A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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I host:
Probably forgot some..
Chad.
Do you host on at your house, a VPS or something else?
All on Hetzner.
My long and mostly complete list:
These services are the result of years of development and administrating my lab and while there is still some cruft, it's mostly services that I think have real utility.
As far as hardware:
Running pfsense on a toughbook laptop as a router-firewall.
A SuperMicro 24 bay disk-shelf with Proxmox and ZFS for NAS duties and a couple services.
Lenovo Tiny boxes with a Proxmox cluster for the majority of my local services.
Dell managed switch
A few Raspberry-pi's with Raspbian for various things.
Linksys AP for wifi
Edit: Spelling is hard.
Mind blown! Thanks so much for the comprehensive list!! 🙏
Fantastic breakdown, thank you!
Did you get a dual nic in the laptop router, or how did you work it?
It's an older Panasonic ToughBook CF-C2 with an ExpressCard34 slot I'd say circa 2013. I have a gigabit Ethernet adapter jammed in there for WAN. I've been using the setup for maybe 8 years and it's been ultra reliable for me.
Expresscards are an underrated feature of old laptops as a server.
That is impressive. For the sake of curiosity, do you have any photos or diagrams you could share?
Hmmm. I don't have a network/infrastructure diagram or anything yet, but I've been meaning to create one. I'll probably put one together and post more about my setup if there's any interest. I'll be sure to tag you when I do. Thanks for the interest!
Oh my jesus, does this thread really have 400+ comments
Edit: respectfully as an atheist
Yep, people are enthusiastic about self hosting and like talking about what they host :)
As an offensive security worker.... I can't help but read people listing out their attack surface 😂
My RISV-V server (I have removed all binary blobs and have no closed source code ofc) is airgapped inside a Faraday cage.
For security reasons I never turn it on.
All my deploys are written in binary on a stack of index cards that we then burn, put in a zip lock bag, encase in concrete, surround in a welded closed steel box, and throw in the Mariana Trench. The documentation sucks though.
Nah, it's all safe, it's in containers
I'm not sure the list is really that big of a deal for a home gamer. They're probably more in danger from their choice of home audio appliances and that microwave that has been sitting on their network for 10 years which no longer gets updates. Or that 2019 Plex server they have put forwarded straight outside.
It's actually one of my beefs with containers, You can't keep track of The versions for everything and you're at the mercy of the maintainers to keep individual packages updated.
Currently all LAN only, still in the experimental stage finding out what's useful/preferable to me and what I want to keep:
KEEPING
Pi-Hole - ad/malware/tracker blocking
Portainer - Easy Docker
Syncthing - Sync folders between devices
Planka - Kanban board
I.T. Tools - Handy I.T. Tools
Bookstack - Personal documentation
Mealie - Recipe manager/meal planner
Jellyfin + usual accompaniments - Media Management
Navidrome - Music library
Changedetection - Stock monitoring
Gotify - For push notifications from other apps
Filebrowser
That Word Game ;)
UNDECIDED (may swap for alternatives or just remove)
Organizr - Homepage
Jump - Homepage
Homepage - Yup, another homepage!
Linkding - Bookmarks
Shiori - Pocket replacement
Etebase - CalDAV & CardDAV
Whoogle - Google without the crap
Photoprism - Photo management
Libreddit (not being used now!)
QBittorrent - for Linux ISOs
Uptime-Kuma (for when I do open a few services to family)
Ryot (beta) "Roll Your Own Tracker" - Media Tracker
PLANNING TO ADD
Reverse-proxying (likely NPM) + Security (Fail2Ban, Autheilia?)
Audiobooks
Comic book management
Translation service
Document manager
Home Assistant on its own Pi4 when I can get hold of one
I have a VPS (netcup) with 8 cores, 12GB RAM and 320GB SSD. Hosting there on Ubuntu 22.04:
At home I have a Ryzen 5 5600G with 16GB RAM on a B550 aorus elite v2 with 2TB nvme SSD and 2x 6TB seagate HDDs.
