Forest @forestjohnson@pixie.town

I just opened registrations on the alpha version of my new self-hosting-oriented cloud service provider, Greenhouse!

You can check it out, sign up for an account, and download the CLI or desktop application here:

--> https://greenhouse-alpha.server.garden <--

If you are interested in learning about self-hosting, please try it out and let me know what you think!

I'm not publishing this on blast yet! I'm not quite ready for the unwashed masses yet, so please don't re-share this for now. A full public release will come soon!!

They will have their own lore website pitney-the-pineapple.greenhouseusers.com 😛

These are gonna be HTTP error pages too. Consider "504 Gateway Timeout"

There are so many good ones lol

im gonna use this little guy from freepik / flaticon as my greenhouse mascot

Streaming more Windows installer to running server WR attempts today

https://stream.sequentialread.com/

Music right now: 😴 Lowfi Hiphop Beats Channel 💧🌸

@seedlingattempt@kolektiva.social

> Is there at current a plan for [..] multiple different locations on the "living room" side of things [..] If me and 2 other people are all hosting the same site, we could have one server each with the same data but on different physical locations

Yes, in fact that's one of the main reasons I started doing this in the first place, I wanted a way to make that easier as well. I don't know if I ever posted it on Fedi but long ago I made some twitter posts explaining my justification for starting the original project that eventually got "delayed indefinitely" to make way for greenhouse.

I don't feel like posting it as a twitter link or reposting it on fedi, but here's a link to the original text: https://picopublish.sequentialread.com/files/servergarden-twitter-thread.txt

This isn't exactly a TL;DR as it's quite long.., but here's a condensed version of where greenhouse specifically is at with regards to redundant/replicated servers.

Greenhouse on its own probably can't solve *all* of the problems that would come up if you wanted to create & maintain a redundant, replicated set of servers.

However, I believe that greenhouse is the first step to making that easier, it makes global connectivity of servers a lot easier to set up and maintain, and in theory it can also be used as a load balancer so the site/service stays up while one or more of the replicated servers power off, lose internet, crash, undergo repair / replacement, etc.

Greenhouse doesn't have any explicit load balancing features yet. They are currently planned for after the beta release is completed. However, even without an explicit feature, you could theoretically create your own rudimentary load balancing system targeting at the alpha version of greenhouse.

@seedlingattempt@kolektiva.social

Yeah I would love to have more help testing it! I'm hoping I can get something in terms of a real alpha release out the door by the end of this month. If you would like to get involved sooner, you'll have to come at it from a more self-hosting angle (hosting greenhouse or threshold in your own cloud account) rather than a service-type experience (use my cloud service and my client software installers).

I have personally used https://git.sequentialread.com/forest/threshold on its own to publish a server tethered to the wifi hotspot on my phone to the internet.

The only caveats being:

1. you have to host it on a cloud server somewhere

2. the documentation isn't all there currently

3. you have to generate your own self signed TLS certificates for the client and server (I used https://git.sequentialread.com/forest/make-fake-cert)

Here are the fruits of my labors: https://git.sequentialread.com/forest/golang-crossplatform-child-process-test

https://stream.sequentialread.com/

Music right now: ⛩️🥋 Nujabes / Samurai Champloo 💿🎚️🎛️💿

Working on cross platform child process management in golang

@seedlingattempt@kolektiva.social

it's also possible that by getting your IP address, someone could use it to leapfrog to more personal information about you like your name or home address.

However, unless you are an absolute privacy freak, using TOR and 100% opsec everywhere you go, using cash all the time, no credit cards, no car, etc etc, I really don't think that hosting a web site is any more dangerous than simply using the internet in the first place 👍

@seedlingattempt@kolektiva.social

Good question. It may depend. I have been self-hosting for many years, and I have always used my home IP address to do so. I've never ran into any problems with it.

I would summarize it with different risk categories.

1. ingress vulnerability risk

The risk that the server you put onto the public network is vulnerable to an ez-to-execute attack which would allow a remote attacker to run code on your server and take it over.

2. accidental exposure

The risk that you accidentally publish something you didn't mean to publish, like your private documents.

3. privacy/self-doxxing risks

If you operate your public site via your home IP address like I do, obviously anyone who knows about the existence of your site also knows your home IP address and may be able to execute a DOS attack against you (pay a small time criminal to have 1000s of compromised computers attempt to connect to your house, thus clogging/disabling your home internet connection)

Also, typically in order to host a web site, you have to have a domain name. The contracts for domain name registration require you to put your personally identifying information on file with the registrar in association with the domain name. This personally identifiable information may or may not be published (its almost always not published) but it is definitely on file.

If you wish to address #1, all you have to do is use common configurations of well known and up-to-date open source software and you should be fine.

If you wish to address #2 , just be sure to understand what the software you install is doing, be careful what you publish, if you implement any sort of security in front of your private content, then try to attack your own site a bit to make sure its not trivially vulnerable.

If you wish to address #3, you may either host your website via TOR or another anonymity network, or you may use a hosting oriented VPN/reverse tunnel provider like Greenhouse. You may also set up your own VPN with a cloud provider of your choice to act as a lightning rod.

There are probably privacy focused DNS providers as well. Or you can use Namecoin, but that won't work with anyone else's computer yet.

Greenhouse Update 4 - September

https://sequentialread.com/greenhouse-update-4-september/

https://stream.sequentialread.com/

Working on greenhouse alpha deployment
Music right now: 🐍🗡️ Flogging Molly 🍀🍻

I'm streaming some more today https://stream.sequentialread.com/

Music right now: 💌🧟🏴 Guante + Big Cats! 🌩️🌳

You can join the stream if you want: https://cafe.cyberia.club/sequentialread-stream

oops, misclick

https://stream.sequentialread.com

Music right now: 🗻🌠 Katamari OST 🎺🪐