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I stopped reaching my homelab services by memorizing IP addresses and port numbers. My setup uses DHCP reservations to keep key devices at stable addresses, AdGuard Home to map service names to the proxy, and Nginx Proxy Manager (NPM) to send each hostname to the right service and port. The names work on my configured home network; this is one documented setup, not a universal recipe. Network ranges, router menus, and service ports vary.
Why reaching a service by IP and port gets old
A self-hosted service may be reachable at an address such as 192.168.0.4:8097, but remembering that combination is awkward. It is especially tedious to type on a television remote, and bookmarks can break if the host’s address changes. In my setup, I wanted to open Jellyfin by typing jellyfin.internal instead.
The solution has two separate jobs: DNS resolves a name to an IP address, while a reverse proxy uses the requested hostname to choose a service and its port. Keeping those roles distinct makes the setup easier to configure and troubleshoot.
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How the pieces fit together
- DHCP reservation: keeps the IP address of an important device stable on the home network.
- AdGuard Home: provides local DNS rewrites so names such as
jellyfin.internalresolve to the proxy host. - Nginx Proxy Manager: receives the request, matches its hostname to a proxy-host rule, and forwards it to the service’s backend address and port.
DNS does not select a TCP port. If Jellyfin and Home Assistant run on different ports of the same machine, pointing both names at that machine is not enough to distinguish them; NPM performs that routing.
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1. Reserve stable addresses for the infrastructure
My example network uses router address 192.168.0.1 and a dynamic DHCP pool beginning at 192.168.0.10. I reserved 192.168.0.4 for an always-on ZimaBoard running AdGuard Home and NPM, and 192.168.0.5 for a ZimaCube 2 Pro that is not always on. These are addresses from my TP-Link network, not values to copy without checking your own subnet and router.
Reserve infrastructure addresses outside the dynamic pool, or otherwise ensure they cannot be handed to another device. A collision can make DNS rewrites or proxy targets point to the wrong machine. After changing a reservation, you may need to renew the device’s lease or reboot it before it uses the reserved address.
The local DNS server and proxy should be on a host that is reliably available. My ZimaBoard is just the hardware I had for the job; an existing capable, always-on server can fill the same roles. Consider available capacity, network interfaces, power, and processor architecture before buying anything solely for this setup.
2. Make sure home-network clients use local DNS
I use AdGuard Home as the local DNS service. In my router configuration, clients ask the router for DNS and the router forwards requests to AdGuard Home. With that arrangement, AdGuard’s query log shows the router as the requester. Alternatively, a router’s DHCP settings may let you give clients the AdGuard address directly; that can make individual clients visible in the log.
A private name only resolves on devices using a resolver that knows its local record. A public resolver such as 1.1.1.1 will not know my private .internal rewrite. I configured it as a secondary DNS server, but some clients may query a secondary without waiting for the primary to fail. Resolver behavior varies, so a public fallback can make private-name lookups inconsistent rather than providing a dependable backup for those names.
On one Linux client, changing DNS manually did not affect the active connection until I reconnected Wi-Fi. I used resolvectl status to check the active resolver. For a NetworkManager connection, the commands below show the procedure I used; replace the connection name and address with your own values:
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nmcli connection show
nmcli connection modify "Your Wi-Fi connection" ipv4.dns "192.168.0.4"
nmcli connection up "Your Wi-Fi connection"The final command reconnects the named connection. Check its DNS status afterward rather than assuming the setting took effect.
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3. Create local DNS rewrites
In AdGuard Home, I add a rewrite under Filters → DNS rewrites. For example, jellyfin.internal points to the IP address of the machine running NPM. The rewrite contains an address, not Jellyfin’s port; the proxy rule handles the port in the next step.
I use .internal for these private names. My explanation in the original setup was that .local is used by multicast DNS systems such as Bonjour and Avahi and may resolve inconsistently, while .lan and .home could overlap with real domains. The article also identifies .home.arpa as an alternative and reports that ICANN reserved .internal for private networks in 2024; treat that standards detail as the article’s explanation rather than a claim independently verified here.
4. Add a proxy-host rule for each service
In NPM, create a proxy host whose domain name matches the DNS rewrite, then enter the backend address and port for that service. For my example, jellyfin.internal points to the NPM host in DNS, and NPM forwards it to Jellyfin on port 8097. My Home Assistant service uses port 8123, so it needs its own hostname rule and backend port.
NPM’s official setup documentation shows Docker image jc21/nginx-proxy-manager:2.16.0 and example port mappings 80:80 for HTTP, 443:443 for HTTPS, and 81:81 for the administrative web interface. The documentation, checked 2026-10-03, lists amd64 and arm64 support; it says armv7 support ended with version 2.14 and directs users who need it to version 2.13.7. Check the NPM setup documentation for current image and architecture details.
NPM provides a web interface for proxy hosts and supports Let’s Encrypt certificates, as described on its official site. I left SSL unconfigured for my .internal names, so this setup does not establish HTTPS for those local addresses. A public certificate workflow should not be assumed to work for private-only names.
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5. Test both routes and handle service-specific trust
Test the service directly on its own address and port, then test it by its local hostname through NPM. If direct access works but the proxied request fails, the proxy rule or the service’s trust settings may be the issue.
Home Assistant returned 400: Bad Request through NPM in my setup even though its direct port worked. Adding the NPM container to Home Assistant’s trusted proxies resolved that case. Follow the current trusted-proxy guidance for each service; use only the actual proxy address or a narrowly correct network range. Container IPs may change when containers are recreated, so verify the address rather than relying on a stale one.
Troubleshooting port conflicts and filtering side effects
Find what is using a port before changing it
A proxy needs its listener ports to be available. I found port 80 already used by the host dashboard, moved that dashboard to port 8888, and rebooted after an installer check appeared stale. That was a platform-specific conflict, not a required NPM change. On Linux, ss can show listening sockets; docker ps shows container port mappings. Identify the process or container that owns a port before altering the intended proxy listener.
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- If a name does not resolve, check the rewrite and verify the client is using the local resolver.
- If the name resolves to an old or unexpected address, check the reservation and the DNS record’s target.
- If the name resolves but the page does not load, check the matching NPM rule, backend address, and service port.
- If direct access works but proxied access fails, check service-specific trusted-proxy configuration.
Account for app-specific filtering
AdGuard’s filtering caused a connectivity issue with my Netflix TV app because telemetry hostnames were blocked. I resolved it with allowlist rules. That is my reported experience, not evidence that every AdGuard setup blocks Netflix or that the same allowlist entries are appropriate for everyone.
What this arrangement does—and does not—solve
For several services sharing a host, DNS rewrites plus NPM give each one a memorable local name while keeping its port out of the address I type. DNS-only records may be sufficient when names map directly to distinct IP addresses; a reverse proxy is useful in the shared-host arrangement because it can route multiple hostnames to different backend ports.
Local names such as these resolve only for clients configured to use the home network’s local DNS. NPM does not make them available remotely by itself. Remote access is a separate design decision; my article points to a VPN approach such as Tailscale rather than treating the local reverse proxy as an internet-access solution.
I chose NPM over Caddy because NPM was available as a one-click ZimaOS app and offered a web interface. That is a convenience choice for my setup, not a measured comparison of performance or security. The sources provide no tested power, cost, or time-savings figures for the arrangement.
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