My self-hosted journey and trials

With the current environment surrounding Google, Apple, and the siloed nature of its services, I’ve recently began self-hosting as much software as possible. This started with a simple network attached storage option from Synology for alternatives to Google Drive. From there, I started to delve into the world of other offerings in the Synology app store as well as my first ever experience with Docker containers.

Synology Apps

I think a Synology NAS, or even the new BeeStations from Synology, are a fantastic initial step into the “personal cloud” journey. Yes, it takes a few hundred bucks of investment, but you get the freedom of knowing your files are secure on your local network with little outside interference. I was able to easily reproduce my needs to replace Google Drive, Photos, and Docs with Synology’s first party apps.

Synology also allows for easy remote access to these apps without requiring a ton of knowledge with its proprietary Quickconnect URLs and evern reverse proxies for DNS services to each app. Just keep in mind that hosting these items yourself means you are the first line of defense now and read up on how to secure them as much as possible.

Outside of the in-house Synology apps, you have fan faves like Plex, Jellyfin, and Homebridge easily installable with the community support repositories. This opens of up a load of other options as well, but those will be reconizable to most entering the space.

Docker containers

One option I’ve always heard about and never thought I’d use is Docker containers. These small sandboxed environments are basically stripped down virtual machines for dedicated services. This is another great intro that Synology makes fairly simple with it’s Container Manager app. From here you can search and install any container from the Docker catalog.

I’ve only started delving into this, I’ve been experimenting with adding a podcast server and Pocker (Read it Later) server to my collection using Docker. The more I travel down my self-hosting road, the more I fall into the realm of just how flexible and robust Docker options can be. It truly is a game changer and most commonly utilized option by devs to replace services from the likes of Google and Apple.

Just the beginning

As I’ve mentioned, I have only seriously been pursuing this software journey for about a year. In that year, I think I’ve had my eyes opened on the amount of independent projects and the hardware/software bones they can be installed with. And Synology is just the tip of that iceberg. You can use open-source alternatives and turn an old computer into a similar machine with a little more advanced knowledge.

Each option is a step. And I feel there are many more steps to come. Sign up for my email newsletter if you’d like to follow along.