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Self-Hosting: Run Your Own Services Like an Operator

From a fresh VPS to services that survive reboots and attacks: hardening, nginx, TLS, Docker Compose, backups that actually restore, and updates that don't take your Saturday.

7 lessons

Course Q&A

The Foundation

A VPS is a public machine on a hostile network — secure it before you install anything fun.

  1. 01The First Hour With a New VPSSSH keys, a non-root user, and updates — the 20 minutes that decide whether your box survives its first week.20mOpen
  2. 02ufw and fail2ban: The Perimeter in Two CommandsDeny everything, allow what you serve — plus the brute-force tarpit that quiets your auth logs.20mOpen

Serving Traffic

nginx as the front door, real TLS, and Docker Compose for services you can rebuild.

  1. 01nginx as the Front DoorOne public port, many services — server blocks, proxy_pass, and the headers that make backends work.25mMembers
  2. 02TLS With Let's Encrypt: Certs That Renew Themselvescertbot, auto-renewal, and the redirect/webroot setup that just works — plus when to reach for wildcard certs.20mMembers
  3. 03Docker Compose: Services You Can RebuildCompose files as infrastructure-as-code for one box — networks, volumes, healthchecks, and the update loop.25mMembers

Keeping It Alive

Backups, updates, and monitoring — the maintenance loop that separates a homelab from a liability.

  1. 01Backups That Actually RestoreThe 3-2-1 rule on one box — what to back up, automating dumps+sync, and the restore drill nobody does until they must.22mMembers
  2. 02Updates and Monitoring Without a NOCThe weekly maintenance loop, unattended-upgrades discipline, and dead-simple monitoring that pages you only for real things.18mMembers