Hosting there on Fedora 38 KDE:
Most of this stuff runs on my server at home (ASRock J4105-ITX, 8 GB RAM , 250 GB SSD, 18 TB HDD). The mail server and the blog run on a cheap VPS (1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD). Both servers run NixOS.
- Nextcloud, mainly for calendars and contacts; occasionally for sharing files with others.
- Syncthing for syncing files.
Quick question: have you thought about hosting Radicale and filebrowser instead of NextCloud? I think that would be definetly lighter on your system.
Also: I have read lots of mixed opinions whether mailservers should be selfhosted - what is your take on this? Do you know about problems reaching the big player mailservers?
When I looked around for CalDAV solutions the last time Nextcloud was the only one that allowed me to share calendars with my SO. Nextcloud isn‘t very taxing on my system because it doesn‘t do anything most of the time.
Do you know about problems reaching the big player mailservers?
Honestly, I don‘t know. I have never had a confirmed case of an email being rejected or classified as spam. There were some cases of not getting an answer to an email. But that could also be explained by shitty customer service.
It is tricky to setup everything correctly if you are trying to do it all on your own but SNM holds your hand for setting up DKIM, SPF and DMARC. That‘s where some people may have problems. Also, forget about setting up a mail server at home with any IP address you get from your internet provider.
Currently a new instance of Lemmy, other than that I have a Synology NAS where I host:
There's also docker where I host:
I run my own kubernetes cluster in 3 thinkcentres I bougth for cheap. Each of them has a proxmox and an ubuntu with k3s on top of it. The storage is an NFS I run from a good old qnap.
https://files.catbox.moe/8w2e7y.png
I used to have an irc bouncer too but I didn't use it enough.
My short term plans are adding tdarr and transmission.
I use TrueNAS Scale for my NAS and Ubuntu server for my VM's/home server. I probably am forgetting something, but, that's what's listed in my Portainer :).
How has Scale been on Linux vs BSD? Any complaints or plug-in compatibility issues?
I would go back if it was easy. The speed difference from just getting a listing of contents in a large directory over SMB is insane. It used to be instant and it takes like 10-15 seconds now. I'm not even using their app setup anymore, I gave up on it after a while because of a bunch of random issues with updates over time and switched to a dedicated box with Portainer installed. I really wish I could go back to core.
I'm sure they'll iron everything out but BSD is still king at the moment.
That’s disappointing, thanks for the info. I had hoped with OpenZFS things would be improved, but sounds like native Linux performance just isn’t there yet.
Pihole Keycloak Lemmy
The "usual" Plex stack:
Plex Sonarr Radarr Readarr Calibre & Calibre-Web Sabnzbd Nzbhydra
I want to throw Nextcloud into the mix, but I haven't gotten the motivation to do that yet. I have 102TB of disk on a 4 node kubernetes cluster just for fun
I run:
On 3 Rpis and a NAS around my home:
Nextcloud - Google replacement
Actual Budget - YNAB type server that's super simple and meets my needs
Apache web server - portal to my projects
PiHole - DNS pass/allow list
PiVPN - Allows me to connect to my home VPN when abroad
2009Scape - A little RuneScape Private Server I turn on and off on my desktop when I'd like to afk at work
Docker - A couple docker instances - one on my test pi I use to roll out onto my "prod" servers
Backup server - 14TB backup with an offsite copy :D
Joplin - Note-taking app - barely a server connected through Nextcloud
Plex - Everyone knows about Plex - I'm thinking of switching to JellyFin
rtorrent - kinda old-school compared to the *arr programs but I enjoy manually downloading all my media :)
Hope I'm not forgetting any!
