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Start Self Hosting

rohanrd.xyz

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Re: Start Self Hosting

#421

Post by hsn915 »

rattray wrote: post #358

One problem with "self-hosting" is you're usually still hosting in the cloud – say, on a DigitalOcean droplet or something. That means you're spending $5-10 every month or whatever, plus you're still vulnerable to some amount of cloud-provider fickleness (though much less than a SaaS provider). Much better would be a physical device in your own home. Lately I've been dreaming about a home wifi router that doubles as…

The internet is a network. You are on the edge of the network. There's a gateway between you and the network. This is impossible to eliminate. It's a feature of the network.

The only mitigation you can do is own your data and programs, so that you can change your gateway if they don't serve you faithfully.

From this point of view, hosting on a provider is not any worse than on your home network, as long as you regularly backup your data to your local machine.

Switching from one VPS provider to another is a lot easier than switching from an ISP to another.

Switching VPS can be done in minutes. Just login to another VPS website and sign up for an account to start renting a server from them.

Switching ISP takes on the order of days instead of minutes.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#422

Post by number6 »

yawnxyz wrote: post #353
ndiddy wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laypeople don't know that systemd exists. They will install a webserver or something and the package manager will automatically install and enable its unit file.

I thought I was a pretty good "tech person" until I read this thread... and now I'm more layperson than what this thread considers a "layperson" bc none of this makes sense to meh aha

I drive in the final nail and tell you that the page in the Arch wiki[0] is a wonderful starter on systemd.

Ah.. I was there when it was all SystemV vs Upstart vs Systemd... the golden days...

[0]:https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/systemd

Re: Start Self Hosting

#423

Post by chaxor »

nirvdrum wrote: post #124
dcchambers wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to take care of security Easiest solution is to just host stuff on a local network without access to the wider internet. E.g. running on an old laptop/raspberry pi/server in your basement. Sure, that means you can no longer access your self-hosted stuff when you're out of the house, but the tradeoff is peace of mind about your data leaking or worse.

Setting up a VPN is pretty easy these days. If you don't want to run it on your router, you can look at something like Tailscale for remote access.

*headscale If you care about privacy or self hosting, use headscale instead.

You have no idea what tailscale is really doing.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#424

Post by chaxor »

simonw wrote: post #188
dcchambers wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to take care of security Easiest solution is to just host stuff on a local network without access to the wider internet. E.g. running on an old laptop/raspberry pi/server in your basement. Sure, that means you can no longer access your self-hosted stuff when you're out of the house, but the tradeoff is peace of mind about your data leaking or worse.

Tailscale makes accessing a Raspberry Pi in your basement from outside of the house genuinely easy, including from mobile devices. I think Tailscale opens up all kinds of new opportunities for self-hosting.

You should probably use headscale instead of you care about self hosting.

If you don't trust Google drive with your passwords, why would you trust a company's server that manages access to all of your devices?

Re: Start Self Hosting

#425

Post by sdoering »

tuatoru wrote: post #380
z3t4 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use a popular Linux dist and turn on automatic updates, and use Snap apps that update by themselves. But you still would not have control - apps could update with breaking changes. The only way to win is by choosing simple tools that are either considered "infrastructure", or simple to build and even patch yourself if needed.

> apps that update by themselves Maybe I'm too old (experienced) and cynical, but I always read that as "apps that are going to brick themselves". No thanks.

This one has bitten me hard on servers and desktop computers. And lately on mobile too. The last area were I still had automatic updates enabled.

The problem is, that one can't reasonably wait a few days on every update and look online for breaking changes. Especially with mobile apps that have sometimes a really unreasonable update frequency.

I still have not found a satisfactory solution for me personally.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#426

Post by chaxor »

rashkov wrote: post #312
cmroanirgo wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should start with how to make your system upgradeable too. I've server that started on Ubuntu 16 and made a helluva mess upgrading to 18. Due to php changes i've had to use ondrej's packages for later php... but that will break on a (very overdue) upgrade to 20... All these script kiddie tutorials are terrible at showing how to maintain a server for years .

This is where docker really shines. Unless you’re a php developer or have a lot of experience with it, gluing it all together is best left to some clever person maintaining an upstream docker image.

Docker is not a good solution. Many security focused systems (important for self-hosting) are on FreeBSD. FreeBSD doesn't allow docker, because of it's major security vulnerabilities.

Docker is great for getting toy projects to work somewhere as a last resort, if the dependencies are strange and you need a convoluted (read: badly thrown together) environment to set up the app.

A well made application should not need docker to run.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#427

Post by klodolph »

hsn915 wrote: post #414
klodolph wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, I thought you had a complaint about systemd & text files. It sounds like you are okay with it, unless I misunderstand your comment.

I don't know anything about systemd, nor do I want to. I absolutely have problems with configuration via text files. A lot of things on linux desktops that a typical user wants to do require editing text files to work. For example, try searching for information about how to enable Japanese input in Gnome or XFCE desktops. Invariably, the steps involve installing and configuring some specific packages, and editing sev…

> I don't know anything about systemd, nor do I want to.

Well, that’s fine. We’re mostly talking about self-hosting web servers, and you don’t need to know anything about systemd in order to run a web server on Linux, any more than you need to know about fuel injection computers because you drive a car.

The reason I’m familiar with systemd is for other reasons besides hosting a web site.

I don’t know how problems with IMEs or desktop Linux got brought up, I’m not sure I’m following the conversation.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#429

Post by hsn915 »

rr808 wrote: post #381
rattray wrote: post #358

One problem with "self-hosting" is you're usually still hosting in the cloud – say, on a DigitalOcean droplet or something. That means you're spending $5-10 every month or whatever, plus you're still vulnerable to some amount of cloud-provider fickleness (though much less than a SaaS provider). Much better would be a physical device in your own home. Lately I've been dreaming about a home wifi router that doubles as…

Those cheap $5 servers are weak, probably best to compare to a rasberry pi which is cheap.

powerful enough to serve a lot of basic websites (blogs, forums, chat .. etc) without breaking a sweat

Re: Start Self Hosting

#430

Post by chaxor »

moonbas3 wrote: post #180
BonoboIO wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YES! I think the single most important thing of any software is "how do i install this". Thats the first thing i search for on a github repo. And please no outdated tutorials, that sucks so bad ... that i give up and don't use it.

Most things offer a docker image, so maybe learn how to work with those.

Docker containers don't work for most self hosted solutions, since most self hosted OSes are security focused, and use FreeBSD, instead of Linux, in order to get away from some security vulnerabilities. Docker is a pretty large security vulnerability. It's better than windows, sure - but I think everyone would agree that shouldn't be the bar.
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