There are so many options to get started with self hosting that I feel myself stuck in the “paralysis of choice”. For a novice, does anyone have a good resource for the equivalent of good/better/best paths that cover the “basics” (In my mind this is hosting images, music, video, connected home controls, search and email)?

Thinking something like first try path A, if you feel comfortable and your HW can handle A, then try path B, etc. I guess a it of a tutorial mode feeling where you get exposed to key boxing blocks initially and then you are released into the large open world on your own.

I know the advantage of this movement is the choice and the well distributed variety, but just feels hard to start.

I have an old laptop, an SFF workstation and a NAS to play with.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Thank you all for a very generous response. I knew this was a tough ask from the start because, by design, this area is vast and constantly evolving. A lot of great starting points here that I’m now considering.

  • sbeak@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    2·
    10 hours ago

    1. Always read the documentation!!!

    Now for specific recommendations, I can can share my own experience. I started out with hosting something very basic that I had a need for. Nothing fancy, something that’s relatively easy to set up. I hosted Radicale, a CalDAV server that can sync calendars. It was a little fussy about permissions but I was able to sort it out by reading the documentation. I heard Baikal is another good option for that too. Previously, I only used local calendars, as never bothered with Google or Outlook calendar, and if was refreshing to have my events be locally synced! Super neat!

    If you have a small, simple need like that, it can be your baby steps into self-hosting. A small calendar, a to-do list, DNS (i.e. PiHole), web server, something like that which you have a need for. Just make sire you read the documentation!

    Afterwards, you can “level up” to more complex projects. For file hosting, I use Nextcloud, but OpenCloud is a good option if you need something lighter weight. LearnLinuxTV has an excellent guide on installing Nextcloud! You also have Immich for photo backup, and the documentation for it is excellent. You really should read the docs, for any kind of software! And if you do any programming, having a local Forgejo instance is always good for an additional backup to a cloud git repo service like Codeberg or GitHub. If you have a large collection of media of any kind, Jellyfin (for videos), Audiobookshelf (for…audiobooks), and Navidrome (for music) are all recommended.

    As for the OS, I would recommend Debian. It’s rock solid, there’s a bazillion guides for it and Ubuntu (a Debian derivative), and it works well for my use case. Much of the documentation for all kinds of self-hosted applications assumes that you use Debian or some derivative of it. However, if you want a better way to manage networking, RAID configurations, etc., going with an OS tailored for use in NAS systems would be better. I heard that TrueNAS is a really good option for that! Just make sure you read the documentation before you fiddle around with settings.

    On the hardware side, I would always go with something you already have over buying new hardware, and if you really don’t have anything, getting some used is always good. Reduce e-waste and save your money! I used (and still use!) an old laptop for self-hosting, since it was what I had available and my storage needs were not massive. That poor 512GB SSD is really putting in the work.

    Have I mentioned that you should always read the documentation?