I’m able to use my VPN to distribute files via Soulseek/Nicotine+. Can I do this with its IP and port forwarding so people can connect to a website hosted on my machine from the internet?
I’m imagining they’d be able to connect with the basic IP:port address, but I’m really not even sure if it’s possible.
I’m looking into using NGINX for this. If something else is more appropriate, I’d love to know.
Most VPNs don’t allow port forwarding, and if they do it’s a random port that changes frequently. So you’d need a method to tell people the new port. Also, you typically want to use SSL so you’ll have to use self signed certs. Though interestingly LetsEncrypt recently started testing certs for IP addresses:
https://letsencrypt.org/2025/07/01/issuing-our-first-ip-address-certificate