The other thread about self-hosting got so big that my late comment got drowned very quickly, but I think it is worth repeating here:
For those that avoid it on the grounds of "it is too hard to self-host", may I suggest a much simpler alternative? It takes two simple steps:
1) buy a domain name
2) Foment/patronize SMBs that can provide hosting for open source software alternatives.
That's it. By demanding open source alternatives, you are ensuring that the service vendor can not lock you in. By using your own domain, you get the freedom to port your services to anyone that offers better price/better support/better performance.
The dev of Vorta (borg backup gui) and borgbase (backup server) (both really good by the way!) has started something called https://www.pikapods.com. It’s still in beta. But I’d like something like this when it comes to self hosting services however with loooots of improvements and ease.
As a beta product it has of course miles to go but certain things can be listed as must haves if self hosting is to start on the path of wider adoption:
- easy data download/export (things like SFTP that this service offers just doesn’t cut it)
- much easier maintenance of tools - addition/removal etc - if one has to deal with technicalities e.g configuring CPU/RAM it’s DOA for the end user adoption.
- pricing - as of now this service spins up a new pod for every other service which bills separately - for end users that might not scale and might not be easy to use access - definitely more costly.
I have given just one company’s example because I came across it a few days back but it’s a generic comment of course.
Something like where the mail providers are today e.g Fastmail, mailbox etc.
It would be great to have a provider where you open an account and specify how many users will access your tools and within seconds/mins you’re seeing your projected cost per month for your own instances of open source Spotify, open source Netflix, google reader/rss, fastmail, google calendar/contacts, some note taking service, bookmarking service, vpn etc.
That's great. Thank you for you comment. Just a few weeks ago I asked [0] why there is no company trying to offer whole packages of open source solutions. There were some comments, but I think this is the closest to what I have in mind.
Personally, I am trying to turn communick into a custom-hosting service focused on messaging/social media platforms. One of the challenges is exactly related to setup things in a way where I can isolate customers in my infra while trying to use economies of scale to keep the costs low.
Or dnsmasq, or NSD, or Unbound. But then I saw that there is a "See also: awesome-sysadmin/DNS" (https://github.com/awesome-foss/awesome-sysadmin#dns) link and I was again happy. I guess they don't want to duplicate anything?
For those that avoid it on the grounds of "it is too hard to self-host", may I suggest a much simpler alternative? It takes two simple steps:
1) buy a domain name
2) Foment/patronize SMBs that can provide hosting for open source software alternatives.
That's it. By demanding open source alternatives, you are ensuring that the service vendor can not lock you in. By using your own domain, you get the freedom to port your services to anyone that offers better price/better support/better performance.