Got 2 24/7 runners in my home:
In addition, I'm hosting a couple of Wireguard VPS in the US and a Nordic country to give me access to regional content (I pay for a few regional services through friends living there - i.e. they pay monthly and I pay them yearly for an account on a region-locked service) - not sure if that counts as "self-hosting" :)
This assortment is run under a combination of Proxmox LXC containers, docker containers, and Yunohost. Mostly I use it to play around, but most are heavily used by my wife and I. I'm planning to rebuild everything and making things more "official". Looking to convert from a "lab" to actually making it "production" with solid failure routes and backups. I am looking to move anything currently under Yunohost to docker/lxc and to start making use of podman. Recently saw CosmOS and think it might be a good alternative to portainer.
Hardware:
You're doing that as a full-time job, right?
These days I just got a plex server and a project zomboid server running.
I'm actually not that into actual self-hosting (it feels too close to my day job). But i love the idea of it, and actually do host my own RSS Reader: It's selfoss (PHP + SQLite, so, very simple) and i have been using ever since google reader shut down. It runs on my uberspace.de instance.
36 TB server:
Raspberry pi:
Oh jeez... there's quite the list. I have a Ceph cluster of 3 nodes with 15x HDD's and 3 SSD's... on that cluster I run some VM's that in turn run a Docker swarm. All Ubuntu 22.04, all commodity hardware. Currently I'm running;
Then there's a whole host of ancillary services; BackupPC, Unifi controller container, piHole on a couple of Raspberry Pi's, ts-dnsserver for internal DNS management... probably a dozen other containers and tools I'm forgetting.
Oh yeah, and a Synology NAS as a backup target :)
I respect the enterprise-level IT operation you run for your family lol
What's it like hosting your own mail? Been considering it for a while but Gmail features/spam filter/deliverability has been tough to beat.
Feels like literally everything...
LXC:
NginxProxyManager
Kasm
Several instances of GameServer
openemr (testing for viability for a client)
3 instances of TechnitiumDNS
Nextcloud
Graylog
UptimeKuma
ChangeDetection
Zwave-js
MeshCentral
Homepage
Canvas (yes a full instance of canvas. I used to be a college instructor, I have a copy of all my courses)
InvoiceNinja
Matrix
Lemmy
UnifiController
Gameyfin (I don't like this that much... it'll likely get killed)
6 instances of generic docker on LXC running portainer for other services:
diagrams.net (specifically tied into my nextcloud instance)
ghostfolio
it-tools
librespeed
libretranslate
quakejs
rickroll
rxresume
searxng
Ascii starwars
wxrdle
gramps.js
teamspeak
authentik (I think I like keycloak more and might migrate back)
bisq
hrconvert2
And a watchtower instance on each.
VMs:
Proxmox Backup Server
Mailcow
Librenms
freepbx
HomeAssistant
Windows Domain Server (no GUI)
"Media Server" which is a plex stack with all the *arr fixings.
And a vpn bound qbitorrent instance.
Edit:
I missed an old VM that I'm in the process of deprecating out to lxc...
Docker01:
Archivebox
Ghost
Bookstack
LibreCaptcha
Wordpress (for a client)
parsedmarc
gitea
grocy
YOURLS
minecraft
opennox
vaultwarden
racktables
tubearchivist
Too many things:
Services:
Pihole with UnboundMatrixcryptpadseafileVaultwardenmailcowpterodactyl running Minecraft, Valheim, and Terraria serversemby though I am planning the switch to JellyfinPaperless-NGXPhotoprismSearxNGWallabagGhostMinifluxPrivateBinCalibre-web and KavitaNitter and Troddit (for now...)Home Assistant and FrigateYOURLSCode-serverLinkdingChangedetection.ioLanguageToolUptime Kuma
And more, but those are what I use the most.
I have a dedicated server where I run multiple service with podman.
All those instance are close for inscriptions they are just for me or friends. I use posftix to relay mail. I have on postgresql instance shared across the services. I use traefik for ssl, I wanted traefik to auto discover the container but it didn't work when I tried maybe it works now.
This is my little setup at work
Kubernetes cluster (created by kubespray)
I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, but that's mostly what I host here at home. My lemmy instance is on DigitalOcean.
Minecraft server
