I have a Pixel 8… a PC with Linux Mint. How do I learn to “self host”. Mainly for photo storage backup. Where do I start? I know nothing, absolutely nothing
I have a Pixel 8… a PC with Linux Mint. How do I learn to “self host”. Mainly for photo storage backup. Where do I start? I know nothing, absolutely nothing
It doesn’t get as easier as this (for photo storage backup):
https://docs.immich.app/overview/quick-start/
It has step by step guide, using very simple commands you can just copy and paste for the most part.
Since you are using linux, and you are in the fediverse I do assume you can move your way around setting up Immich with that guide.
How his looks like exactly what I needed! Thanks. Is this “self hosting”?
I started self-hosting on my desktop first with Plex and the *arr stack, before buying a mini-PC and spinning up these apps on Proxmox.
I’m surprised I had to go this far to find immich. I 100% recommend it, and yes it’s selfhosting if you run it yourself. Still selfhosted even if you use a VPS as long as you control and administer it.
For hardware, I actually recommend against raspberry pis these days. You can get a cheap mini PC that’s much more performant and better supported for the same price as a pi plus the accessories (SD card, case, power supply, etc). Use Debian or Ubuntu as host and follow the guide on the github for installation.
To be fair until very recently immich would have been a horrible recommendation for someone that is completely new to self hosting because almost every other update was a breaking change that required you to carefully read before updating.
And even if you tried if your installation was old enough eventually your compose file would Drift Away from what main line was and you basically had to seek the help of the developers to fix it up.
It only just recently released what is supposed to be the stable line that should hopefully no longer need these large breaking changes
I set up the server following the introduction instructions, but what I don’t get is I have to be connected to the same Wi-Fi or Internet I mean in order to connect to it. What is the point of that? How do I make it so things just upload from my phone to the server?
You need to open a port on your router for it to be accessible from the outside world (example your phone on LTE or a different wifi) , this is not a limitation of the software but a security feature of your router
@LordKitsuna @Toasted_Breakfast I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point. Rather I would go down the route of starting to learn about VPNs and DMZs - Open ports on networks can end badly.
Not even looking into VPNs in general. He can start by looking into tailscale specifically. But I agree opening ports should be a NO GO, especially for beginners.
So I successfully set it up, but I don’t understand why I have to be hooked onto the same internet in order for it to work. What kind of crap server is that? How on earth do I connect to it or set up a connection so I can access it from anywhere?
The nature of self hosting is that you’re doing the things yourself. With a service like Google photos you don’t even think about this stuff because someone else manages and figured the things out already for you.
This is good, lets you see if you are up for it when things don’t work out of the box exactly like you wanted. If it’s too much then I suggest you use a managed service.
Otherwise, then I suggest you begin with checking out tailscale. Tailscale is not exactly a selfhosted service but it’s the easiest path for SECURE remote access I can think of.
But as the other reply said, do you really need remote access? I mean, you can simply do the backups when you are connected to your home network…
Your right about the last part but then it begs to ask… Why set up this service or server when I can just use a Good Old USB cable? 😒
I also knew nothing about self hosting, but wanted to move away from Google photos, and that eventually led me towards self-hosting and immich.
Most people recommend using something like Tailscale so you can access your server from anywhere. That wouldn’t necessarily work for me, because I wanted to be able to share links to pics and videos with friends/family who wouldnt be a part of my Tailscale network.
I ended up purchasing a cheap domain, and using cloudflare to allow me to share links broadly. (Because my family deserves better quality videos of my adorable children than the compressed crap that comes through in a group message between iOS and android. I have tried SO hard to convince them to move our group chat do a different platform but I have failed.). It’s probably ill-advised for somebody who knows as little as I do to go this route, but I’m filled with the un-earned confidence of a middle-aged white man.
Being tethered to USB each time even if you want to copy or view 1 photo will get incredibly annoying.
Immich will also give you lots of useful features like albums, tags, filtering, face detection (local), and supports multiple devices and users (do you have enough USB ports? :p) . These small features will turn more and more useful as your library grows.
You can first keep Immich working in your local network while you figure out tailscale, flexibility is a strong suit here.
@net00 @Toasted_Breakfast Now you need to start getting some knowledge around routing and networking. Have a look at #Wireguard or #Tailscale to securely access your network remotely. Remember its a journey … you are going to learn things bit by bit.
…you say in your OP. Yet instead of learning, you complain “what kind of crap server is that”. You don’t learn by thinking anything is the softwares fault.
It is perfectly normal, that you can reach the server IN your home network only when you are connected TO your home network. That is a security feature by your router and thus by design. But in order to learn how to open it up, you would need to be willing to learn. About security, about networking, about how to find servers, i.e. the internet and more.
But for the beginning: how is that even bad or crap? Like, it saves your photos when you come home and connect to wifi. Awesome, congrats!