I’m thinking about using PIA port forwarding feature to access a next cloud server I host at home. I read the info on PIA website, and while it was informative about what it is, it didn’t really tell me how to set it up.
Since the port you are assigned is random, how are able to set it up in your router to forward to the correct computer/application?
You might be better off using Tailscale instead.
You would be best to set up a VPN server at home and login to that to access, or you Tailscale as others have mentioned, PIA is used to connect to other services not to access internal devices in your own network from remote
When using PIA on a windows computer (windows 10/11)… all you need is the windows PIA application installed, you don’t need to configure any ports via the router as far as I know. You simply select if you want OpenVPN or Wireguard and then under the networking tab select port forwarding and then connect. That’s it.
Update Just realized /saw you mentioned Linux, sorry
I use TeamViewer to remote access my Linux server. It’s free for personal use.
If you use PF on VPN, you don’t need to setup PF on router.
Think of VPN as an outgoing connection, where the router is at the end of that. Your home router doesn’t even care.
Second, if you are trying to access something at home while you are not at home, doing it through the VPN using it’s PF is probably not the best. If you are the only person who needs to access your home web server, then I would +1 the Tailscale suggestion. If you need others to be able to access it, then I would probably recommend a reverse proxy setup.