Finding Services#

The initial challenge with any new tech hobby is figuring out where to start. Which services are worth your time? What problems can they actually solve for you?

I was fortunate to have specific goals in mind: setting up an MQTT broker and deploying Paperless-ngx. Having already tested Paperless locally, I was confident it would benefit from running 24/7 on my Synology NAS. The MQTT broker was familiar territory, making it an ideal first project.

For discovering additional services, I relied on Reddit, the excellent awesome-selfhosted GitHub repository, and fellow tech bloggers. My criteria were simple: does it solve a real problem, replace a proprietary service with something I control, or offer an interesting learning experience?

Here are the core services that have earned permanent spots in my self-hosted ecosystem:

• Dawarich: German for “I’ve been there” – this privacy-focused alternative to Google Maps Timeline tracks your location history on your own server. It even offers integration with Immich for displaying trip photos.

• Immich: While Synology Photos served me well as a Google Photos replacement, it has limitations. Immich offers compelling features that have me seriously considering a full migration (though I’m still in the evaluation phase).

• Dashy: With a growing collection of services and smart home devices, managing all those IP addresses became unwieldy. Dashy creates a sleek dashboard that not only organizes everything visually but also monitors service status at a glance.

• Paperless-ngx: I’ve detailed this brilliant document management system in a dedicated post. In short, it helps you transforms physical document chaos into digital organization.

• Home Assistant: Perhaps the crown jewel of self-hosting, Home Assistant unifies smart home devices while keeping data local. I’ve created custom automations like automatically powering down my desk equipment when power draw drops below a threshold for a specified period, or turning off the TV when nobody’s home.

• FreshRSS: I enjoy reading personal blogs. FreshRSS elegantly solves the aggregation problem, bringing my favorite blogs together in one place and making them available on my phone for convenient reading.

Getting Started#

My initial approach to installing services was somewhat clunky – SSHing into the NAS and managing Docker containers via terminal commands. The breakthrough came when I set up VS Code’s remote development over SSH, giving me a seamless development experience.

My current workflow is straightforward:

1. First, I scout for documentation and ideally a ready-made docker-compose.yml file at the projects page I want to get up and running.
2. After enabling SSH access in the Synology interface, I connect via VS Code.
3. I create a dedicated folder for each service containing the compose file and often a README documenting my setup decisions and useful references. This folder is under git versioning so I can always track changes I make.
4. Carefully mapping volumes in the compose file ensures data persistence. I maintain a standard structure with each service having its own subfolder within my main docker directory.
5. After launching the service, I follow any first-time setup procedures from the project documentation.
6. For services I want accessible outside my home network, I configure Synology’s reverse proxy and assign a proper domain name.

Final Thoughts#

Self-hosting has been a rewarding journey that strikes a nice balance – deep enough to be interesting without becoming overwhelming. The services run reliably, maintenance overhead is manageable, and I’ve discovered fascinating open-source projects along the way.

The community around self-hosting is vibrant and supportive, offering endless possibilities for exploration without demanding constant attention.

My Synology has proven to be an excellent platform due to its energy efficiency and always-on availability. The main limitations are Synology’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) ecosystem constraints and the relatively modest computing power. As AI applications become more accessible, I occasionally wish for more processing muscle to run things like Paperless plugins locally, preserving privacy while gaining powerful features.