Conclussion first:
In any case, I would agree with what some other used said: What we care about in here, for the most part, is the software element of it. Even if I personally don’t consider using Cl*udflare to be self-hosting, all of us have similar info sharing interests, so this is just a terminology argument that does not really impact us that much
I wrote this first:
Actually, this is a pretty interesting thing to think about. To me, the key factor to distinguish what is hosting and what is not is the use of a server. I would say that internet connection is not a requirement for hosting, otherwise it seems absurd to deny that the servers of big LAN parties like the Euskal Encounter are not hosting anything, they clearly are. Down to the smaller scale, having a LAN only Minecraft server in your home server, I would say it still is hosting, even if only you and your family use it. Now, going to a non dedicated computer that is exposing it on LAN, is it self-hosting? I would say no, just because it also seems absurd that any single player world opening in LAN to enable admin suddenly is self-hosting, I say it is not.
But I guess this shows that there is a point where we need more specific definitions, there is some ambiguity.
A summary of my definition attempt:
- Internet access: Not required (big LANs and personal Netflix/etc beefy servers seem self hosting to me)
- Local access: Required (for the “self” part)
- Dedicated hardware: I don’t know. Normally I’d go yes, but someone serving a bunch of things in their computer over the internet could argue it is some low availability sel hosting lol
Joelk111@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I’m not sure what the disconnect is here. In both scenarios I’m reliant on an ISP. In the scenario where it’s on a data center, if my internet goes down or the data center goes down, I am shit out of luck. I am not capable of accessing my data. If it’s hosted at my house, I still have the ability to go home and access my stuff. One seems much better than the other to me. It’s the difference between being able to access your stuff and not.
ready_for_qa@programming.dev 2 days ago
I have a raspberry pi I keep at my mom’s house and it’s completely managed by me. We live in different states. Would you classify the services on it as self hosted or no? I do not have immediate access to the physical hardware, I am at the mercy of my mom’s power and internet. When it’s all working I can access my services and data on it. Is she hosting or am I hosting it from her place?
If I rent rack space and install my servers in a data center and have physical access and ownership of the server but not the data center infrastructure. Am I hosting or is the data center hosting?
My point is that “self hosting” seems to have many different forms and there must be some minimal classification that allows inclusion without being overly strict.
For the record I practice all forms with servers at home and elsewhere.
Joelk111@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You can still go to your mom’s house and get your data, unlike if you’re renting a VM.
I’m also completely not arguing that renting a VM isn’t self hosting, I’m certain I’ve said nothing of the sort, I’m just arguing that it’s worse than owning your hardware and data.