Self Hosting Has Changed My Life - What I Self Host

[@TheLinuxCast]

Want more Linux content? Follow me on Mastodon: fosstodon.org/@thelinuxcast ==== Time Stamps ==== 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:35 Vaultwarden 00:01:52 Nextcloud 00:03:13 Calibre Web 00:04:46 Tautulli 00:07:10 FreshRSS 00:08:55 Plex 00:11:16 Other Things I Self Host 00:14:09 Things I Want to Self Host 00:15:17 Wrapping Up

[@yurimodin7333]

what is your homelab hardware specs?

[@felixallistar]

based self host chad

[@crabsoft]

Self-hosting is awesome. I really do think it's where the real internet is headed. Buying a domain was a great decision. Indie websites are infinitely more interesting than anything on these platforms. It turns out software, tech, and engaging with protocols is actually fun when nobody is trying to extract value from you.

[@Henry-sv3wv]

but if you expose to web you have all the troubles and worries about hackers breaking into your home net :(

[@OwlishGeorge]

@@Henry-sv3wv My answer to that is simple: VPS. It's a great solution for those concerned about compromising their home net.

[@mrsentencename7334]

@@Henry-sv3wvcan’t you just use wire guard vpn and only open the port for that?

[@NelsonRazo]

Hi, Matt! Post something about your approach to security in your home lab. Maybe a tutorial on SSL and how to expose your self hosted apps safely to the web. Great work!

[@darthkielbasa]

Three cheers for suggestions on security. One of my go to sources is Ibracorp. Many great flicks on locking down public services using cloudflare certs.

[@704Productions]

Agreed! I’m just fine as long as nothing leaves my home, but I am clueless on the security side of things if I’d like to have it available when I’m away.

[@undersquire]

@@704Productions You could use the free tier of TailScale to "remote in" to your home network securely, and access your nextcloud and whatnot. This avoids having to expose any of your homelab stuff publicly on the web, while still being able to access it from anywhere.

[@UvekProblem]

@@704Productions you would need a VPS or something with a Public IP and doing some tunnelling with your local machine or just having everything there or exposing a port on your router ( which is not really recommend and safe but is completely free ) and then connecting to the network through that port keep in mind everyone in the world could essentially do it then

[@UvekProblem]

SSL is encryption between the server and the client but I'm not sure if you would even need it if you're doing everything on a local network with trusted machines

[@ozzo1997]

Great video! I started exposing some of my stuff to the internet a few months ago, I’d recommend: - subnetting your apps and devices - setting up reverse proxy (nginx) - setting up web proxy (cloudflare) - using custom url with ddns - if extra security conscious, access only through a custom vpn (WireGuard) Make sure you setup and only use HTTPS and maybe setup a network logger (packet sniffer) and alarm system too Keep smashing it!!!

[@oksowhat]

subnetting??

[@ashahahaha]

IDS for sure but also ProxMox + ZeroTier imo Separate VLANs on internal network too

[@chucky29949]

@@oksowhat yeah like Vlans

[@BrianThomas]

15:37 That's the beauty of docker containers or LXC. You can spin them up when you want to try something new and tear them down when you're done having fun. Don't over look that. Enjoy trying out a ton of containers. Do it responsibly of course, but enjoy. That's what it's there for.

[@balcobulls]

It would be awesome if you could run through each of your selfhosted instances, best practices of installs and configurations.

[@MaxiveLegend]

What an awesome video! I really love that you're transparent about your knowledge gaps, that really encourages me (as someone who also loves this kind of stuff, but also has some knowledge gaps, especially in terms of networking) to try this stuff out and experiment. Thanks for sharing!

[@KennyPowers-dx3mz]

For real, such a welcoming approach. That and Matts humour is what made me a regular listener to the podcast.

