Private Server

[James Quillian]

Does anyone know what hardware I would need to set up my own private server, not a cloud system or anything like that. I mean a sever complete independent

I apologize for asking such a weird off the beaten path question.

[Jim Pollard]

Depends on what type of server you require. Media server? Web server? Storage? Application? How much traffic to you expect?

[James Quillian]

I write a blog. I am thinking about publishing it on my own server. It is a wordpress blog and pretty simple.


This might sound crazy, but those of us who write blogs are being heavily censored. Most folks don't experience this so I don't expect others to understand the issue.
This is the link.
I know this is a music sight. In fact I do play steel.
I have always gotten very clear answers on questions here.
I hope thisis not an imposition.

http://quillian.net/blog/what-do-we-the ... overnment/

[Edward Dixon]

James,
Have you looked into Network Attached Storage? I have an 8TB Western Digital NAS drive attached to my router and it works well. I use it to keep all my files accessible to all my computers so I don't have to copy anything to another machine. It comes with software for WordPress as well as a few choices of media servers. I don't have it set up for access from the internet but it will do that.

https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Ultra-Netw ... 840&sr=8-3

[b0b]

The forum ran on my own private server for many years. I even ran it on a Mac Mini for a while. You have to have a dedicated static IP address and a domain name. You get the static IP from your internet provider. It costs extra. I use Namecheap.com for domain names.

It's not hard or expensive to start up a new virtual Linux server at DigitalOcean.com. Prices start at $5/month. You have complete control of the machine. I run b0b.com and about a dozen other low-traffic Wordpress sites on one server there. Be prepared for an education in system administration, though. Running a web server is a lot harder than running a desktop computer.

[Jim Pollard]

Bob is on the right track for my money. I'm a sysadmin myself and I'd consider it too much of a risk (for myself and family) to run a web server on my home network.

[Edward Dixon]

I write a blog. I am thinking about publishing it on my own server. It is a wordpress blog and pretty simple.

/snip.../

http://quillian.net/blog/what-do-we-the ... overnment/

Is quillian.net hosted on the Wordpress servers?

[b0b]

One important aspect of the modern web is https encryption. I notice that your blog doesn't have it. Without it, some modern browsers and mobile devices will refuse to load your site ("Not safe!"). It's easy to add if you have direct access to the server. See https://letsencrypt.org/how-it-works/.

You can create a "self-signed" https certificate without using a "Trusted Authority" like Let's Encrypt, but I'm not sure that all browsers will accept it.

[James Quillian]

I didn't even know that. Thanks
While I have got your attention. I have always admired and respected the fact that this forum is on its own track and seems totally independent. There was a time when this type of thing was completely normal. All but a tiny few are out of business. I am sure that serves you now. But, in the days that come it might surprise you that it ends up even serving better.

Most people don't think about the things an economist does for the same reason they would not want to think about what an undertaker does.
Censorship certainly would not effect your site.
However sites like mine are so censored that blog writers who deal with non-mainstream issues have lost about 90% of their average traffic since 2019.
That is why I am starting to look towards having a private server. I need something that can't be shut down.
I have no interest in surfing the dark web, but I do plan on putting my blog there also.
Big Tech has so corrupted the worldwide web that I wonder how long it will be before the Dark Web actually starts drawing traffic from the WWW.
If that happens, it is likely to become more efficient and worthwhile.
Right now I am trying to learn the basics of having a private server. I am hoping to find a way to be completely free of big tech. After that, the rest won't be much of an issue.

Thanks for your valuable input.

One important aspect of the modern web is https encryption. I notice that your blog doesn't have it. Without it, some modern browsers and mobile devices will refuse to load your site ("Not safe!"). It's easy to add if you have direct access to the server. See https://letsencrypt.org/how-it-works/.

You can create a "self-signed" https certificate without using a "Trusted Authority" like Let's Encrypt, but I'm not sure that all browsers will accept it.

[b0b]

I don't think that DigitalOcean.com qualifies as "big tech", though they do have 3 large data centers. They compete directly with Amazon AWS and are, unfortunately, often used by spammers for anonymity. I use them for the complete server control they offer. There is certainly no censorship there.

