Bitten by the self-hosting bug!

Tech Twitter (X) has this unique way of taking you on a ride through whatever is popular at that point in time and this time it was hating on Vercel and an overwhelming support for open source software for self hosting

I have always avoided self hosting as it sounded a little too complex and time consuming, and when there are single-click-deploy options like Vercel, I never felt the need to explore the topic any further than what tech twitter was shoving down my throat. Also, as opposed to many unfortunate folks who got gargantuan bills on Vercel with their new app going viral, I never faced that issue as I had only one user - me 😄

That being said, I was in fact looking for something new to learn, and I wanted to get better at CI/CD, deployment, Docker containers and all that comes with maintaining a server (learning React over and over was getting a little tiresome)

So I decided to take the plunge into the self hosting space, and boy o boy, this is the real deal.

The good, the bad, and the unknown

The good: Self-hosting has given me complete control over my setup. There's an odd satisfaction in knowing that the server running my blog is right there in my home, quietly humming away in my closet. I’ve learned more in the last few weeks about Docker, networking, and automation than I ever did just following along with tutorials or using managed services. The flexibility is unmatched—no waiting for third-party services to support the latest features or dealing with their limitations. Plus, it’s all mine, and open source has been a game-changer.

The bad: There have been times when I wanted to throw in the towel—unexpected issues while installing the apps, troubleshooting mysterious network problems, and fighting with misconfigured services. Debugging server issues remotely, without all the fancy dashboards I was used to (shoutout to Vercel), can feel like navigating in the dark with a candle. And while the initial costs are relatively low, the time investment required has been much higher than I imagined.

The unknown: There’s still a lot I don’t know, and that’s both exciting and a bit daunting. Security, for one, is a big question mark—am I really locking things down enough? What about scaling? Right now, it’s just me, but what if the blog gains traction? (not happening anytime soon haha). How do I ensure my setup won’t crumble under a heavier load? I haven't tested any of these scenarios, but I intend to do so after some required learning. It’s an adventure, for sure, but I’m walking on untrodden ground.

The plan

The plan is, well, to keep learning and dump everything I've learnt on to this little blog.

I want this blog to be sort of my digital diary - capture everything that I've learnt and un-learnt from now on, so that I can come back here and use this for my own reference. I am in no way an expert (yet) in the self-hosting space, but I do plan to get there one day. So far, the journey forward looks exciting.

Later,
Ashis