@catalyst lots! Couple questions to start though…
- Are you going to set up your own server and infrastructure or going with a managed provider like masto.host?
- Are you creating an instance around any theme or concept in particular?
- Single-user instance or are you looking to build a community?
@catalyst cool! Despite the small nature I feel like Mastodon doesn’t run well on less than 4GB RAM once you start federating with other instances. It’s less about the number of users you have, more about the number of users you’re all connected to.
Your timeline will be QUIET. Consider getting on relays early on to get some federated content out there for people to see. I can provide a few, there’s also https://relay.fedi.buzz to relay specific hashtags
@catalyst I started the instance on 12/10 and usage is:
PostgreSQL 2.64 GB
Redis 89.7 MB
Media storage 316 GB
I’m deleting media at 90d since I use Wasabi S3 which charges you for 90d of usage even if you delete files early. It’s coming in around $6-7/mo.
SMTP isn’t awful, I went with Sendinblue’s free tier. The big piece is getting SPF and DKIM set up properly so you don’t end up in spam folders. They’ve got guides to help you though!
@catalyst so just doing quick math, Postgres will probably never shrink, Redis will grow with the number of users on the instance, and if 1mo into a 90d retention cycle I have 316GB of media, that’s probably going to get up to 1TB or so and slowly creep up as we federate with more instances and post more content locally.
Hope this helps!
@catalyst media piles up quickly, if you don’t have a lot of space on the VPS, consider S3 storage. Your VPS provider may have an option with free local egress (eg, to your VPS), you can set up nginx to act as a reverse proxy so users aren’t pulling images direct from your bucket and piling up the bandwidth charges.
A lot of the lessons I learned are potentially more important for public instances—DMCA, getting onto instance lists, moderation teams, etc. But hopefully that’s a good start!
Doug
tswan 