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Help with Building a Computer for Self-Hosting? (beehaw.org)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I want to get into self-hosting. I've done a bit of self-hosting before using a Raspberry Pi (pi-hole and Discord bots) but I really want to start self-hosting almost everything I can like I've seen many people here doing.

However, I'm not sure what kind of machine I should build which would be suitable for these purposes. I've never even built a PC before though my fiancee has and he will be able to help me...

Here are some services I'm thinking of self-hosting to start with:

AdGuard
OpenMediaVault
Bitwarden
Mastodon
Matrix

Eventually I would also like to host PeerTube, Kbin, Plex, and many other things...

What are the most important things I'll need to consider with a self-hosting machine, and what I will need to upgrade over time as I self-host more services? Ideally I'd like a machine which is as energy efficient as possible too.

Also, is it a good idea to host so many services, both publically-accessible websites as well as services only available on my home network, from the same machine? What are the security considerations when self-hosting?

Any links/articles for me to read would be appreciated too!

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

One think you need to check before is your upload speed. Without a good one, it will essentially be useless outside of your home.
As for the computer, definitely buy something that can do virtualization, I've heard that some motherboard can't (never seen one, maybe it's an old thing).
And last, even an old computer can be good for self-hosting, except the plex / jellyfin video, almost everything is static webpages with databases. You can upgrade later just by changing the components, add more storage... You can even copy your entire system to a new computer if you change entirely.

Is it a good idea to host so many services, both publically-accessible websites as well as services only available on my home network, from the same machine?

You can use Caddy's reverse proxy to have easy https + not opening ports from your router and have something like plex.mydomain.com / mastodon.mydomain.com. And you'll have no trouble hosting differents services from the same machines. I believe it is not a problem to have multiples services on the same computer.

What are the security considerations when self-hosting?

I'm not an expert, but never use the default password when installing a service. And keep your stuffs up to date. https is important too, but is often automatic when using a reverse proxy.

If you have more question no problems :)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wait, that's awesome. I moved and my net network is CG/NAT so I have no port forwarding without a VPN. Will caddy allow me to get around that and actually use Plex remote?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure about Plex, it is not really 100% self hosting, because authentication come from their server. You should try and see if it works. But their is no reason it should not. It's just an addition in your caddyfile :

plex.mydomain.com {
    reverse_proxy 192.168.0.123:32400 (your address:port)
}

However, i can assure you it works with Jellyfin.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Thank you kindly! I'll have to look into it and see but it sounds like it may be exactly what I've been looking for.