this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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I’ve been a Software Engineering Student for 2 years now. I understand networks and whatnot at a theoretical level to some degree.

I’ve developed applications and hosted them through docker on Google Cloud for school projects.

I’ve tinkered with my router, port forwarded video game servers and hosted Discord bots for a few years (familiar with Websockets and IP/NAT/WAN and whatnot)

Yet I’ve been trying to improve my setup now that my old laptop has become my homelab and everything I try to do is so daunting.

Reverse proxy, VPN, Cloudfare bullshit, and so many more things get thrown around so much in this sub and other resources, yet I can barely find info on HOW to set up this things. Most blogs and articles I find are about what they are which I already know. And the few that actually explain how to set it up are just throwing so many more concepts at me that I can’t keep up.

Why is self-hosting so daunting? I feel like even though I understand how many of these things work I can’t get anything actually running!

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[–] machstem@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

If you've never gone and built your own system, or started a network from scratch without a container based system, and you've relied on stacking your own environment for a long time, you might necognize it as you would any skill.

I'm sure I could build a shed, for E.g. I know to get the wood, the panels, the cement, and all the things I'll have all documented in front of me.

Then I will start, realize I forgot I also needed a permit, which I then found out I might also need to run power to it, so now shed has become something that doesn't feel impossible, it feels daunting

Why? Well, I don't build sheds, I don't keep building things that would allow me to have all the framework, project of getting my shed built. So, as with a homelab, take it one step at a time, and if rhe shed isn't the house, you're allowed to skip a few things and stick with what works for you.

I use homelab and self hosting as a passion, but I also have 25 years of networking and systems administration experience so docker and containers just made my normal, tedious job of building up complex network infrastructure, feel like a job, and my homelab and self host happens to be a hobby

Treat your homelab as a passion or simple hobby, or use it as a skill building tool for work

Overall it's just time, experience and expectations that either drive you forward or set you back