home server not accessible from guest wifi network.. why?

[girish]

Yeah, afaik, the main goal of guest network is that it cannot connect to other devices in the network.

[humptydumpty]

I thought that by typing the domain, the traffic goes over the web and not the local network, so as long the guest network has internet access then I should be able to reach the server. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

Let’s say that’s not the case, when I’m on my main wifi, am I connecting to my server through the private network? Is that a router or Cloudron feature? Either way, it would be awesome from a privacy standpoint.

[girish]

@humptydumpty I don't know your DNS setup, but if it's a public IP, then yes, in theory it's supposed to work as you said it.

Let’s say that’s not the case, when I’m on my main wifi, am I connecting to my server through the private network?

If the DNS maps to public IP, then this will happen via router hairpinning. It will never leave your router. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation#NAT_hairpinning

[murgero]

Depending on your home router, it's unlikely you'll be able to disable it but @girish is right - hairpinning is probably blocked from the guest network as the guest network is supposed to be 100% isolated from your main. That's by design of the router itself.

So really you only got a couple options:

• Enable hairpinning on the Guest network
• Allow the guest network to see the local lan and make a custom DNS entry on the Guest network to point to the local lan IP for the cloudron (I personally DO NOT recommend this option, it defeats the whole point of an isolated network)
• Just put the device on the main lan.

[humptydumpty]

@murgero I'm okay with the way it's all set up. I never thought it would be a problem and was curious as to why it was being restricted on the guest network when it's supposed to go through the public internet.

@girish No fancy set up. Consumer grade router, your standard shitty ISP, and the basic DNS records and ports to get the server online. I do have MAC filtering turned on though and have a guest network for the spy-friendly devices like my smart bulbs, etc. Hairpinning is on, but I'm not sure if it covers the guest network too.

[humptydumpty]

BTW, I turned on MAC filtering not too long ago when I had my neighbor try to broadcast to my TV. Getting that pop-up on the TV while I was actually watching freaked me out. It's a smart TV but it's not connected to the internet at all. I have a SFF PC connected to it and that's what I use for streaming (can't live w/o ublock lol). Any way, I went through the device list in the router and didn't spot anything out of the ordinary. I thought only devices connected to my wifi can broadcast to the TV. I'm still not sure what happened there.

[murgero]

@humptydumpty Kinda of off topic (but in response to your uBlock comment) you can use adguard home on cloudron (or on a different local server / desktop) as a network-wide adblocker for tv's, consoles, etc if you want to ever get rid or repurpose that SFF PC

[humptydumpty]

@murgero how good is it at blocking YouTube ads?

[murgero]

@humptydumpty It's what I use and I don't see ads at all. It also works for in-app ads on phones too. I will note that if you go too aggressive that it can break consoles but you can whitelist sites and mac addresses too

[humptydumpty]

@murgero said in home server not accessible from guest wifi network.. why?:

works for in-app ads on phones too.

That’s great to know. I’ll give it a try soon. Thanks!