How does backups work? And what about updates? Or is this more like a 'try' / testing app hosting?
PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
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Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#12How does backups work? And what about updates? Or is this more like a 'try' / testing app hosting?
Backups are for the whole server at the moment and include mounted volumes and databases. Hoping to add per-pod snapshots a bit later. Helps that we already run a backup service. More on this planned feature here: https://feedback.pikapods.com/posts/14/offer-backup-option
Updates arrive a few days after they are released and if you keep the ‘automatic updated’ setting enabled. We do some rudimentary QA before deploying updates.
It’s definitely for long-term hosting. Many pods have been running for months (we had a public beta since around January)
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#13Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
Any detailed privacy information? e.g storage encryption and access, system credentials etc.
Why do some apps require billing information for trial?
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#14Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
Any detailed privacy information? e.g storage encryption and access, system credentials etc. Why do some apps require billing information for trial?
There is a boiler plate privacy page, but not with those technical details yet.
First, storage isn’t encrypted and I can’t think of threat scenarios that require it, since we only use bare metal servers and control the drives. Wouldn’t add much benefit at the cost of higher CPU usage.
For your account, you can enable TOTP 2FA from Account > Password/2FA.
For our production servers, any admin access needs a hardware Yubikey.
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#15Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
No questions, just want to say Thank you. I see a great need for such service, planning to use some soon. Never heard about Pikapods before.
Maybe there will be good demand for simple db like SQLite. Just a suggesion.
Goodluck
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#16Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
No questions, just want to say Thank you. I see a great need for such service, planning to use some soon. Never heard about Pikapods before. Maybe there will be good demand for simple db like SQLite. Just a suggesion. Goodluck
Some apps already use SQLite as storage. In addition we run shared Postgres and Mariadb.
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#17Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
Why Malta?
Any benefits to being incorporated/hosted there?
Pros/Cons?
Are you planning on including resource intensive media/other apps like Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr etc as well?
Also, I HIGHLY doubt you're "surprised" to see this posted here and elsewhere (like on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/ulm395/pikapods...) as this all appears engineered / deliberate with your involvement - I mean, your response is literally identical - which is fine and all, but transparency is likely a better approach.
Good hustle though.
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#18Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
Why Malta? Any benefits to being incorporated/hosted there? Pros/Cons? Are you planning on including resource intensive media/other apps like Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr etc as well? Also, I HIGHLY doubt you're "surprised" to see this posted here and elsewhere (like on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/ulm395/pikapods... ) as this all appears engineered / deliberate with your involvement -…
Yeah, English speaking and inside the EU are some pros. (European myself)
I’m trying to stay away from apps with large piracy/abuse potential for now. Later they may go on a dedicated server in a friendly country like Netherlands.
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#19Absolutely brilliant idea (ok it is an idea I have had myself, I am glad someone has done it) One thing that is not clear is the estimated costs - is that per app, or do you charge for the server and I can run multiple apps? I think $10 a month for something to power 50 or so apps (maybe I don’t use them all the time, if I do I expect things to get slow or you allow say 2 concurrent apps) would be great. I think this…
It’s per pod/app you run and depends on the resources you allocate. Price for minimum required resources is given for each app and starts at $1/month. Yeah, the goal is to make running FOSS as easy as Google Photos, but with more privacy and community-maintained code. Also hoping to channel some funds back to authors, but that’s more complex than expected. Just getting started with it.
I think you should consider OP’s suggestion. Unlimited apps for some X flat rate. I believe this would bring in more users and potentially attract an audience who for instance was considering Cloudron but didn’t want the hassle of even managing/buying the VPS to install it on..
Re: PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any detailed privacy information? e.g storage encryption and access, system credentials etc. Why do some apps require billing information for trial?
There is a boiler plate privacy page, but not with those technical details yet. First, storage isn’t encrypted and I can’t think of threat scenarios that require it, since we only use bare metal servers and control the drives. Wouldn’t add much benefit at the cost of higher CPU usage. For your account, you can enable TOTP 2FA from Account > Password/2FA . For our production servers, any admin access needs a hardware…
If you control the drives, what will you do when old drives are cycled out? Will you just dump them in a bin for a letter agency to come and harvest my cat photos?
IMO, FDE is easy enough to do, even if the users never get to do it themselves. It sort of protects the users from leaking their data in the event that a company goes out of business or someone breaks in to steal hardware.