[@SuperWolfkin]

Moon+ Reader integrates with Calibre directly. No need to use Kindle app on your phone. Plus it can auto import from a folder. So you can just use syncthing as well

[@TheLinuxCast]

I assume that's on Android? I'm an iOS user, sadly

[@SuperWolfkin]

@@TheLinuxCast Ahh. That explains why you're using the kindle app. Okay makes sense. Now I'm confused why hearing Kindle app made me think android.

[@ayoubthegreat]

Sounds awesome, i think i eill ne doing this

[@saidsp5955]

Wireguard is pretty easy to self-host (if u can port forward), or host in something like the cheapest linode. it would be nice for accesing from outside. look for something like headscale (the open source imlementation the tailscale server if u dont feel confortable/want the extra features implementing your own wireguard config)

[@jamesyoung151]

Agreed. I use Wireguard when I'm away so that I can take advantage of the ad blocking in my home network. Now if my internet was faster....

[@JordanPlayz158]

​@@jamesyoung151hmm, perhaps you should just expose PiHole to the internet if your ad blocking for the home network is only at the dns level

[@JamesMowery]

I just use a reverse proxy with authentication, with just that port exposed to the internet. No need to over complicate it with more layers like Wireguard. I've done it this way for years and have never been compromised, and I'm not some security/IT expert either. Don't be afraid of reverse proxies. There was a thread on r/selfhosted that shows that the reverse proxy can be just as, if not more, secure than Wireguard/VPN.

[@pdoherty926]

Interesting! I was aware of tailscale but not headscale. I've been using ngrok and have some experience with Cloudflare Warp but would love to host my own solution, so I will definitely check that out.

[@sawyer303]

I have default config wireguard on a Raspberry Pi and it's great, i have access to my network from the phone or laptop.

[@Satseful]

I just bought server, where I can host similar stuff for my family. Breaking the need of companies I don't like is great motivator for that. On top of many of the services you have, I am going hosting Matrix server for secure communication. Also to save some money from electricity bill, I've thought to setup home assistant as well.

[@BrianThomas]

You missed all the security and network monitoring stuff. Be mindful if you're hosting to the outside world.

[@ayoubthegreat]

@@BrianThomas yes, luckily I think with tailscale you don't need to open to the outside

[@floridaman964]

Yeah I self-host a lot of my own apps. Most of it is custom besides standard file transfer, Plex etc. Some of my projects include a dashboard where I can view every single aspect of my life including spending (an app I made with Plaid), and tracking my GPS location 24/7, another custom program I wrote. All of these are internal but I used to have OpenVPN set up. Nowadays I've been playing with FreeBSD and writing kernel extensions for it.

[@hafenauer]

If you want to give Jellyfin another go and UI is what bothers you, you can install skins like Scyfin. Installing a skin is just adding a few CSS lines in Jellyfin dashboard, you don't need a skin manager addon. Same for uninstalling, so they are easy to try out.

[@KyleRassweiler]

The jellyfin UI can be themed to match plex, I think someone already has one available.

[@ndubuisiamadi]

@@KyleRassweiler fr? Got a link or something? I love jellyfin but the UI is horrendous

[@704Productions]

Thank you sir! I had never heard of FreshRSS. Installed it tonight. Love it! Great show!!

[@VishnuVardhanS]

Try Home Assistant some time. Home automation is another fun rabbit hole

[@swollenaor]

@@VishnuVardhanS and a very very very deeeeeeeeep

[@V1N_574]

@@VishnuVardhanS I've been wanting to try but I assume that it will cost me another small fortune 🤣

[@michaelwood7021]

@@V1N_574 no, it will cost you a large fortune. It gets a bit ridiculous in what you do but it seems totally reasonable when you are planning lol. Some of my automations are just so over the top

[@czanderrr]

I'm pretty new to selfhosting and Linux in general, a couple of these are on my radar and this just pushed me more to look into. Thanks for the video!

[@imnutrak130]

the moment I realised this guy must be watches is the audio pads on the wall pinned with pins. I love it! This hints me this guy will actually do stuff he uses and not just market me things I wouldn't realyl want to use in my HOME and not some semi-enterprise grade home with a half car payment on hardware.

