I just realized it ha been *months* since I thought about putting together a server full of useful applications.
I think I'm putting things backwards: Do the software first, since I am less scared by that, THEN do the putting it online with a stable address since that might mean changing ISPs.
So...time to nuke my old Windows gaming PC and put Linux on it. I'm thinking Debian + KDE would be good? Everyone writes 'how to do X' software for Debian or Mint these days
@Canageek I think Debian is as good a place to start as any. It seems like RHEL has lost traction since it got bought by IBM, and Debian (and derivatives) are now ascendant.
My design pattern for home server stuff has always been to run most of the services locally (literally in an old PC in my basement) but then rent a cheap $20/year VPS that comes with a stable IPv4 address (LowEndBox used to be the place to comparison shop) and then only reverse-proxy the exact services I *want* to expose to the Internet from the VPS to my #homelab.
It's a bit more work, but it means you're not directly opening your home network to the Internet, and I think the reverse-proxy and related network configuration are useful skills. Being able to set up an IPSec or #ZeroTier (#Wireguard? #Tailscale? Idk what the cool kids use today) link between two places and expose services between them has definitely come in handy regularly. (Though I have to Google my way to victory every time.)
@Kadin2048
Proxmox plus Pangolin handles this pretty well, so far. Only just set up but a nice way to set the foundations to build on. I'm not aware of $20/yr VPS, where's that and what do you get?
I got my setup going on a $6/m digital ocean droplet but have increased that for now to make sure any issues aren't due to that being to little while I'm testing.
@Canageek
@Canageek my droplet is in UK but I will at some point move to a European provider.
With Pangolin you won't need DDNS and get other benefits, and only one thing to manage and update. Extras include optional user authentication for public resources, and I can even use ssh without exposing my home network.
@Canageek
Pangolin runs on the VPS and optionally provides authentication when someone accesses a subdomain which you've set up to expose a service. From there it has a Wiregaurd tunnel to Newt, which runs in your network and maintains a secure tunnel to the VPS regardless of your home IP.
Proxmox sits on Debian and provides a great way to manage VMs and LXC containers at home, and you can build on that by adding more computers running Proxmox.
All free FOSS. #HomeLab
@Kadin2048
@Kadin2048 sadly, I can't seem to find any VPS in Canada that are that cheap, and a big part of this is wanting to host everything within Canada.
if you have suggestions, please let me know!
@Canageek https://lowendbox.com/tag/canada/ lists several that seem reasonably priced, mostly with Toronto PoPs.
I can't vouch for any in particular (HostNamaste at $30/year for a 3GB OpenVZ VPS seems decent), but it's a commodity market pretty much.
N.B. You ideally shouldn't keep anything of value *on* the VPS, it's just a place to deploy your Tailscale/ZeroTier/VPN endpoint and reverse proxy config. So if the VPS company disappears suddenly, you're not out much.
Canageek
Kadin
happyborg
Stephen