a third party (e.g., pia) if your goal is just network access to your home. A VPN is generally secure if set up correctly.
I think pia in the video was used to route traffic from inside the network over the third party (i.e., pia) to some destination where privacy matters. But that’s a different use-case.
Remote access FROM the Internet TO your home network/server (e.g., if you’re in a different state and want to access your personal server securely over the internet)
VPN connection FROM your local network TO PIA: This will give you better privacy for all your internal apps, sure. But only for any traffic originating from your LAN side (depends on how you set it up)
Since your title mentions remote access to your machine, you want option 1, not option 2. Just use tailscale. FYI, you can definitely run both. And if you don’t have policy routing properly, you’ll end up sending tailscale traffic over PIA VPN and then to your remote device. Massive latency. Not recommended.