KWS: how I built a self-hostable cloud platform?

KWS is a self-hostable cloud platform that has a lot of features including,

1. Deploying LXC instances.

2. Pre-managed services like PostgreSQL.

3. Single click hosting by giving your sub-domain, and port to expose.

4. VPN - secured access to instances.

5. KWS tunnels which allows home network to be accessible over the internet without exposing(can take in user custom domains)

Here, ill be explaining the whole architecture of KWS, the networking concepts and the system design.

I'll explain the overall birds view technical details of the project and the project itself.

Key Takeaways

• Why I built KWS and the problems it addresses

• Deploying lightweight instances using LXC

• Pre-managed services like PostgreSQL that save setup time

• One-click app hosting with subdomains

• VPN for secure, private access to instances

• KWS Tunnels to safely access home network over the internet, including custom domains

• Using the DNS-01 challenge to automate SSL certificate management

• Practical insights into DNS, SSL, and reverse proxy setup

• System design choices that balance scalability and security

• Challenges faced while deploying on a college server environment

Audience Learning Outcomes

• A practical understanding of Linux networking

• How to set up and manage DNS correctly

• How to think about system design in real-world conditions

• How architecture decisions impact scalability and security