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Comment by darknavi | Hacker News Reader

Not my preferred setup but I hope products like this help people get into "homelabbing" and self-hosting more of their stuff.

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What's your preferred setup?

I'm not the parent, but I use a debian VM inside of a proxmox cluster to run docker services. The config and data services for the various docker images are mounted via NFS, and live in a ZFS pool configured in RAID10.

For non-technical users I could see freedombox (or sandstorm.io) being useful, but if you have enough knowledge to manage a vm + use docker-compose, the flexibility is much better.

can you please explain how is this flexibility better?

Wont more apps be supported in freedombox? maybe it does not allow plugins?

> Wont more apps be supported in freedombox?

I can support any app that I have either the source for, or a binary. I just write my own docker images [0] if one doesn't exist already on dockerhub, or install the binary directly on a VM or LXC as needed. For example, I set up Jellyfin on its own LXC.

For me, stuff like freedombox/sandstorm directly limit me as I would have to spend time learning their GUI, etc, for no gain. All I need is an ssh session into my docker VM and I can set up pretty much anything I need exactly how I want. This lets me be very particular about services accessing files, networking, versioning, and so on.

[0]: https://github.com/andrewzah/caddy-webdav

There are 2 types of self-hosters: Those that want to host useful apps, and those that enjoy tinkering with the hosting setup as an end in itself. There is some debate as to whether there's actually any overlap between these groups.

...

https://github.com/andrewzah/lilac-docker/tree/master/servic...

None of these services are useful apparently, because I manage them myself instead of relying on something like sandstorm/freedombox.

Also not the parent. Unraid. https://www.unraid.net

Edit: link

Closed source.

Freenas is the open source equivalent.

+1 for Unraid. If I had a small installation where I didn't need easy-to-expand software raid, I'd probably go with something like Portainer just for the easy docker config.

Also not parent poster but I got into the homelab fever and back it, I just have a very beefy desktop where I run thousands of services on it. Its not like one of these people are running a critical enterprise operation in their living room.

Not the parent but I also do not prefer this setup, my preferred setup is setting everything up manually so I know exactly what is going on. It also allows for better debugging, flexibility and understanding of the software. It's also a great learning opportunity since I've learnt how different pieces of software come together but for most people freedom box is good as it's relatively quick and easy to setup.

Also not the parent. Right now I have a home NAS (on Debian) running HomeAssistant for home automation interfacing and a WireGuard VPN server.

I also have a VPS running a DNS server for ad and distraction filtering (AdGuard Home, I prefer it over Pi-hole for downstream DNS over TLS), another WireGuard VPN server (for more permanent use of the aforementioned DNS server), Etesync for E2EE contacts/calendar syncing, and a Signal TLS proxy for helping users connect to Signal. These services are all specified in Docker Compose files for easier management, although I should adopt an online management tool so I don't need to login over SSH every time.

Thanks! I'll check out Etesync, I have HomeAssistant already.

I would build a homelab if I knew exactly what I should be self hosting? Photos? A blog?

I’m starting with a NAS for my music and select media so I can get off Spotify and Netflix.

After that it a GPU gaming server that will train ML models for me too. The NAS will store datasets.

Finally, maybe next cloud.

i'm always curious what people are training ml models on, and what they use it for?

Streaming your own media (Plex, Kodi, etc.), hosting your own password manager (BitWarden), home automation (Home Assistant, Node-RED), torrent seed box, a VPN so you can remote into your own network (OpenVPN), security NVR (Unifi Protect, Shinobi), a general file backup server (which can mirror to Google Drive, DropBox, etc. automatically with RClone), etc.

Really just depends on how much work you want to put into it. Pretty much any service you use online you can self-host a version of it.

That's not to say I don't pay for any online services. I still use Google Drive, Netflix, and Spotify, but self-hosting is getting me closer to "cutting the cord" with some of these.

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