Availability issues
from witx@lemmy.sdf.org to selfhosted@lemmy.world on 19 Feb 10:45
https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/51092414

Hi there,

I’m hosting matrix for family use on a server at my place. The issue is my home is affected by internet and electricity outages - which we’re trying to fix. This means that there are frequent downtimes on the chat. I have a UPS but usually is not enough to power everything - router and server - for longer periods of time.

The internet downtime is easy to fix as my router supports fallback connection which I point to a mobile internet solution.

I’ve thought about moving everything to a VPS but then I’m a bit wary of privacy regarding the data there. There’s also the option of moving the server to a family member’s house but I want this this be last resort because that makes maintenance harder.

Anyone dealt with this issues and found a solution? Perhaps a fallback mechanism that temporarily hosts the sever on a VPS? :D

#selfhosted

threaded - newest

CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de on 19 Feb 11:39 next collapse

It may be simplest to move it to a hosted server. Depending on the length of outages, your comfort with electrical things, and your budget, you could get a bigger battery and use the inverter in the UPS (there are caveats-the inverter in the UPS is not rated for higher end of its load past the battery capacity it’s got and may burn itself out, and the charger may not work properly with the larger battery or with different chemistry), or get a battery/inverter box like a Ecoflow or that sort of thing. Solar may be a good bet too.

I don’t know about matrix but failing over between public IPs probably requires a HA sync of some type and also DNS failover.

MIXEDUNIVERS@discuss.tchncs.de on 19 Feb 11:50 next collapse

host the important services on an low power pc like an pi. that should give you more time.

bizdelnick@lemmy.ml on 19 Feb 12:30 next collapse

In matrix, chats with e2e encryption are protected from hoster even if they would try to steal your data.

voracitude@lemmy.world on 19 Feb 14:50 collapse

Doesn’t the old maxim go

If they have physical access to your machine, you’re already compromised

?

DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works on 19 Feb 15:09 collapse

They still won’t be able to read chats themselves.

It’s not sotred in plain text, but encrypted.

Meta data is still available

voracitude@lemmy.world on 19 Feb 19:36 collapse

You’re assuming it’s impossible to MITM the keys.

It’s not. Forcing a renegotiation of secrets isn’t something most people will notice, and there is fault tolerance for message signing built in to matrix. No individual can defend their hosted assets against a nation-state, which is what we’re trying to defend against here. You have to maintain control of the hardware. And even that won’t stop someone kicking in the door, but at least you’d have warning.

DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works on 19 Feb 20:22 collapse

I don’t believe any consumer available software is capable of defending from nation state attacks. Physical access or not.

frongt@lemmy.zip on 19 Feb 12:36 next collapse

A generator that kicks on when the power goes out. A UPS isn’t for extended runtime, it’s the bridge the gap until the generator is running. (Or for graceful shutdown if there is no generator.)

kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Feb 20:04 collapse

Not necessarily. A bit of both I would say. My servers can run a few hours on the UPS but bellow a certain threshold it shuts my servers off safely. For most power outages that’s enough to keep things running.

irmadlad@lemmy.world on 19 Feb 14:24 next collapse

Besides a Generac, like @frongt@lemmy.zip is talking about, UPS aren’t for long term power supplies. I like my Generac whole house. We have ice storms in this area and I like the creature comforts that electricity brings with it. LOL Personally, I would host on a VPS. You might rummage around in Low End Box to find a suitable deal on which to host. Or host your chat server on something with low power draw like a NUC, but eventually, the UPS is going to drain.

HumbleBragger@piefed.social on 19 Feb 18:01 next collapse

Just a noob question about your setup: do you have a TLD domain name? Are you behind NAT? just because I wanna set a chat server like matrix or xmpp but I’ve been stuck in how to make it available on the web with these restrictions like no domain, no fixed IP and.behind NAT

Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz on 19 Feb 18:10 collapse

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

Fewer Letters More Letters
IP Internet Protocol
NAT Network Address Translation
NUC Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers
VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 8 acronyms.

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