[@humanglitch5864]

Absolutely amazing list of things and quite practical for daily life usage. I am waiting on my parts to arrive for the homelab but I am looking forward to self host most of the things you have mentioned in the video. Suuuuuper excited to let go of my cloud subscriptions and switch to fully self hosted space! Great video and I did not realise the video was 17 mins long until it ended. LOL

[@fastshuther]

Thank you for the introduction of having a homelab, really helped out to scope things out beforehand

[@Tjp-z4r]

leaving comment for algorithm boost. Good video 👍

[@iavv334]

It’s always bothered me having to pay some company for hosting for email servers or a web domain, and was a large reason why I hadn’t done so sooner. I’ll probably use this for reference setting this stuff up at home, thank you!

[@ingmarbm]

Awesome video! Can you do a video on how you set up to be able to access all the services from inside and outside of your local network, i.e. servers, firewall, port forwarding etc.?

[@benderbg]

Thanks for sharing.

[@rhettmelton]

subscribed 🤙 calibre, tautulli, and searx are cool new finds for me. thanks!

[@TheGabrielMoon]

where can I see your host specs?

[@gidi1899]

Small reaction to "give a like" request at the begining of the video. I have attention and memory difficulties, so, for creators I wish to promote on every video because I already know I want their content, I usually do a like right when I start watching in order to not forget (can't avoid hitting recommendations in youtube after a video, even if you asked and opted to not get them). But, I came accross comments that say, youtube downgrade likes that are happening at the start of the video. And it's been a while since I heard a creator requests a like at the start.

[@KHAJIMEI]

07:04 Trakt is the Alternative to that, it can be synced all over but you would have to make an account

[@misikovich]

i host sunshine to stream games from my pc, and then connect to it over internet via tailgate from my tablet

[@AlejandroMatos]

You got me at calibre web and portainer. Awesome

[@browntownpr]

Awesome video!

[@autohmae]

First thing I found was Jellystat

[@prexxin2084]

What software are you using for your Notes?

[@darthkielbasa]

Just had a thought… Linux Cast 2.0 will be Matt getting a network rack in the background. Then we’ll know he’s fully into the self hosting scene.

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@darthkielbasa oh that'd be cool. One day.

[@zgames9400]

I would probably get one of those mini racks used for sound equipment and fill it with R Pis, Zimablades and NUCs.

[@markkoops2611]

If you switch to jellyfin, it can replace plexus and calibre.. Its been an awesome addition to my home setup

[@adeus666]

Hadn't heard of it before, but based on syllable structure "tautulli" looks like it was meant to be homonymous with "totally"

[@TheLinuxCast]

could be. I should probably just call it "the plex thing"

[@bandwidthpiggy9378]

Once I learned you can git clone from any server running ssh without any extra configuration I had a hard time justifying something as overkill as gitlab. Might be a security over pretty ui choice but honestly a good project makefile and ide makes that choice a no brainer.

[@formypeepoh]

Enjoyed your lab tour. Regarding Jellyfin vs Plex. I've bought a WD NAS back in 2018, because it has a Plex app. Have tried it for a couple of weeks. Ended up watching movies/series on my favorite players (mpc-hc and vlc->iina) over plain SMB3... Thanks for the video.

[@gabrielspeed5464]

would be nice to hear about some of the steps you took to secure VaultWarden

[@c0wg0d]

I don't understand how you can have your portainer container inside portainer. When I tried that it worked until I updated it, then everything got messed up.

[@pablogarcia-zarandieta7998]

Very interesting video, thank you

[@ItzGlxw]

can you make a video on how to self host, or a video how to setup a NAS / and explain these.

[@UltimateArts13]

Proton does have imap though?

[@ThisIsMMI]

If you have IP cameras at your home, try installing frigate in your homelab

[@arthurpizza]

You might want to see if the Proton Mail Bridge would help.

