Migrate hosting to a self-hosted server

[ashprids]

Overview

Move the fridg3.org website infrastructure from the current Vultr VPS to a self-hosted machine owned and managed by fridge.

The goal is to reduce long-term hosting costs, gain full infrastructure control, and integrate the site into a personal self-hosting environment.

Motivation

• Reduce recurring VPS costs
• Maintain full control over hardware and infrastructure
• Centralise all hosted services
• Experiment with self-hosting and infrastructure management
• Easier hardware upgrades

Current Setup

• Hosting: Vultr
• Web server: Nginx
• Backend: PHP
• CDN / DNS: Cloudflare
• Deployment: GitHub Actions
• Domain: fridg3.org

Proposed Setup

• Self-hosted machine (e.g. mini PC / server / refurbished desktop)
• Nginx + PHP environment
• Cloudflare proxy retained for:
  • DNS
  • TLS
  • DDoS protection
  • IP masking

Tasks

• Choose hardware for hosting
• Order hardware + build machine if necessary
• Install and configure server OS (Arch Linux)
• Install admin tools (Tailscale, Cockpit)
• Install web stack (Nginx, PHP)
• Transfer nginx configuration
• Configure firewall and security hardening
• Update deploy action to point to new webserver
• Update DNS configuration in Cloudflare
• Test full site functionality
• Monitor performance and uptime

Considerations

• residential IP uptime and reliability
• power consumption
• network security
• automated backups
• remote access / maintenance

Success Criteria

• fridg3.org successfully served from the self-hosted machine
• deployment pipeline remains functional
• no downtime or minimal downtime during migration
• overall costs become lower than hosting via VPS

Optionals

• Make /data/ point to its own storage drive or partition, so it exists independently from everything else
• Ideally configure it in a RAID 1 array for additional redundancy on top of backups
• Store /data/ backups in their own drive
• Allow /data/ backups to be applied and made through an on-site admin only page