this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
48 points (92.9% liked)
Selfhosted
59897 readers
555 users here now
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.
Rules:
-
Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.
-
No spam.
-
Posts here are to be centered around self-hosting. Please ensure it is clear in your post how it relates to self-hosting.
-
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or git here. Just post the link for folks to click.
-
Submission headline should match the article title.
-
No trolling.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Speaking as someone who has recently taken on a far-remote (e.g. about 22 hour drive away) support for a MIL, the best thing you could do is set up a VPN.
For me, I'm still on Plex with a very old lifetime account with my MIL using a dedicated user account - that access is over the Internet. The VPN is to provide access to Overseerr so that she can do things like request specific movies/TV shows without having to email/call.
It's not perfect - one day I woke up to 26 seasons of "Into the Country", but it works fairly well.
I sat down with her one day while visiting about a year or so ago and walked her through connecting to the VPN, then getting to the hosted site, then disconnecting from the VPN - basically running drills and making her take notes until she felt she could do it by herself.
That's not a bad call.
There's fortunately pretty tech literate people at both locations. I can walk them through most of it with very little a long the lines of finger puppets and crayons.
We were visiting for about a week and I think it took three separate days, about 20 minutes each day before she felt comfortable doing the VPN stuff herself.
It was definitely painful, but if you're patient, it's doable.
Good luck with whichever option you choose!