I’m trying to better understand hosting a Lemmy Instance. Lurking discussions it seems like some people are hosting from the Cloud or VPS. My understanding is that it’s better to futureproof by running your own home server so that you have the data and the top most control of hardware, software etc. My understanding is that by hosting an instance via Cloud or VPS you are offloading the data / information to a 3rd party.
Are people actually running their own actual self-hosted servers from home? Do you have any recommended guides on running a Lemmy Instance?
Well technically a “server” is a machine dedicated to “serving” something, like a service or website or whatever. A regular desktop can be a server, it’s just not built as well as a “real” server.
There is though reasons to stray from certain consumer products for server equipment.
Yeah I’d stay away from Mac too… but seriously most modern laptops can disable any sleep/hibernation on lid close
My go to lately is Lenovo tiny, can pick them up super cheap with 6-12 month warranties, throw in some extra ram, a new drive, haven’t had any fail on me yet
You should think before releasing dangerous information on the internet!
You can get a 2core 8GB / 240GB for 75€!!
Uh oh, I think I’ll have to buy one now…
This is my little setup at the moment. Each is 8500t CPU, 32gb ram, 2tb nvme and 1tb SATA SSD all running in a proxmox cluster
Edit: also check out Dell micro or the hp… Uh I want to say it’s g6 micro? You might need to search for what is actually called
Not at all overkill? :-D
Future proofing or is it really used ? I don’t know proxmox, is it some docker launcher thingy?
Very cool anyways!
Proxmox is like esxi, it lets you setup virtual machines. So you can fire up a virtual Linux machine and allocate it like 2gb ram and limit it to 2 cores of the CPU or give it the whole lot depending on what you need to do
Having them in a cluster let’s them move virtual machines between the physical hardware and have complete copies so if one goes down the next can just start up
It is a little overkill, I’m probably only using about 20% of its resources but it’s all for a good cause. I’m currently unable to work due to kidney failure but I’m working towards a transplant. If I do get a transplant and can return to work, being able to say “well this is my home setup and the various things I know how to do” looks a lot better than “I sat on my ass for the last 4 years so I’m very rusty”
This whole setup cost me about $1000aud and uses 65-70w on average
Hey good luck man!
Good idea, just sitting around isn’t good for mental health either.
So back to tech :-) is it like docker / Kubernetes but with VM right? What’s the good/bad things concerning VM Vs Docker?
BTW that’s not a lot of power consumption!
And yeah if it’s not overkill they you are morally obliged to search for ways to make it so, right :-) ?!
Cheers
Docker/kubernetes and VMS are similar in that they are all virtualisation but the similarity kinda end there. Love them or hate them, Each has its own important role in IT infrastructure.
First off, docker itself needs a host operating system to run. Secondly, Docker are containers. Each image is built on a cut down version of the operating system generally to perform one specific task or run one specific application. The environment is preconfigured to work exactly as intended so generally speaking, you don’t get the whole “but it works on my machine”
Kubernetes I’m not the most qualified to speak to, but pretty much someone said “ok docker is great but we want redundancy, scalability, etc” and made kubernetes.
A vm is a full virtual machine. You can give it virtual harddisks, virtual network cards, etc. You then install a full operating system on it, could be windows or Linux or whatever you need.
From there you can install docker if that’s what you want, or can install specific apps. This is the first difference, is if you install the app compared to a docker container, you need to make sure you have all the prerequisites met, all the correct compatibility, etc. It’s up to you to make sure your system is correct for the software.
Another major difference is docker containers are all seen on the network as coming from whatever the host machine’s IP is.
Whereas the network views each vm as it’s own device on the network, giving each it’s own IP (if using dhcp) and allowing things like vlans and things.
As for my setup, I have 3 VMs with docker servers, each with between 20-30 docker containers, 3 VMs running adguard DNS, 1 vm acting as a tailscale entry point, then a few application specific VMs. It’s handy just being able to fire up a blank Ubuntu instance to play with me software, and if anything goes wrong just delete the whole machine and start fresh.
Then for storage behind it all, I have a qnap ts453d with 4x 8tb drives.
Then outside my home, I have 2 X Oracle hosted VMs, one hosting about 22 websites and all the stuff they need, one acting as a tunnel into my home services since I’m behind a CGNAT, and then another physical server located in the local data centre running email for a few small businesses and myself
Heh, this is awesome 😅
Thanks :D the frame and all parts are self designed and 3d printed… was a fun project
The whole thing runs from just 2 power cables with room for another without adding any extra power cables
Doesn’t that mean, tiny fans howling all day long?
Only if you’ve got it cranking all day. I’ve got a couple of Tiny (they’re Micro, which is the same thing) systems that are silent when idle and nearly silent when running less than a load avg of 5. It’s only if I try to spin up a heavy, CPU-bound process that their singular fan spins fast enough to be noticable.
So don’t use one as a Mining rig, but if you want something that runs x64 workloads at 9-20 watts continuously, they’re pretty good.
Even running at full speed mine are pretty quiet but I also have 80mm silent low rpm fans blowing air across them too which seems to help
I also recently went through with fresh thermal paste
Just set it to “do nothing” when lid is closed. That’s all.
FWIW, this free app solves for that issue well; I have several clammed Macs running it right now:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12
100%, and this is why businesses don’t use laptops as servers… typically 😂.
just break the screen off. call it a headless sever.