ESP32 Forum

martinayotte wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:05 pm

schkillll wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:15 pm

Is there any alternative to port forwarding, for creating a public web server?

What do you mean ? If your ISP is blocking the port 80, you can use any other ports, such 8080.

I am not sure, whether port forwarding will be safe for the esp32. I read a few articles which says its not safe. That's why i am working for an alternative to create a public webserver, so i can access it from an android app anywhere.

schkillll wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:23 pm

I am not sure, whether port forwarding will be safe for the esp32. I read a few articles which says its not safe.

What do you mean by "not safe" ?
Exposing an ESP32 on extranet, such on port 8080, where this ESP32 is only providing WebServer, isn't giving much chance to any intruder to do much with your internal network. The only thing they can do is DoS attack, they can't do much more ...

martinayotte wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:28 pm

schkillll wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:23 pm

I am not sure, whether port forwarding will be safe for the esp32. I read a few articles which says its not safe.

What do you mean by "not safe" ?
Exposing an ESP32 on extranet, such on port 8080, where this ESP32 is only providing WebServer, isn't giving much chance to any intruder to do much with your internal network. The only thing they can do is DoS attack, they can't do much more ...

But for port forwarding, the router needs to be set up. And i want the ESP32 to work in such a way that, it can connect to any available wifi network and do what it's suppose to do, by just updating the wifi credentials in the esp.

So, port forwarding is not the right option for me, unless i can automate that in some way. So need something else, like I am currently looking into "MQTT" to see if I can use that to control esp32.

Of course the router need to be configured to provide proper port forwarding.
You've asked how to get ESP32 WebServer exposed, but now you are talking about MQTT, which is completely different thing ...

martinayotte wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 30, 2019 2:20 pm

Of course the router need to be configured to provide proper port forwarding.
You've asked how to get ESP32 WebServer exposed, but now you are talking about MQTT, which is completely different thing ...

Is there any other way than port forwarding?

schkillll wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:26 pm

Is there any other way than port forwarding?

To expose expose internal ESP32 WebServer externally ?
No !

martinayotte wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:55 pm

schkillll wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:26 pm

Is there any other way than port forwarding?

To expose expose internal ESP32 WebServer externally ?
No !

And to control ESP32 over wifi from anywhere? How can we do that?

I want to do the exact same thing.
I am giving the user the option to connect to which wifi he prefers after a wifi scanning procedure.So port forwarding is not an option as the network is not predifined
After connection, the ESP creates a server displaying data. These data can be seen by the user typing the IP to a browser.
Although, it is crucial that you can access the IP even if you are not connected in the same network.
I can get the public IP, but what else can be done so that it can work?
Thank you!

A more secure alternative to port forwarding is to use a VPN. I use and can recommend Wireguard/Pivpn running on a Raspberry Pi 4.