[SOLVED] Can I host my own Lemmy instance on localhost? (thelemmy.club)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by Octopus1348@thelemmy.club to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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Would it be possible for me to make comments to other instances etc?

Solved: I can't, it would only work with a public domain.

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[-] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 39 points 7 months ago

No, ActivityPub is a push protocol. Other instances send data to your instance via HTTPS and only HTTPS. So you need at minimum a public domain and web server with TLS enabled.

Some people use Cloudflare tunnels to avoid opening ports or just get a cheap VPS to forward the traffic home without exposing the home IP.

[-] dog@suppo.fi 0 points 7 months ago

You do realize all this is easily done with a reverse proxy + DuckDNS?

[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 4 points 7 months ago

Wouldn't you need a publically available IP? DuckDNS is only for dynamic IP's that is public, yes?

[-] samajgaya@feddit.rocks 3 points 7 months ago

Duckdns is pretty much a service that offers free domain names.. that could point to any public IP. (I have seen setups where local IPs are used just for HTTPS). So its good for instances as HTTPS can be achieved without buying domain name.

[-] dog@suppo.fi 3 points 7 months ago

Works with anything that can open ports. DuckDNS works by pinging their service from anywhere to update the target IP for the subdomain.

[-] towerful@programming.dev 4 points 7 months ago

Doesn't work if you are on CGNAT

[-] dog@suppo.fi 2 points 7 months ago

See: Anything that can open ports. NAT of any kind tends to not allow opening ports.

[-] towerful@programming.dev 2 points 7 months ago

Absolutely. However I feel like the whole thread needs extra clarification, considering the question OP posed.
Dynamic DNS isn't a magic wand in the way a Reverse Proxy over VPN is.

[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 1 points 7 months ago

Yea, that is also what I thought. To bypass this, you would need something like Cloudflare Tunnels or setup a VPN on a VPS, that redirects traffic to your homeserver.

[-] tabular@lemmy.world -2 points 7 months ago

Why not HTTP :c

[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 17 points 7 months ago

Data send via HTTP is not encrypted. That's bad.

[-] tabular@lemmy.world -4 points 7 months ago

I want it encrypted but I don't want to ask a 3rd party to get a certificate.

[-] dandroid@dandroid.app 8 points 7 months ago

Letsencrypt provides free certificates. It's very easy to get one from them.

[-] tabular@lemmy.world -4 points 7 months ago

If they're easy to get, why have them 😑

[-] dandroid@dandroid.app 5 points 7 months ago

I'm not sure I understand the question. They are used to encrypt traffic and prove that the entity hosting the site hasn't changed by using a digital signature. These two together make it so third parties can't read the traffic coming through. This is a requirement for modern internet. Otherwise your passwords wouldn't be a secret because literally anyone would see them.

[-] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 5 points 7 months ago

Because then you can encrypt your traffic with HTTPS 🙃

[-] tabular@lemmy.world -3 points 7 months ago

This is madness 🤯

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 3 points 7 months ago

If they're easy to get, why not have them 😉

[-] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Plain HTTP should be considered obsolete. Also it makes impersonating websites harder (but not impossible)

[-] Perhyte@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Additionally, HTTPS if very easy to set up nowadays and the certificates are free^1^.

^1^: Assuming you have a public domain name, but for ActivityPub that's already a requirement due to the push nature of the protocol.

[-] dog@suppo.fi 2 points 7 months ago

You can get Let's Encrypt certificates for DuckDNS, so you don't even need to own anything.

[-] stown@sedd.it 12 points 7 months ago

I don't know enough about ActivityPub to say for sure but I believe that in order to federate properly (grab posts and comments from other servers as well as sending posts and comments to other servers) you need to have a publicly accessible domain with SSL. Hosting on localhost ( the computer you want to access from) is pointless if you don't have a reverse proxy set up to actually let others see your server online.

[-] h3ndrik@feddit.de 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Depends on what you mean by "localhost". Localhost is just the computer you're currently logged in / sitting in front of... But I don't know what kind of computer that is and how it is connected to the internet.

You'd need a webserver that is reachable from the internet to be able to have a Lemmy instance that can interact with other parts of the network. The webserver itself can run on any machine. You just need to make it accessible from the internet. So you either have a connection to the internet that allows hosting stuff... Use port forwarding in your router (at home) or if that's all not available use a tunnel or VPN.

I really don't know were you're trying to get... If your question is: Can I selfhost stuff from a domestic internet connection: The answer is: Probably. Depends a bit on the provider and setup.

If your question is: Do I need a domain name? The answer is: Probably yes if your (external) IP address changes frequently.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 9 points 7 months ago

yes its possible. can you do it? dunno, it can get complex.

that youre asking here means no, you cannot.

[-] eluvatar@programming.dev 6 points 7 months ago

Each instance is available on someone's localhost.

[-] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
CGNAT	Carrier-Grade NAT
DNS	Domain Name Service/System
HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web
HTTPS	HTTP over SSL
IP	Internet Protocol
NAT	Network Address Translation
SSL	Secure Sockets Layer, for transparent encryption
TLS	Transport Layer Security, supersedes SSL
VPN	Virtual Private Network
VPS	Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

[Thread #314 for this sub, first seen 30th Nov 2023, 09:15] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[-] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world -1 points 7 months ago

Watch out for all the hackers there!

this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023

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