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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by irmadlad@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

I'm just mildly curious. I know this isn't the self hosting chan, but how many of you self host services as part of your efforts to retain your privacy, security, and anonymity?

I've been self hosting something for decades now. I got really started back in the PreNapster era. I ran an independent, selfhosted, fully licensed, internet radio outfit. That was back when music on the internet was a lot of cheap, tinny, geocities, midis. LOL I worked with a company called IM Radio Networks. They and Phillips, developed one of the world's first bookshelf stereo, that was internet ready. Hook it up to the internet, and you could listen to AM/FM and IM radio. I've often mused that if it weren't for Shawn Fanning, the music landscape on the internet might look a bit different as he forced the music industry to reevaluate how they did business.

Now, I self host a ton of stuff just for my own needs. It's an enjoyable, purposeful, hobby, that keeps me busy. It's also, so very educational, and I learn new things daily.

ETA: Man it does my heart good to meet and greet privacy minded users who also self host. It is an integral part of my privacy, anonymity, and security posture. If you aren't already, or are thinking of self hosting, do it! You don't need massive racks in the closet that dim the lights on reboot. A simple NUC or even RPi are quite capable of serving up services. You don't need a Tier 1 feed from your ISP. Keep it simple and basic and work up from there to meet your needs.

Thanks again to all those who responded and shared their experiences.

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[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

Working on jellyfin and Nextcloud right now. I have not used NGinx or Tailscale, so now I have to figure out how to set those up to work outside of my house without getting hacked. Next I might try SearXNG or maybe host my own email again.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

Tailscale super easy and a self-solving problem.

Searxng is rock solid.

[-] chaoticnumber@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Oh god, where do I start?

3 node proxmox setup:

Net node:

  • opnsense (dns, dhcp, edge firewall, wireguard)
  • caddy
  • ssh hub

Compute node:

  • a few game servers
  • wiki (kiwix), full copy of wikipedia
  • searxng
  • docker host (portainer plus 10ish containers)
  • forgejo
  • testing vms
  • a separate zfs mirror

Storage node:

  • all drives, zfs + mirror
  • proxmox backup server
  • home assistant
  • immich
  • ARR stack
  • jellyfin

Oh and a monitoring node made out of a rpi 4b with an nvme hat,running dietpi, prometheus, grafana and homepage (gethomepage.dev)

Thats about it plus automations and stuff, wireguard so I can access it from anywhere. Not separated properly, no network zones, just a few vlans for now, work in progress.

[-] irmadlad@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

It gets to be an obscession, no?

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[-] freedickpics@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

I have a local network for sharing files between my devices but I don't open anything up to remote access. I might change my mind once I'm more skilled at networking but right now I don't trust myself to be able to set up something secure. If I'm on the road I just plan what I'll need and manually sync it across before I go

[-] irmadlad@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don’t trust myself to be able to set up something secure

That's totally understandable. I will admit, the first server I tried to stand up got ransacked in an hour. I received a nastygram from the VPS saying that my server was attacking other servers which can have serious consequences. Of course I shut it down right away. I had just the OS, nothing else on there, so at worst it caused a some other servers to implement a block on my IP.

So I sat down and started reading, and testing, ad nauseam. Learned about hardening a Linux server. Learned about UFW and Fail2ban, and other security deployments. Learned how to bash. It's been a learning process that still thrives. I thoroughly enjoy the experience.

But yes, it can be daunting at first, I totally get that. Of course, you have a much broader resource to tap than I did at the time, but that's what I really dig about the internet. It is the sum total of the world's knowledge. Not necessarily wisdom, but vast repositories of information.

Have a blast bro.

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this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2025
73 points (98.7% liked)

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