A loss of traffic in recent years can definitely be attributed to the lack of an https certificate. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Google, Apple, and Microsoft are ignoring or at least downgrading non-secure sites in their search results. I have a 1st generation Mac Pro (2006) that is virtually useless for web browsing because it doesn't support the TLS encryption used by https. So it goes.

[James Quillian]

I will check out DigitalOcean.com

I am sure what you say with respect to htpps.
That certainly must be having effect.
But, all blogs that are censored have lost traffic due to censorship. Many of them have given up and quit.

I don't think that DigitalOcean.com qualifies as "big tech", though they do have 3 large data centers. They compete directly with Amazon AWS and are, unfortunately, often used by spammers for anonymity. I use them for the complete server control they offer. There is certainly no censorship there.

A loss of traffic in recent years can definitely be attributed to the lack of an https certificate. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Google, Apple, and Microsoft are ignoring or at least downgrading non-secure sites in their search results. I have a 1st generation Mac Pro (2006) that is virtually useless for web browsing because it doesn't support the TLS encryption used by https. So it goes.

[b0b]

How is censorship implemented on those blogs?

[James Quillian]

How is censorship implemented on those blogs?

It is not something one would automatically.
Links on these sites are not allowed on Facebook and pretty much all of social media.

YouTube either closes channels or does not show them at all,

They are intentionally ghosted on Google etc...

If I go on, you will likely deem me to be a conspiracy theorist and discount anything I say. This is despite the fact that all meaningful approaches to government are conspiracy based.

I have completely not ever mentioned such things on this forum. Basically I have two lives, one as an economist and political analyst and music. I try and stick to music in sites like this.

If you are interested, please email me. I don't want to start a food fight here.

There is a lot involved in censorship.
It is agenda driven. Folks don't really understand how government works. The government we elect is not our genuine government, Our genuine government is consortium of moneyed interests that governs the the government we elect. They own all of the news outlets so citizens only hear what this consortium wants them to hear.

Regardless of what folks think all legislation passed is for profit. The revenue of just 4 of our industries is greater than the GDPs of all but, I believe 4, entire nations.

Bills such as the Affordable Care Act are really a collection of skimming operations that funnel money to the top of the healthcare food chain. They are powerful enough to destroy the career of any lawmaker in congress who opposes their efforts.

They are the source of censorship. Back when the corona began all links to vitamin c stories and any other anti viral substance were not allowed on Facebook or YouTube.

I could go one and on about this. People are not going to believe any of this off the cuff. I have friends on this forum I would rather not run off.

Anyone interested in this stuff is free to email me and I will respond and fill them in.
But to go into that here on a peaceful site will do nothing but start a food fight. I have been in enough of those to last me two life times,

[b0b]

I see. There is obviously censorship by the social media companies (except MeWe). I think of blogs in the more traditional sense, as standalone web sites. I haven't seen any censorship in that sphere. I was just wondering how bloggers are being censored - the technical aspect of it, the "how", not the "why".

"Why" is a political topic, one that is totally out of scope (and against our rules) in this forum, as you know.

[James Quillian]

I see. There is obviously censorship by the social media companies (except MeWe). I think of blogs in the more traditional sense, as standalone web sites. I haven't seen any censorship in that sphere. I was just wondering how bloggers are being censored - the technical aspect of it, the "how", not the "why".

"Why" is a political topic, one that is totally out of scope (and against our rules) in this forum, as you know.

Thanks Bob. I only answered questions. None of that was my idea.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Does anyone know what hardware I would need to set up my own private server, not a cloud system or anything like that. I mean a sever complete independent.

How do you connect to the Internet? Before you setup a web server at your home or your business, check with your ISP to see if they allow or disallow private web servers on customer lines. You may find that they block the http and https ports needed to connect to you from the Internet.

One of the most common web servers is the free, open source Apache HTTP Server project. You can download it and setup a test server on your local network and learn how it all works.