Ask HN: Is there a viable method for small-time hosting from home?
Is there a secure, easy way to host things from your own home server or do you have to colocate somewhere in the cloud? Is the lack of viability a problem being imposed on us based on speed limitations from ISPs?
11 comments
You can do this securely without exposing your public IP.
1. Get a cheap VM close to you. AWS micro works, I use Google's Compute engine. Use the public IP on your DNS. 2. Set up FRPS ( https://github.com/fatedier/frp ) on the VM, create an Nginx proxy to FRPS 3. Set up FRP clients on your home devices.
This will reverse tunnel traffic securely without setting up SSH tunnels / VPNs. Only specific local ports will be exposed.
1. Get a cheap VM close to you. AWS micro works, I use Google's Compute engine. Use the public IP on your DNS. 2. Set up FRPS ( https://github.com/fatedier/frp ) on the VM, create an Nginx proxy to FRPS 3. Set up FRP clients on your home devices.
This will reverse tunnel traffic securely without setting up SSH tunnels / VPNs. Only specific local ports will be exposed.
I did this for a while. A few comments.
First, as pointed out by pwg, you might have a dynamic IP address. Also, your ISP may block access to port 80, but there may be ways around that (not sure anymore).
Second, I had occasional "brown outs" that cut the power to the server, so my website would go down at weird hours a few times per week. I purchased an uninterruptable power supply, which fixed that nuisance.
Third, I had a small user base (no more than ~5 people accessing the site at any one time), so I had no problems handling the traffic.
First, as pointed out by pwg, you might have a dynamic IP address. Also, your ISP may block access to port 80, but there may be ways around that (not sure anymore).
Second, I had occasional "brown outs" that cut the power to the server, so my website would go down at weird hours a few times per week. I purchased an uninterruptable power supply, which fixed that nuisance.
Third, I had a small user base (no more than ~5 people accessing the site at any one time), so I had no problems handling the traffic.
> Is there a secure, easy way to host things from your own home server or do you have to colocate somewhere in the cloud?
You just need a computer to be that "server".
> Is the lack of viability a problem being imposed on us based on speed limitations from ISPs?
The largest stumbling block is that most "residential" ISP connections are also dynamic IP addresses. You have to have some way to update the IP address values associated with any domain names when your dynamic IP changes. Which usually means using one of the services that provide this "dynamic IP domain name" service.
You just need a computer to be that "server".
> Is the lack of viability a problem being imposed on us based on speed limitations from ISPs?
The largest stumbling block is that most "residential" ISP connections are also dynamic IP addresses. You have to have some way to update the IP address values associated with any domain names when your dynamic IP changes. Which usually means using one of the services that provide this "dynamic IP domain name" service.
Also, read Terms of Service carefully. One of my providers explicitly said something like: "Users may not run any type of server on the system, which includes but not limited to <a bunch of different protocols>". They require to upgrade a plan to Business or something like that which was more expensive.
Home hosting is great for testing. I have been doing this for years.
It's not a serious option for live sites. Dyn IP, slow upload speeds and physical security are all an issue.
I would recommend duckdns as a solution for dyn ips.
I measured the cost of running a box 24/7 with ssds and an i5 6th gen cpu. Around £3 per month.
It's not a serious option for live sites. Dyn IP, slow upload speeds and physical security are all an issue.
I would recommend duckdns as a solution for dyn ips.
I measured the cost of running a box 24/7 with ssds and an i5 6th gen cpu. Around £3 per month.
It's not a serious option for live public sites. Running your own grafana, gitlab, postgres, etc. is perfectly viable and I've been doing it for years now.
I have close to gigabit up and down. I also have a static IP. I'd still avoid hosting at home.
It's very hard for me to get the same reliability I can out of a cheap host online. It's not worth the time maintaining critical infrastructure.
It's very hard for me to get the same reliability I can out of a cheap host online. It's not worth the time maintaining critical infrastructure.
I agree. I don't think clients or businesses are also expecting their personal data to be stored in your bedroom :-)
Some server applications really need a static IP; most server applications would benefit from it. Some ISPs make it pretty hard to get one of those. Upstream speed can be an issue too, but it depends on what you're hosting.
I hosted from home for many years, but moved my sites to a VPS before a big move, and for $6/month, haven't been motivate to move them back. If anything, I'd be more motivated to move to shared hosting at even lower cost and effort.
I hosted from home for many years, but moved my sites to a VPS before a big move, and for $6/month, haven't been motivate to move them back. If anything, I'd be more motivated to move to shared hosting at even lower cost and effort.
I think it’s wise to first consider what the pros would be.
I've always wanted to try them: https://freedombox.org