Selfhosted
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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I've never understood this stance. You do you, but if I'm offering to host stuff for friends or family for free, they can at least learn to operate that thing on their end.
Edited to add, wow I did not expect this to be such a hot take. Fuck me I guess lol.
What do they need to even learn? How to login using the username you gave them?
Surely you haven't exposed your Jellyfin to the open net, since even the devs admit that that is a terrible idea
Got a link for the dev recommendation? I hadn't heard about that
My Jellyfin is exposed to the open net and it’s completely fine, but users don’t need to know any technical details about that. They just need to know how to login.
Theres a reason everyone uses a VPN to allow remote streaming for their Jellyfin. The things as open as a barns door, so you should not just open it to the public. Like I said, even the devs say not to do that, its just not secure enough
You’re just spreading fud. Jellyfin devs actually have documentation on how to expose it to the net. Why would they do that if it were unsafe?https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/
I’ve been using it this way for a couple years now and we are good. Never used Plex. I’m using only Jellyfin. So, I’ll pass on your advice. Thanks.
According to your own link that you totally read : "Note that opening a port gives full access to that port to the next higher Network. Opening a port directly to the Internet is therefore insecure and not recommended." and "forwarding its Ports directly to the internet (not recommended!)"
Yeah, no shit. That’s not an issue with jellyfin, that’s general advice for any application you’re hosting. Use a reverse proxy instead. That is also in the documentation.
Using a knife might cut you when you hold it by the blade, does that mean no one should hold it by the handle?
Well I was just answering your question about "why would jellyfin have documentation about opening it to the web if unsafe?" by pointing out that while they do tell you how to, they also explains the risks associated with doing so. Having documentation about something doesn't mean that the devs endorse this usage.
People are arguing that Jellyfin is inherently unsafe, or more so than another web application like plex and therefore if you provide friends access to it, they MUST use a VPN. That’s not true. You can host Jellyfin behind a reverse proxy and it’s accessible just like other web applications. Your friends don’t need to learn how to use a VPN. They can login just like they login to other websites.
It seems to depend on how you are granting access and have configured the server... if they have to setup VPN access in order to access Jellyfin, as opposed to logging into plex website.
No, that doesn't change anything about what I said really.
To me, if I'm hosting something for my friends and family, they can put in the effort to learn how to use it. Period. Whether that's as simple as logging in through a browser, installing an app, or using a VPN. They can learn, or they can pay for Netflix (as an example, since we're discussing a media server originally).
In my experience getting dozens of people on to my server, plenty will happily choose to pay for Netflix. I want people to choose my server over paid streaming, so I offer both Plex and Jellyfin, and to date not a single person has stuck with Jellyfin, and several have gotten my invite email, took a look at the FAQ on how to request media, and continued using paid streaming.
I'd want them to as well, but I'd also expect them to put in the bare minimum effort considering I'm taking over server admin duties and costs.