[@klaernie]

@@arthurpizza or simply setting up an imap server in the homelab - dovecot is fairly friendly to setup

[@nimbusarch]

Changing from Plex to Jellyfin was painful, but I no longer trust Plex for privacy.

[@jamiiacademy]

@@nimbusarch how do you use Jellyfin within smart TV (LG or Samsung)?

[@ClemFi]

​@@jamiiacademychromecast or the dlna feature

[@omarashraf27]

Can you make a playlist on the channel for this homelab episodes?

[@jttech44]

Plex isn't self hosted, requires hacking around 3rd party auth. In that way, Jellyfin is massively superior. The mobile app is meh, but it works, and 99% of the time you're looking at a video full screen, so, minimal impact that it's just a web wrapper. Also portainer is probably overkill for what you're using. Consider something like runtipi or yacht, much simpler.

[@TheLinuxCast]

If you want to argue about semantics, you're still wrong. Plex is hosted on my server. I host the bits. Now if you want to argue that it is proprietary garbage, then that I can't dispute.

[@jttech44]

@@TheLinuxCast no, it's not 100% self-hosted. It uses your online Plex account to authenticate, which you cannot host. You can turn that off, but OOB it's on. IE, you can't login without someone else who's not you being involved. That's not semantics, it's reality. That alone makes it a nonstarter for me.

[@zgames9400]

I agree with the frustration over Plex login. However, Portainer has been infinitely better for getting docker apps running. I can't remember why I didn't like yacht but runtipi created more problems than it solved when trying to customize container settings and I really don't like traefik.

[@adarsh3196]

Can you make a video on security, https stuff of your homelab and have you checked out caddy as nginx alternative would love to know which 1 i should go with

[@NetScalerTrainer]

Are you using cloudflare to provide remote access? How do you expose your lab to the internet?

[@DublinV1]

not a fan of nextcloud i use seafile and been liking it alot for file syncing, and immich for picture backup

[@jhPampoo]

Which nextcloud version did you use guy? Im testing version 30 but got stuck in thumbnail for video files are not generated, version 29 was ok but not 30

[@Lunolux]

starting a homelab is easy now day, but leaving it, not gonna be easy

[@vickazz]

Hey, hello here from Germany :) actually I use Apple Music but I want to host music by my self but were do you buy or download your music? Maybe it’s a German problem but I can’t find anything how to download music in best quality. If you buy it on Amazon, Apple and so on you can‘t download it

[@VaibhavShewale]

so this self host is on anoth system that you created as server or us pc as server as well

[@GJoseeph]

i like your intentions, and i also get this is what works for you, but i think you could push your server further with more services, this is barely average usage. for example i have kinda the same as you, but i rely on my server for big downloads/uploads through firefox docker service, so i dont need my main machine powered on for downloading 60gb of files and patches. I just move those files to my main coumputer via FTP, or i work them from my server File manager in Web browser

[@user-dc9zo7ek5j]

Coolio! I want to ask something. Did you find your home lab setup hard? I don't know your tech background, but when I think about RAID, UPS, VMs, routers, firewalls, those are the things that concern me from making a homelab. Edit: Also, did you try keycloak?

[@scbtripwire]

"Music - Mom" 6:38 lol. "Hey Mom this is how you use it, cool huh?" Your Mom: *_forgets immediately and doesn't bother with it again_*

[@autohmae]

As someone who works at a hosting provider for business, I kind of self-host 🙂

[@Nodster]

Don't want to know your power costs then with all those zeros added to the end lol

[@autohmae]

@@Nodster luckily still very little GPU hosting. The large cloud providers are now buying nuclear power plants, literally.

[@ravi2048]

This video is not uploaded in 1080p right? Because the top quality is 480p on my phone😮.

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@ravi2048 nope. It's in 1080p. On my phone too

[@janreal84]

hey, the algo presented me with your video and I am enjoying it, so have my comment and my thumb up

[@anastasiosdados6375]

what app did you use for your spending in the end btw?

