Hello! I’m new to self hosting and networking stuff. I do use only Linux and have experience with Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, and have settled with Fedora and Bazzite on KDE on the home computers/laptops.

I got a GMKtec NucBox G9 Mini PC Intel® Twin Lake N150 recently and wireless keyboard with touchpad, installed Fedora Kiinoite on it and have so far only added VacuumTube. I don’t have much experience with the terminal and I’m not sure what step to do next or how.

What I want to do is set up an Arrstack, and I know I need to put Docker and maybe Portainer? I have no experience with Docker though. I also want to put some basic things I and others can access remotely like a shopping list program, photo backups, period tracker, and DnD software. But I’m very afraid of exposing the server to the internet and it being hacked or such. I know there’s something called Tailscale but I’m not sure if that’s what I need. And I don’t know what order I’m supposed to put any of this.

I’ve tried searching the internet for guides but haven’t really found anything except one that’s for Yunohost and it’s not really self hosting because they set it up on a cloud. All advice is appreciated. Thank you!

edit: I wanted to add I also want to use this as a htpc and it’s connected to the TV, so that’s why I want a GUI mostly - because it makes it easier to control from the couch

  • Stitch0815@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    24 hours ago

    Hi and welcome to the club.

    First of all a disclosure I am not an IT guy and or programmer and barely know what I am doing myself :D

    My first question is: Is your Nuc dedicated hosting hardware?

    If so i would maybe suggest an OS that is more hosting focused, I personally use unraid, a friend of mine already used it at the time and helped me set everything up so I just went with it. TrueNAS is the real og and workhorse of the selfhosting world and also big in the professional space. Unraid is pretty simple but more heavy on sytem useage while truenas is more light weight but needs a bit more work beeing done manually. TrueNAS is free, undraid you pay a one time license. Those are the big 2 I know about.

    Both of these options have an insane ammount of documentation. And ready to go docker for basically anything you could want.

    There is of course much more, for example Debian server comes to mind. If this is not dedicated hosting hardware and you need a normal desktop environment I can’t help much there.

    As far as I understand: Never expose anything directly to the internet. Tailscale is a good option, I personally use nginx proxy manager as reverse proxy. Both should be fine but Tailscale is more secure tho. I also only have 3 things exposed: Nextcloud, Immich and foundry vtt. And keep your shit up to date :D

    Hope this helps for now. If you have any additional questions or I missed an important part for you just ask :)

    • Hezaethos@piefed.zipOPEnglish
      1·
      14 hours ago

      But with unRAID do I have to pay for updates as well? Also confused on what it is exactly - is it a whole OS, or something you run on an OS? If so, how would I run services on it that I can also watch locally, like on the TV?

      • Stitch0815@feddit.orgEnglish
        2·
        11 hours ago

        Unraid is a full os You install it on a usb, plug it in and it should just run. Then you get a ui you can access locally over the network.

        I just saw they changed their licences :(

        Apparently you only get one year of updates EXCEPT you buy the most expensive license (I would actually recomend that) then it’s unlimited updates

        Essentially how it works on unraid: You install a docker, the docker gets a local IP and you can access any service on your network by entering the IP of the docker. This will be yourserverIP:dockerIP

        I run jellyfin locally I just installed the jellyfin app on my tv and entered the jellyfin IP when connecting to a server. That’s it

        When connecting from outside your network stuff gets a bit more complicated but all doable.

        SpaceinvaderOne on youtube has great videos on how to set up a reverse proxy and tailscale if you want to get an idea what both does and how much work it is. He also uses Unraid.

        Since Unraid got so dam expensive I feel like it’s worth mentioning hexOS. It’s around the same pricepoint like unraid and is essentially a wrapper over true nas. So you get all the documentation and power of trunas but also a nice and easy to use UI. Never used it my self tho.

    • dan@upvote.auEnglish
      4·
      21 hours ago

      Unraid is pretty beginner-friendly, so it’s what I’d recommend too.

      I use it too. I have over 20 years experience running Debian servers and can write a docker-compose.yml file and Nginx config from scratch, but sometimes it’s nice to have a decent web UI that mostly “just works”.