I set up a new home server recently using containerized services, and I wanted to share what I learned. Nothing here is revolutionary, but this is the type of resource I wish I had when I started.
I’m open to feedback on what I could have done better!
I have recently done something very similar though I did use Docker. Instead of VPN in the future, have you seen cloudflare tunnels? They are awesome, you do not have to expose any ports on your network and you can authenticate users with SSO. Also, not sure if it’s possible with Podman but I was able to get my Caddy setup so that the caddyfile is created and maintained automagically using a plugin.
I find it disappointing that everyone’s first suggestion in the selfhosted community is Cloudflare. It seems to run counter to the spirit of selfhosting to hand off the last part to the giant corporation that controls 90% of the Internet.
Most of what Cloudflare does—if it’s necessary at all—can be replicated with a cheap (or free) VPS sitting in front of your network on a VPN, and the remainder doesn’t matter for most selfhosted use cases.
Not OP, i’ve heard nothing but good things about cloudflare tunnels but for me they have two major drawbacks. The first is you can’t use them for a self hosted media server such as jellyfin as it violates their terms of service. The second is you have to trust them with all your traffic. Now i have no reason to think they would do anything nefarious but i’m at the point in my threat model journey that the less i trust in any corporations hands the better. Just my two cents.