Would it be a good thing for the average person to self-host their apps? If so, how to get there?
Would it be a good thing for the average person to self-host their apps? If so, how to get there?
I love self-hosting a bunch of apps I use, so I don't have to rely on anyone but my ISP for my digital life. Jellyfin, Immich, forgejo, memos and more.
But I know this isn't for everyone. I just recently spent about 3 hours doing routine maintenance and fixing an issue (I caused) and I know not everyone is into doing that kind of thing.
I also wonder what it would take to get more people into this self-hosting thing. I.e., to get them off of subscription streaming services, Google, etc..., so they can own their own data, stop feeding the machine and for the general betterment of humanity. What would the world be like if half of all adults self-hosted their own services? Or even 25%?
So, for discussion, is increasing the number of self hosters a good idea? How can we make help that process along?
Edit: Fixed typos
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Imagine this scenario:
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You go to a store, buy a little server in a box, something the size of an Apple TV or a Roku.
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Bring it home, plug it in, fire up its home page on your phone, tablet or PC.
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That has a really simple, slick UI which walks you through its set up without asking any technical questions, including enabling services you want to use, getting it connected to the cloud for away-from-home connection and cloud backups (if you want).
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It automatically sets up a Wireguard VPN for you, takes the most secure options with each of the apps you enable. Ties it all to one password or passkey for you. Sets up certs, etc... the right way, without bothering you at all.
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On your phone (mobile first, eh), you use the app as a launcher for the apps you chose to enable (things we all know like Navidrome, Immich, Paperless, etc...). They work the same at home and on the road.
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On your home devices (any kind of PC, Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, music streamers, and so on), you install and run apps which all connect to your little server instead of going outside your home.
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Enjoy your media, backup your documents, chat with friends and family, etc... as you like.
ETA: And share whatever you want with whoever you want. Send your sister some pictures, let your kid at college watch one of your movies. And so on.
I can dream, at least.
This sounds like a FOSS utopian future :)
There's a few projects that have started towards this path with single-click deployable apps, you could even say HomeAssistant OS does this to some extent my managing the services for you.
I believe one of the biggest hurdle for a "self hosting appliance" is resilience to hardware failure. Noone wants to loose decades of family photos or legal documents due to a SSD going bad , or the cat spilling water on their "hosting box". So automated reliable off-site backups and recovery procedures for both data and configs is key.
Databox from BBC / Nottingham University is also a very interesting concept worth looking in to:
A platform for managing secure access to data and enabling authorised third parties to provide the owner authenticated control and accountability.
That Data on project sounds really cool. I'll keep an eye on it.
As far as one-click installs, I think about how easy it is to install PiHole. That's how all software should be.
This actually sounds like what they're doing at Home Assistant.
Buy a HA Yellow or whatever, plug it in to your network and turn it on. It loads up and you log in on a web page on your phone. Install an app, sign up for Nabu Casa and get your services working outside the network.
And it'll pick up a lot of what's already on your network and set it all up for ya.
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