(if I keep doing this series, I will need to make a point of getting more interesting sky shots.)
This month has been one of quiet progress, but not a lot of progress.
I did set up a private copy of The Lounge for managing my IRC presents. That is going pretty well. Due to ${LIFE} issues, I have not done much else, but I am still using the services I have already stood up.
More next month.
So, it has been about two months since I wrote Path to Self-Hosting so I figured it was time for a check-in.
As a refresher, here is the list of services I came up with (I will probably add more):
So, how am I getting on? Let’s take a look.
I am still using GMail as my main mailbox, but I am trying to stay away from the web interface as much as I can. A long time ago, I set up mbsync to sync my GMail down to my laptop, and I use mutt to read emails from there. There are some emails which really need a GUI version to read it (mainly marketing type things), so I have a script to open it in FireFox.
I have been looking into places I can move my mailbox, but I need to figure out if I want to trust a third-party like Proton Mail or my hosting provider DreamHost, or if I want to stand up a mail server on a VPS somewhere.
I got an email from Google which told me that the promotional period on some storage was expiring, which got me to move everything personal out of Google Drive into my NextCloud server I run at home. I have to leave some things there as I use it as a file storage for an group I help run.
My NextCloud server has been given a bit of attention. I upgraded it to 17.0.2 and converted the SQL storage from SQLite to MariaDB. Things seem to be going well with that. I also switched the docker container image from the NextCloud one to the one provided by LinuxServer.io. They do a good job of packaging up images and providing a common way to manage and configure their docker images. I have switched over all my images to use theirs where I can.
Next steps here are to upgrade to NextCloud Hub 18, which is the latest release, and to get everybody else in the house storing their files on the NextCloud sever.
Back before there was stable and wide-spread music streaming services, I had managed to amass a large-ish music collection which I used various local clients to play. Once I decided to ditch Google Play Music, I needed a way to get play my music where ever. Enter Airsonic, a music streaming server I can run under docker here at the house. For my phone, I am using an application called Dsub (F-Droid) which lets me cache the music on my phone so I can play it without using the phone’s data connection.
My next step here is to take the playlists I made in Play Music and port them over to AirSonic. I will also need to purchase some of the songs I am missing.
I have been running an instance of Gitea for a while. It is a great basic git repo with web-front end. I have been playing with GitLab at work and I might want to try it out. Yeah for docker making it easy!
Calendaring will present some of a challenge as I need to be able to see and update the family’s calendars, and everybody else is using Google. I should write a post on what I am doing, but I am basically syncing down the Google calendar stuff, and then syncing it with my NextCloud server.
To view and edit my calendars, I am using something called ikhal which is part of the khal suite which is a CLI calendaring app.
If I need a GUI, then I use the calendaring app in NextCloud.
I am planning on using something called khard which is another CLI app which will integrate with my calendar syncing solution, and my email client of choice, mutt.
I have been using a CLI tool called pass for a long time now. It stores its entries on the local disk using GPG encryption per file. It also supports git, so I have it stored in my gitea instance. I can also access it on my phone which is nice.
So, way back at the end of 2017, my home wi-fi was not the best it could be. I had grand plans to pull cat-6 wire and drop simple wi-fi access points (APs) and have it all working as a happy mesh-type arrangement. Well, turns out two of the pulls would have been a real pain to do and that would leave the back of the house without any improvements, so I shelved the project.
Then I find this product from a company called Luma. They offered an inexpensive 3 AP mesh wi-fi with some extras I had not thought about like parental controls, time restrictions, basic network protection, etc. Pretty nice. The main drawback for me was that I had no control over the network topology of the wireless side but I got around that. Oh, and the only way to configure it is with an app on my phone. I can remotely manage it, so not too bad. But, no local management.
Fast forward to this week. One of the kids asked me to check something on their wireless profile, so I pull out my phone, and do my thing, no worries. The next day, my wife mentions that the TV in the master bedroom is having issues streaming a movie she wanted to watch with the eldest. Sometimes, the AP back there falls off the network, and a simple logical reboot clears it up, so I pull out my phone and open the app. And I cannot log into the app. Poking around a bit, I find that the domain which the app points to is gone. Turns out, Luma was bought about 2-3 months after I got the gear, and the new owner folded the tech into their products and dropped support for the Luma.
The worse part? They had my email this whole time, and not once did I get anything from them informing me that the product I spent money on was about to become a paper weight.
So, I pulled out the repeaters from the old project, and the old AP, and I am in the process of migrating everything over to the new old AP. The major drawback is that the repeaters I have are only single-band in the 2.4G range, which is much slower than the newer 5G range. That will be the next project to update the repeaters to dual-band.