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Self Hosting 101 – A Beginner's Guide

A beginner's guide to self hosting

Small businesses: Companies that want to keep their data in-house, have specific needs that aren't met by off-the-shelf solutions, or want to save cost of subscriptions Educators and students: Self-hosting is a great way to learn about networking, system administration, and various technologies like Docker Creative professionals: Video Editors, photographers, musicians have a massive amount of raw files that need storage with a high amount of control - self hosting is typically the goto solution Anyone looking to save money: While there can be upfront costs, self-hosting can sometimes be cheaper in the long run compared to paying for multiple cloud services. ServicesUseCaseBenefitsExamplesFile Storage and SynchronizationCreate your personal cloud storageFull control over files, no storage limits except hardware NextCloud, OwnCloud, Seafile, Syncthing Email ServersHost your own email servicePrivacy, custom domain emails, no ads Poste.io, iRedMail, MailCow Personal Photo ManagementManage you and your family’s photosFull control, no storage limits Immich, PhotoPrism, Ente Media ServersStream personal media collection to any deviceAccess media anywhere, no streaming service subscriptions Jellyfin, Emby, Plex Password ManagersSecurely store and manage passwordsEnhanced security, no reliance on third-party services Bitwarden, Passbolt Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)Secure internet connection, access home network remotelyEnhanced privacy, no monthly VPN fees OpenVPN, Wireguard Game ServersHost multiplayer games for friends or communitiesCustom rules, mods, no rental feesMinecraft, Valheim, Terraria serversHome Automation SystemsControl and automate smart home devicesLocal control, enhanced privacy, no reliance on cloud services Home Assistant, OpenHAB RSS Feed ReadersAggregate and read news from various sourcesNo algorithms deciding content, complete archive of feeds Tiny Tiny RSS, FreshRSS Note-Taking ApplicationsSecurely store and sync notes across devicesPrivacy, full control over data Joplin, LogSeq Personal Finance Management ToolsTrack expenses, manage budgets, monitor investmentsFinancial data privacy, customizable categories and reports Firefly III, GnuCash Learning Management SystemsCreate and manage online coursesFull control over course content and student data Moodle, OpenEdX ServicesUseCaseBenefitsExamplesProject Management ToolsManage personal or small business projectsCustomization, no per-user fees Redmine, Taiga, OpenProject Chat and Communication ServersSecure, private messaging and team communicationEnd-to-end encryption, no data mining Matrix(with Element), Rocket.Chat, Mattermost Wikis or Knowledge BasesOrganize personal or team knowledgeCustomization, privacy, no subscription fees DokuWiki, BookStack, MediaWiki Analytics PlatformsTrack website visitors without compromising user privacyGDPR compliance, no data sharing with third parties Matomo, Plausible Analytics E-commerce PlatformsSet up your own online storeNo transaction fees (except payment processing), full customization WooCommerce(with Wordpress), Presta There are a bunch of other services that can be self hosted. Learning and Improvement: Experiment with new services and technologies Stay updated on best practices for security and performance Consider donating or contributing to open-source projects you use

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