Whats the best way to host my Python website on a VPS using Docker? is
a Reverse Proxy useful?
reddit / selfhosted

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aldi-trash-panda · 2023-11-23 17:00

I can get my Django app on the Python image and get that set up on my
VPS, but I am wondering if I should use a Reverse Proxy to harden my
security?  or will running my app on port 80 take care of all my
needs?


I am open to suggestions.  Python is just where I started and I am
more comfortable.

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sk1nT7 · 2023-11-23 18:00

If you really question whether a reverse proxy is useful when exposing
a web application to the Internet, maybe you should not directly start
with exposing your self-build Django web app.

Nonetheless:

YES, a reverse proxy would be a viable choice in exposing your app. It
streamlines the way you expose your HTTP services and typically
provides things such as SSL certificate management so that your web
app is accessible securely via HTTPS.

However, the real security often lies in the proxied application. So
if your code is insecure, it likely won't matter whether you have a
reverse proxy, SSL/TLS or not. Attackers will target your application
code and not matter about the infrastructure setup.

In general, try to harden the whole application stack. OS, backend
server, reverse proxies and so on. Set HTTP security headers and audit
the overall configuration and of course your application code itself.

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Symnet · 2023-11-23 23:31

don't expose python's wsgi server for production. this means that you
need to at the minimum have apache or nginx (preferable imo) set up as
a reverse proxy. also, i'd recommend setting up letsencrypt for tls
since there's really no reason to use unsecure http anymore.