[@VisualTraining]

How would one get started hosting?

[@arska-pelejavlogejajaautoj5030]

I'd like a video on Searx.

[@xlr555usa]

self hosting is the way to go, we need leverage IPFS also.

[@Danielo515]

Do you recommend Plex for music?

[@gearboxworks]

Would love to see that video about setting up local search. Subscribed in hopes you'll end up creating it. 🙂

[@TheLinuxCast]

Definitely will be coming soon.

[@danbrown586]

There seems to be some drama surrounding Gitea; Forgejo is an alternative.

[@joaofelipe2060]

Sorry to ask, but which drama about Gitea? could not find info about it and was about to install on my home server.

[@danbrown586]

@@joaofelipe2060 The best I remember is that control of the project was taken over by a for-profit business. Some users were bothered by that, and the company's explanation didn't satisfy them, so they forked the project into Forgejo. That's my best rough memory, and it's probably missing a lot of detail. I'm currently using Gitea, just started playing with Forgejo.

[@zgames9400]

Sounds made up. I also can't find anything about it. I haven't had any problems with Gitea.

[@danbrown586]

@@zgames9400 Sure, I just made it up. Because Google doesn't find any hits for "gitea control dispute" or "gitea control controversy."

[@1Iljo1]

what hardware are you using/what OS is running under the hood?

[@ChetanBhasin]

What DE is that you're using?

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@ChetanBhasin plasma in this one

[@stammeringstories9761]

Adguardhome, wireguard can be next Additions to the homelab

[@petrisss2047]

Great Video, where do you get your books from?

[@TheLinuxCast]

Many places. Some are kindle books I've pulled the drm off of, others come from a few other ebook websites

[@rpatros]

What are you running your docker server on. What are the specs of that machine?

[@TheLinuxCast]

I run all of them in a proxmox vm. It runs Ubuntu. The machine itself is a HP workstation with a Xeon CPU and 128GB of RAM

[@rpatros]

@@TheLinuxCast which model

[@vespoid5107]

how do you manage those application do you use a application to it

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@vespoid5107 it’s all done in portainer

[@riffdex]

The subscribe button is white for me, but I presume it’s cause I’m using the KZbin app on dark mode so they chose white as a contrast to the black background/interface.

[@WilsonXp]

Would love a video on self-hosting searx!

[@JohnHall]

"...for a few months." /shakes head. I mean, good for you to learn and work on these things, but the issue is maintenance and staying on top of it.

[@nightshade427]

have you tried the nextcloud password manager?

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@nightshade427 no. I may. But I love bitwarden.

[@user-dc9zo7ek5j]

I am using it in business for about 6 months, it rocks, havent tried the browser plugin though. If you want I can answer any question you have.

[@satirical_snake]

I don't see an automate section. Is this because I'm making a Windows 10 iso?

[@josepadron7622]

your host OS is ProxMox? i will build a home server but i dont know which OS install, truenas or proxmox? How could i achive what you show in the video?

[@M4XD4B0ZZ]

@@josepadron7622 there are a lot of approaches. Proxmox is super flexible as you will deploy VMs for your services and can experiment without having to be scared of breaking things so it would be a great starting point if you have enough RAM

[@SA1G0N_]

Proxmox is better imho due to providing a wider range of options, but requires more resources.

[@josepadron7622]

@@SA1G0N_ thanks for your answer, i mounted xeon 18c36t 64ram 2x8tb with truenas scale, but i dont like very much the final result, mainly because the all thing about truechart catalog removed. I was thinking on install ubuntu server vanilla or proxmox

[@SA1G0N_]

@@josepadron7622 Proxmox is the way to go. It provides so many options and is great for Homelabs or even enterprise production servers. Even the free tier provides so many options and it's open source.

