I have an old laptop lying around and I have been meaning to self host some stuff on it but never got around to it.

My biggest limitation is that I only have WIFI and I do not control the network. It’s basically your default residential WIFI network.

The only thing I actually need is self-hosted cloud. What can I utilize this laptop for?

  • @Bluefruit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14•6 months ago

    I started off with pi hole when i started messing around with an old laptop for self hosting. My advice is setup what you think is useful.

    To access the server outside your home, tailscale is a great option. Fairly simple to setup especially if its just you accessing the server.

    Reverse proxy would be best if you intend to let others acess your servers services often or if you dont wanna mess with tunnels. I settled on cloudflare tunnels because i didn’t want another thing to turn on to acess my server outside my house.

    When I didn’t have a carrier grade nat to deal with, i used caddy server for automatically getting ssl certs from lets encrypt and reverse proxy all in one. I really liked that once i got it setup.

      • @Sethayy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5•6 months ago

        Depends on the device, but on devices like android no.

        I can’t say I’ve gone through with it myself, but in theory you could have a host somewhere connected to a VPN that you send a your tailscale traffic through as an exit node

      • Mr. ForagerEnglish
        4•6 months ago

        Tailscale and Mullvad VPN recently partnered up to solve this exact issue. So in the admin panel of tailscale you could set up a device as an exitnode and then have that run through one of Mullvads servers. It’s all very neat and simple 😊

        • @BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
          3•6 months ago

          Exit nodes Subnet Routers KICK ASS.

          Makes it so my RPi enables me to manage any device on my home network from anywhere. I can print from my laptop or phone to my home printer. No need for a Tailscale client on hardware devices.

          An Exit Node provides a LAN exit path for connected devices - so any of my TS connected devices can route to the internet through my home network, gaining RPi DNS filtering along the way (though I don’t do this for performance reasons, it’s just an example).

          Edited to correct my misuse of exit node, and clarify the difference between it and Subnet routing.

      • @habitualTartare@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4•6 months ago

        On Android and I believe IOS it’s a single connection. I would start with the basic functionality (also don’t create a tailscale account with GitHub bc it does weird things with sharing if you ever want to have multiple users).

        Once you’ve got the VPN and storage working I can think of two options to give you the functionality of 2 vpns

        1. tasker is an android app that can let you automate a lot. It might let you switch vpns when opening say your storage app and switch back a bit easier than toggling it in settings.
        2. setup your lap-server at home with an outgoing public VPN so traffic goes mobile device> tailscale> public VPN. Essentially acting like you’re home using your public VPN. This may take some tinkering to work properly, especially when you’re home on the same network. Plus you would definitely see a Network speed impact on your phone.
        • @BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
          2•6 months ago

          Tailscale only requires one app install, on a device in your network.

          That device can be configued as a subnet router (providing local network access to Tailscale connections).

          Then using either the Funnel or Serve option, remote devices can access your Tailnet without a client installed.

          Just an option, another way of achieving similar results (though with different capabilities) as Cloudflare.

          Edit: Funnel enables non-TS clients to access TS resources. Serve enables foreign TS clients to access your TS network.

        • @BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
          0•6 months ago

          Generally Tailscale uses an app on every device to be a member of the Tailscale Virtual Mesh network.

          Though by using the Funnel, Serve, and Subnet Router features you can access things without the Tailscale client app.