Ahoy mateys! I've been doing some research into getting a self-hosted streaming setup built, and I'd like to ask the knowledgeable folks here for advice as well.

My goal is to be running a server that can host a jellyfin stack for acquiring and streaming media for myself and my partner. (I'd like to also run a matrix chat server on it for us to have secure chats as well, but I think that'll be less of a hassle. I hope...)

I found a few guides that don't seem too out of date. I'm an experienced full stack software dev, so the idea of running some docker containers and doing a little command line server set up doesn't intimidate me.

These guides though, they just cover the software application set up mainly. I also need to know:

Where should I host at? I'm on a shitty 5G internet at home, so VPS seems like the way to go but with who? What are some good secure hosts that aren't super expensive? Considering Hetzner auctions maybe? Anyone used them?
Will I need a VPN on the server too? If I'm torrenting, do I need to be careful which hosts I choose so I don't get copyright pinged?
Is there a good guide for securing and hardening my server? I'd like my partner and i to have easy access from home or on our mobiles, but I also don't want to find out my box is suddenly mining crypto because I forgot to close one port. I don't know what gotchas to be looking out for.
Any other guides you'd recommend? Any must have software or sites to know about?

Thanks in advance!

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[–] Evkob@lemmy.ca 13 points 15 hours ago

I recommend posting in !selfhosted@lemmy.world, really helpful community there (although I'd refrain from specifically mentioning piracy).

I've heard Hetzner is quick to crack down on piracy. Some VPS hosters advertise that they don't acknowledge DMCA requests, such as Njalla and 1984 (I've never used these, just found them by searching Lemmy). If you want to go with a traditional hoster I'll echo what the other person said and recommend Gluetun to bind your container to a VPN service.

For security, if it's just for you and your partner I'd just setup a Wireguard server on the VPS and tunnel into it that way. You'll have to setup the VPN on any device you want to access your server with, which is a hassle, but I'd much prefer the small hassle than the constant worrying of hosting publicly-accessible services. Otherwise, I'd setup something like Crowdsec or Fail2Ban.