[@ArdaSReal]

Jellyfin player, web ui and android and ios apps look all SOO much better than plex imo, espescially with the titlepic background enabled

[@pixelsbyme]

Hy what search engine are you using

[@TheLinuxCast]

@@pixelsbyme right now searx

[@furcom]

Why aren't you self-hosting your mail server with Mailcow? 🐮

[@KeyJayHD]

Seems like a headache and lots to consider regarding security for sure. I hear the docker container possibly makes that a moot point, but, but traditional knowledge suggests that you'd be better off letting someone like Proton or Fastmail handle it.

[@BrianThomas]

Self hosting an email server is more of a pain to manage than you think. With the time spent it's really not worth hosting. Similar to auto repair. Depending on what's broken you might save time which = money having someone else repair it than doing it yourself.

[@furcom]

@@BrianThomas I've been running my own mail server with Mailcow for over a year. I've never had any problems, even after updating the containers or the host system (Debian 12). I touch the system maybe once or twice a month to check if there are any updates. Never needed to fix anything. It just runs...

[@Jive-Ass-Turkey]

Do a video on SearXNG 😊

[@ringo8410]

I'm working on digitizing my (expansive) DVD collection so that I can use something like Plex. I don't like streaming/don't care to spend $x.xx per month for an ever-changing list of TV shows and movies; I'd rather self-host my own stuff that I own. Have you done a how-to on setting up a Plex server, Matt? If not, would you consider doing one?

[@TheLinuxCast]

I could probably do that. I will add it to my list.

[@ringo8410]

@@TheLinuxCast I appreciate that; thank you!

[@michaelbuddy]

if it's just DVD quality, no reason not to just dump a bunch of your resulting mp4s onto your server and just load them up via kodi on your local devices. It's not a huge network hog. I do it wirelessly with bigger than DVD quality. If your movies are say 2.5 GB - 5GB, that's perfectly reasonable to play over an internal network with a home router from 10 years ago. Plex is just going to generate a bunch of duplicate files and it's more convoluted. use kodi on your devices, point it to your server folder and enjoy.

[@justfounder]

Спасибо за видос!

[@Oncopoda]

"It's not just a nerd cred kind of thing" Pfft. You don't even know me like that.

[@Babbili]

do you have a router and an external IP

[@awkwardsaxon9418]

why would you put tautulli before plex lol? I Bad no idea what you are talking about

[@chun-li-tq6lf]

Bookstack n git are nice to selfhost

[@svettnabb]

Use something like zerotier to reach self hosted services.

[@ClemFi]

Tailscale is much better IMO, but I also use wireguard for VPN, and some of my services are also on the public Internet through a dedicated npm instance

[@sn0n]

Have you read the entire sword of truth series? I saw blood of the fold there

[@TheLinuxCast]

Several times, though not in a long while. Now that I've read more fantasy, I'm a bit disillusioned with that series. But mostly I still like it. But it has some really bad books in the middle of the series.

[@LibreGlider]

Vaultwarden eh. Written in Rust... I'm in!

[@HenryT]

Based Burn Notice

[@rallisf1]

No Adguard/Pihole?

[@TheLinuxCast]

Not yet. I don't have the homelab set up for that. I do have a Zima board I will use for that eventually.

[@zgames9400]

The only thing that was complicated about PiHole was setting up a firewall rule to bounce all port 53 requests to the PiHole server. Some devices like Roku try to bypass it by hard coding their own DNS servers.

[@ClemFi]

​@zgames9400 chromcast does that too. But a simple nat rule on the lan (rather than wan) for udp/53 does the job indeed

[@JohnBeers]

Kubernetes has been fun to play with.

[@zgames9400]

It's pronounced Gitea. I kid: git tea or gitty I like puns, so that made me choose it over Gitlab just for that reason.

[@amanorevold]

Prowlarr Sonarr Radarr Lidarr Readarr TechnitiumDNS Syncthing Zerotier Homeassist Leon ...

[@zgames9400]

Interesting list. I have been using PiHole+Unbound and Wireguard, instead. I might try Technitium out. Leon ai is something new for me to check out.

[@JohnneyleeRollins]

tautalli is pronounced totally