Self-Hosting Guide — Run Your Own Services

Getting Started: Your First Self-Hosted Service

The easiest first step is file synchronisation. Nextcloud and Syncthing both replace cloud storage with something you own.

docker run -d \
 --name nextcloud \
 -p 8080:80 \
 -v nextcloud_data:/var/www/html \
 nextcloud:latest

Docker: The Self-Hoster's Best Friend

Almost every service listed above can be deployed with Docker. Docker packages an application and its dependencies into a container, so you don't need to worry about conflicting libraries or complex installations.

version: "3"
services:
 nextcloud:
 image: nextcloud:latest
 ports:
 - "8080:80"
 volumes:
 - nc_data:/var/www/html
 restart: unless-stopped

 vaultwarden:
 image: vaultwarden/server:latest
 ports:
 - "8081:80"
 volumes:
 - vw_data:/data
 restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
 nc_data:
 vw_data:

Security Basics for Self-Hosters

Self-hosting comes with responsibility. You're the sysadmin now.

• Never expose services directly — Use a reverse proxy (Caddy, Traefik, or nginx)
• Always use HTTPS — Let's Encrypt certificates are free and automated
• SSH keys only — Disable password authentication for SSH
• Run fail2ban — Automatic IP banning after failed login attempts
• Keep containers updated — Use Watchtower or manual docker compose pull
• Firewall everything — Only open ports you actually need (see Networking guide)
• Backup, backup, backup — See our Backup Strategies guide

Beyond the Basics

Once you're comfortable with Docker and a few services, consider:

• Reverse proxy with automatic TLS — Caddy or Traefik for hassle-free HTTPS
• Single sign-on (SSO) — Authelia or Authentik for one login across all services
• Monitoring and alerting — Uptime Kuma, Grafana + Prometheus
• Automated backups — Restic or BorgBackup on a cron schedule
• Container orchestration — Docker Swarm or Kubernetes for multi-node setups

The beauty of self-hosting is that you can start small and grow. Every service you add teaches you something new about networking, Linux, and how the internet actually works.