Access Home Assistant from LAN - Ubuntu desktop docker install

Configuration
1

Hello,
I am new to Home Assistant and I am far from being a Linux expert.

I have just completed the installation of Home Assistant in Docker on my Ubuntu desktop 20.04. I can access it on localhost:8123 from the same Ubuntu session and perform some configurations.

The problem starts when I try to access it from another device on the same LAN, for example my tablet or my smartphone through the dedicated android app : the site cannot be reached (even if the app achive by itself in finding the IP address of the Ubuntu machine).

Maybe that’s the normal behavior, since I have never said to the system (Ubuntu) that it can accept any incoming connection. So, maybe, I have to go through the firewall configuration. I am not sure since I have not seen any similar instruction either on the tutorials I have read or on the official installation instructions. But maybe, that’s different with a server version of Ubuntu, or maybe people use ssh connection to access the Home Assistant machine (which would grant access to the Home Assistant port) ; other “remote access issues” mainly concern port-forwarding, VPN…which I will give a try later…

Thanks in advance for your help.

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If you have a port specified on the docker config like below, this is mapping the port 8123 on the ubuntu host, to the same port inside the container (you should really run this in at least docker-compose though).

docker run -p 8123:8123 homeassistant/home-assistant

It’s almost certainly a blocking firewall. Try disabling the firewall and see if it works

sudo ufw status
sudo ufw disable

Also, check your devices are not automatically trying to load over https if you only run http.

1 Like
3

Thank for the reply. It was a firewall issue: I allowed incoming connection from the device I want to connect from and I was able to log into Home Assistant.

For tracking purpose, the command I used to allow connections is:

`sudo ufw allow from *device_ip_address* to any port 8123`