I know this probably comes up a lot and I’ve done some reading but it’s a little overwhelming so I thought I’d just post to help me get my thoughts together. I want to set up HA primarily to start using it with Frigate and give me remote access to my cameras but I might as well double down and get everything on this. I like the idea of clever houses and I’m glad there’s a good option for doing it locally with decent FOSS solution.
So in my network I have a sort of DMZ network. This network has all those dodgy IoT devices on it and it’s basically an untrusted network with internet access. I then have my normal network with everything else on it, like my laptop, phones, home server, etc. I’m planning on installing HA in a Podman container (Docker) on my server but I’d like to have some remote access so I can check out my cameras, 3D printer, and maybe a few other things, I’d also like to be able to receive notifications. However I still want to be able to run it normally without too many complications so I’d like it internal to my trusted network.
I’m thinking about the possibility of running two containers, one on my trusted network and one on my DMZ. I could sync them up or give them access to the same storage areas maybe. Is this possible? ChatGPT suggested it so I’m not sure if it’s worth pursuing. If not what are my other options? I basically want all the positives of having it on the internet with none of the negatives, how hard can that be?
It sounds like your trying to solve two problems in this question.
How to access home assistant from outside your home
How to run home assistant on your normal network while letting it have access to your IOT network.
The first problem is usually solved by one of a couple difference ways. You could set up a vpn from your phone back to your house and access home assistant locally, you could use something like cloudflare tunnels, you could set up a reverse proxy, or you could use home assistant cloud. Some of these are paid features and each of them has various advantages and disadvantaged.
The second problem is likely best solved with vlans but unless you specifically bought a switch or router to support that feature it’s likely yours can’t. There are probably other means to bridge the access and limit it to a one way view with firewall rules but the same thing there, most standard consumer router/modem boxes are somewhat limited on how you can set your rules.
You’ve got a couple of options available to you and if you’re early enough on in the project and you’ve got the budget for it i’d look into getting your hands on a managed switch and a box you can install opnsense or pfsenseb on. Either would give you the ability to set and manage vlans, establish firewall rules to control access between them, set up a vpn and/or reverse proxy, and much more.