Introduction to Self-Hosting with Free and Open Source Tools

This session is a practical introduction to self-hosting. With increasing concern over data privacy, vendor lock-in, and performance bottlenecks of centralized services, self-hosting offers a powerful alternative. The talk walks through the philosophy behind self-hosting, its technical benefits, and how everyday users can start their self-hosting journey using open-source tools.

I’ll walk through real examples of what people can self-host, like replacing Google Drive, Spotify, or Trello and the kind of hardware that works well, whether it’s a Raspberry Pi or a second-hand server. I’ll also cover the main building blocks of a self-hosted setup, like Docker, Proxmox, reverse proxies, backups, and dynamic DNS. I’ll go a bit deeper into Proxmox VE too, and explain how it helps manage virtual machines and containers efficiently. Toward the end, I’ll share some common mistakes to avoid, tips for keeping things running smoothly, and places where people can find help or learn more.

• Understand what self-hosting is and why it matters for privacy, control, and performance.

• Learn about open-source tools and platforms for hosting your own cloud, media server, password manager, and more.

• Get introduced to Proxmox VE and how to use it to manage containers and VMs.

• Discover essential security, backup, and maintenance practices for running reliable self-hosted services.

• Recognize common challenges beginners face and how to avoid them.

• Learn where to find helpful communities and open-source resources to keep growing.