this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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Selfhosted

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[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 8 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Where is the tipping point though? If I have a server at my parents house, they live in Germany and I in Korea, does my dad host it then because he is paying for the electricity and the access to the internet and makes sure those things work?

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Your parents’ house isn’t the cloud, so yeah, it’s self hosted. The “tipping point” is whether you’re using a hosting provider.

[–] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 8 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

They are using a hosting provider - their dad.

"The cloud" is also just a bunch of machines in a basement. Lots of machines in lots of "basements", but still.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

"hosting provider" in this instance I think means "do you pay them (whoever has the hardware in their possession) a monthly/quarterly/yearly fee"

otherwise you can also say "well ACTUALLY your isp is providing the ability to host on the wan so they are the real hosting provider" and such...

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 0 points 17 hours ago

Their dad is not a hosting provider. I mean, maybe he is, but that would be really weird.

[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Isn't my dad the hosting provider? I ordered the hardware, he connected it to his switch and his electricity and pressed the button to start it the first time. From there on I logged in to his VPN and set up the server like I would at Hetzner.

But you're right it doesn't really make a difference. I feel the only difference it makes for me where I post my questions on Lemmy if it is in a !selfhosting community or a !linux community.

From a feeling perspective, even if I use Hetzners cloud, I feel I self host my single user PieFed instance (and matrix, my other websites, mastodon, etc.) because I have to preform basically the same steps as for things I'm really hosting at home like open-webui, immich, peertube.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca -1 points 17 hours ago

A hosting provider is a business. If your dad is a business and you are buying hosting services from him, then yes, he is a hosting provider and you are not self hosting. But that’s not what you’re doing. You’re hosting on your own hardware on your family’s internet. That’s self hosting.

When you host on Hetzner, you’re hosting on their hardware using their internet. That’s not self hosting. It’s similar, cause like you said, you have to do a lot of the same administration work, but it’s not self hosting.

Where it gets a little murky is rack space providers. Then you’re hosting on your own hardware, but it’s not your own internet, and there’s staff there to help you… kinda iffy whether you’re self hosting, but I’d say yeah, since you own the hardware.