Do you have any advice or suggestions about it?
- Hardware (what should be enough for a local PC, or VPS…)
- Software (OS [Debian, Yunohost, other…], “containerization” (Docker, virtual machines?), dashboard, management, backups, VPN tunneling…)
- “Utilities” to host (Lemmy, Peertube, Matrix, Mastodon, Actual Budget, Jellyfin, Forgejo, Invidious/Piped, local Pi-Hole, email, dedicated videogame servers like for Minecraft, SearXNG, personal file storage like Drive, AI [in the future, when I can afford a rig that can run a local model decently]…)
I’m aware it’s a lot of stuff to take on, so, do you have any advice on where to start? (how to find a cheap PC to experiment with, if not get a VPS, what to test on it, what “utilities” to try self-hosting first…)
I reccomend you start with a vps, local pc is possible but in any case(in my personal experience at least) you’ll need a public IP anyways(which is hella expensive for personal use). In any case, you’ll have to get a vps. I suggest you check out Contabo. Good prices, pretty ok for hardware related things. I’d suggest you start Nextcloud, a website, very basic stuff. If you are planning to use a local pc, be advised that power will be a big factor. Unless you want to have to pay a lot on your electricity bill, avoid hosting too many things on your local pc(unless you want to have full control over your data, but I personally think if you apply basic cybersec principles, a VPS is fine). I do understand though, despite that it’s not fully reccomended, I want to locally host my own mail server to have full control. It comes down to personal preferences and how much control you want.