Welcome

It's easier than ever to host your own personal cloud and websites using a home server.  Through free, open-source software you can replicate many paid services while also improving digital privacy and security. 

Requirements

Depending on your needs, these components can range from refurbished and commodity hardware all the way to a purpose-built server.

• Computer: Provides the foundation for hosting your own services.
• Router: Handles traffic between your server and the outside internet.
• Domain: Forwards requests from the outside internet to your home server.
• Internet: The connection between your server and the world wide web.

Process

We need to install Debian Linux onto our computer to form a foundation.  We will use Docker to create secure, self-contained "virtual machines" that are easy to monitor and keep up-to-date.  Through Portainer, a browser-based interface, we will install our services using a simple structured syntax known as Docker Compose.

We will use SWAG, a community-driven project to assist everyday people create a secure, self-hosted server.  This solution uses a reverse proxy server to route traffic from a domain address to your hosted services.  Finally, we will configure your router to connect your server to the world wide web.

Purpose

As we come to rely more the Cloud, or digital services hosted on someone else's computer, we must consider how this affects our personal privacy and security.