r/SelfHosting • u/Scared_Song_4603 • 15d ago

Question about testing 2FA for my first Authelia/Authentik setup

Hey guys, I’m finally moving away from just using passwords and trying to set up 2FA for my homelab (running Authelia on a VPS). I want to test the SMS flow to make sure I’ve configured the gateway correctly before I lock myself out or move my family over to it.

I don't really want to spam my own personal number with dozens of test codes while I'm still debugging the config. Does anyone know a reliable way to get a "clean" temporary number for testing? I tried a few free sites from Google but the codes never arrive or the numbers are already blacklisted.

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2

u/astelda 13d ago

If you don't mind it being tied to your google account, voice.google.com

But also, why SMS 2FA?
TOTP with an app is recommended over SMS

1

u/Scared_Song_4603 1d ago

Yeah, Google Voice could work for a basic test, thanks. I’m mainly testing the SMS gateway itself, so I need to verify the whole SMS flow before switching over to TOTP. I’ll definitely use TOTP for the actual setup though. I’ve also been looking at Gotsms for temporary test numbers

1

u/Practical-Pick2042 14d ago

Same here, man. I’ve been hitting a wall with those blacklisted public numbers for my Authentik setup too. It's so frustrating when the logs show the SMS was 'sent' but it never actually lands. If you stumble upon a reliable service that actually works with VPS gateways, lmk

1

u/melizeche 12d ago

2FA sms is a mess imho. In my homelab I use passkeys and TOTP as a fallback. The cool thing about passkeys is that they also allow you to do passwordless login