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This is the home for a most excellent book about self-hosting. Read on to realize data sovereignty for you and your beloved users.
The book is in early access: see π Beta.
Welcome!
Steadfast is an authentic and inspiring self-hosting tutorial by seasoned tech entrepreneur and self-proclaimed self-hosting expert Adam Monsen. Benefit from Adam’s decades of applied effort distilled into this quick and exciting initiation to data sovereignty.
- Save money, time, and sanity
- Learn an easy and reliable method to self-host services for your small group of beloved users.
- Batteries included
- Corresponding source code is provided under a Free and Open Source software license.
Tools in the book
The book details why and how to use these tools to self-host:
- bare metal physical server
- Ubuntu operating system
- Ansible provisioner
- Traefik reverse proxy
- Docker container manager
- Docker Compose service manager
It cover specific services you should host, mostly Nextcloud.
Origin story
I researched and wrote the book over several years. I’ve been working on related technologies professionally and personally for the last couple of decades.
I wrote this book after having realized the power and potential of self-hosting. I used the method it describes to provide a robust data haven for myself and my family. I haven’t found other books like it and I want mine to be the first.
I’ve given lectures on self-hosting and received feedback from attendees: they are already experienced at learning tech, they are seeking the motivation to self-host along with high-quality information on how to do it well. In response to this feedback I wrote a large Background chapter. In it, I approach self-hosting with a good deal of justification for why someone should self-host at all. I use anecdotes, figures, and tenants of relatable value-based living to provide sufficient motivation for getting through the learning and implementation stages of self-hosting.
Audience
Steadfast primarily targets aspiring self-hosters looking for a quick and reliable method to get started. Some basic IT and networking skills are required. A reader should be familiar with Linux, command-line basics, and transferring files to and from a server.
Experienced self-hosters will also benefit when they read, compare, and improve their existing homelabs.
Author
Adam is a kind and savvy FOSS enthusiast. He’s been in tech for over 20 years: building, producing, coding, debugging, architecting, leading, managing, debugging some more, lecturing, writing, administering and securing systems and processes, ensuring privacy and compliance; in markets of all maturities, sizes, and scales; startups to big enterprise. He’s most proud of his family, growing Mifos, founding SeaGL, selling C-SATS, and writing a FOSS book about self-hosting FOSS.
Adam is privileged and lucky to have given talks and workshops at a handful of conferences (LFNW, SeaGL, LibrePlanet, OSCON, FOSSY) and various other engagements. There’s a full list here.