Running/managing my own server

[techlists at phpcoderusa.com]

Thank you Michael for all your replies and for this one!!

I hear ya.  It may take too much time....

Let me ponder your reply.

Thanks!!



On 2021-07-11 12:15, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 11, 2021 at 11:23 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
> <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> 
>> I am talking about a virtual PHP host running Ubuntu LTS, LAMP,
>> Let's
>> Encrypt, BIND, Postfix, Dovecot, and possibly some webmail app.  Not
>> 
>> sure of anything else I would need. Is there more?
>> 
>> We can throw in learning Apache SPF and NGINX.
>> 
>> 1) First question is this a reasonable idea or am I crazy?
> 
> For learning and tinkering, it's a good idea, production for yourself
> probably not.  I set all that up some 10-15 years ago, thought it was
> cool, then got tired of upkeep.  If you plan to maintain it right, you
> probably will too.
> 
> These days any internet-facing service needs almost religious zeal to
> upkeep, lest some jackass use a 0-day to cryptolocker your system(s),
> and if you watch security lists for those, they are still pretty
> frequent I'll bet.  Or you could just pay gmail/orfice365/rocketmail,
> or any other and let all that patching and upkeep be automated by
> them.  I used godaddy mail for a decade, later gmail, and I really
> don't mind not managing my own email or dns servers ever again since.
> 
>> 2) 2nd question is what skills would I need?
> 
> The ability to google your ass off mostly.  I've not read a how-to or
> protocol or certification-type book in 20 years, trust me it's not
> terribly practical, and I fifo from my brain quickly.  Searching how
> to's and troubleshooting as you do is how you learn.  If you must, I'd
> recommend linux academy, udemy, or other online class-type courses, as
> most can be had cheap around holidays with sales, mostly what I do
> these days to learn if not just searching.
> 
> Email is email and hasn't changed much in 20 years.  Understanding
> encryption, authentication (ie. 2fa), use of SPF/DKIM with DNS,
> certificates (openssl, letsencrypt, build your own CA).  Security in
> general is pretty key more than knowing how email protocols work.
> 
> Web stuff is again more about security imho, redirect all
> non-encrypted to encrypted (tcp/80->443 redirection), proper
> certs/encryption standards (enable tls1.2, disable rest, strong
> ciphers).  Some vhosts, proxy redirection if needed, etc is helpful.
> If you want to scale, add load-balancing via apache/nginx proxy or
> appliances (F5, AWS ALB, Netscaler, etc) across multiple hosts.
> 
> System security is key too.  Securing SSH, disabling unnecessary
> services, local firewall in/out, log monitoring, networking, file
> system/service integrity, etc.
> 
> I am not a dev or a sysadmin, more a network guy that ends up
> troubleshooting systems more than their owners do when they blame my
> network, or just tinkering for myself.  IMHO with above, but YMMV.
> 
> -mb
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