this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2026
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I need a new hobby, I'm going to set up my own Lemmy instance. Am I an idiot? (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 days ago by AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
89 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Of the many useful things I could do with my spare time instead I'm setting up a Lemmy instance because why not. The scope of this is definitely greater than any self-hosting I've ever attempted, so please feel free to tell me just how much trouble I'm in. I'm just giving the broad strokes to see if I've made any crucial errors (other than deciding to do this at all).

And if this is a completely wrong place for a post like this or I'm missing data I'm supposed to include I apologize, I probably need a sanity check, in more ways than one.

First limitation, I'll be hosting it on an existing Linux Mint box acting as a file share mostly and occasional gaming PC/movie streaming box. Its hardware is overkill for this, I do not anticipate issues when it is in use. It receives regular updates and weekly reboots, instance will be set to automatically restart. NVMe with loads of space for local storage, RAID SSDs for data offload/backup.

Second limitation, I hate Cloudfare and Oracle. I do not want to use either of them.

Third limitation, money. Cheaper is better. I have a URL picked out and a registrar which will give me the cheapest long term option, in case I actually keep this thing going.

Last limitation, I'm already in over my head so I'll be relying on a lot of googling and probably some chat bots to figure things out as I go through the actual deployment process. What could go wrong?

So, Lemmy hosted on Linux Mint box using Docker containers. ISP is a good one for this I'm told, no CGNAT, largely stable public IP but I'll have a script running in case it does change. Confirmed ports 80/443 are open. Using Caddy for the HTTPS. Closed registration to start, if by some miracle I make it to actually wanting to allow additional users it will not be fully open, and I'll use Brevo for the email SMTP. Security wise I know I'm making it harder for myself by exposing my IP, I'm going to have UFW running and Crowdsec to help keep incoming bad traffic out.

Down the line I'll get Lemmy updates, backups, retention rules in place/automated, and make decisions on federation, etc. Thoughts?

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[–] ArborNode@lemmy.shutes.org 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I did a very similar setup very recently. Its not bad. I did try piefed first as some people suggested, but had some issues and it felt like it just wasn't ready yet. I switched to self hosting lemmy and really like it. I also went with Brevo for email (I started with sendgrid, would not recommend).

Main difference for me is I am using cloudflare (they are my registrar and they allow me to deal with the CGNAT at no extra cost which you don't have to deal with not to mention a pretty solid WAF for free tier). You may want to implement a WAF of some kind to keep the federation in check. I federate both lemmy and a matrix home server and it doesn't eat up too much bandwidth.

I also like saving money, so a VPS is something I was trying to avoid. Personally, I don't think the VPS does a much for securing your home network as people are trying to say here. It is another layer of security, but it's not a panacea. Not saying I'll never try it though.

[–] tko@tkohhh.social 3 points 6 days ago

I actually started on a VPS... I moved off because I was pegging the RAM and adding more to my plan was quite expensive. Performance is MUCH better on my home server with plenty of RAM.

[–] girlpower@piefed.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

I probably wouldn't host it at home, there are so many personal devices containing personal information on the network that I don't consider the risks involved worth it. I would get a VPS, even if they've increased in price lately. If you do set it up at home, you will have to harden the server and the network, and that requires a lot of time, knowledge and effort. Just keep this in mind!

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[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

How much RAM do you have available? Do you have an unlimited internet connection?

[–] AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

32gb, not unlimited but good enough that I am willing to proceed, then limit bandwidth usage through restrictive federation.

[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 2 points 6 days ago

Great, that should be plenty! Smart to restrict, federation indeed results in a ton of traffic :D

[–] aReallyCrunchyLeaf@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (15 children)

You should not host anything that's going to be public facing on your home network in 2026, period. Get a cheap German VPS and go nuts with it. There's simply too much at stake opening up your home router/firewall for such little gain. Plus, being a residential IP behind NAT might just make it straight up impossible.

I host my own email and a matrix server. I would never think of exposing my home network to the internet. I use tailscale to get into the homelab, anything exposed to the net lives somewhere far, far away.

I use netcup for my email and matrix. It's extremely reasonable.

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

I also don't get this fear. Assuming you aren't blindly exposing your entire filesystem or opening tons of ports what is the risk?

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[–] chewypoops@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

You will learn a ton. Also, you will spend a lot of money hosting an activitypub instance. I run a server for fun, and it's about $40/month to handle the absolute firehose of assets I receive 24/7.

[–] gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

oh very interesting. i've been wanting to get into the details of how federation actually works, and i wanted to figure out why mastodon<->lemmy federation does often not seem to work. but i guess that's a deep rabbit hole too!

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 points 6 days ago

It does work! To an extent. It's just not popular to do this... Because of the extent. No votes, easy to find threads, etc.

[–] amio@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Not necessarily, but why choose a project that needs interfacing with an existing ecosystem where it can mostly only be noise?

If you want to deal with a complicated mess of a system as a project, you could always grab Arch

[–] artyom@piefed.social -3 points 6 days ago

You're an idiot of you don't use PieFed instead 😃

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