For this new year, I’d like to learn the skills necessary to self host. Specifically, I would like to eventually be able to self host Nextcloud, Jellyfin and possibly my email server too.
I’ve have a basic level understanding of Python and Kotlin. Now I’m in the process of learning Linux through a virtual machine because I know Linux is better suited for self hosting.
Should I stick with Python? Or is JavaScript (or maybe Ruby) better suited for that purpose? I’m more than happy to learn a new language, but I’m unsure on which is better suited.
And if you could start again in your self hosting journey, what would you do differently? :)
EDIT: I wasn’t expecting all these wonderful replies. You’re all very kind people to share so much with me :)
The consensus seems to be that hosting your own email server might be a lot, so I might leave that as future project. But for Nextcloud and Jellyfin I saw a lot of great tips! I forgot to mention that ideally I would like to have Nextcloud available for multiple users (ie. family memebers) so indeed learning some basic networking/firewalling seems the bare minimum.
I also promise that I will carefully read the manuals!
Dude it sounds you’re over skilled for the job. You just need to read some guides and you probably know already how networking works, very basic linux commands, linux folder structures, and then the concept of docker - primarily how it maps networking & folders from your “host machine” to the “docker container”, and how it loads services using a docker compose file. Especially for nextcloud, domain dns management and dynamic dns etc would be very helpful knowledge.
Also, just a suggestion, chatgpt etc are super useful. You tell them what you want and it spits out custom instructions for your setup, and you’re able to counter question at any point. If it does make mistakes, which it will, it’s a learning opportunity for you to troubleshoot and figure out how everything works. All the best and if you have a question feel free to message me.