Self-Hosting like it's 2025

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Self‑hosting style: simplicity vs. modern stacks

  • Many argue “self-hosting in 2025” should look like turnkey platforms (YunoHost, Sandstorm) rather than DIY Docker/Kubernetes stacks.
  • Others prefer minimalism: static site generators + rsync, classic package‑managed services, or BSD jails and simple shell scripts, essentially “self-hosting like it’s 2000.”
  • Several see the article’s own misconfig (redirect to localhost:1313, 404, downtime) as evidence that complexity hurts reliability and scaling.

Containers, orchestration, and tooling

  • Strong split between:
    • Docker Compose / Swarm / Podman users who find it a sweet spot for homelabs.
    • Kubernetes skeptics who see it as overkill, resume‑driven, and operationally heavy, especially at home.
    • Kubernetes fans who say once set up (often via k3s), it’s stable, unified, and offers huge ecosystem benefits (Helm charts, home‑ops templates).
  • Various PaaS‑like layers get praise: Dokku, Coolify, CapRover, Kamal, Nomad+Consul, Unraid, Proxmox(+Backup), Portainer alternatives (Dockge, Lightkeeper, Lunni, Cockpit‑podman).
  • Some explicitly avoid containers, saying native packages or jails are simpler and more understandable long‑term.

Databases and backups

  • Postgres is a major anxiety point: people discuss tuning, ZFS/Btrfs snapshots, pg_dump‑style logical backups, and containerized Helm charts.
  • Debate over filesystem‑level vs database‑aware backups; ZFS snapshots are convenient but not universally trusted for consistency.
  • Multiple commenters complain that backup strategy is underemphasized in “modern” self‑hosting; call for plug‑and‑play container backups.

Security, exposure, and risk

  • Many recommend a cheap VPS as a boundary: strict firewalls, SSH key auth, reverse proxies, sometimes reverse SSH or tunnels (Cloudflare Tunnels, WireGuard, Tailscale, Zerotier, Nebula).
  • Others keep everything behind VPNs only; no public ports at home.
  • Newcomers are worried about being targeted; experienced users emphasize least privilege, network segmentation, fail2ban, and keeping services patched.
  • Some fear future regulation/mandated backdoors even for self‑hosted services.

Hardware and “home cloud” setups

  • Suggested hardware ranges from Raspberry Pis and old laptops to NUCs, mini‑PCs, and low‑power Mini‑ITX boards with ECC/IPMI.
  • Example setups span single Pis running many services to Proxmox clusters with separate reverse‑proxy nodes and VLANs.

Motivations and culture

  • Self‑hosting is framed as resistance to “enshittification,” a way to learn, and a social hobby (friends running their own “little internet”).
  • There’s recurring tension between the joy of tinkering with complex stacks and the desire for boring, durable, low‑maintenance systems.