Getting A Server
Intro
So getting a server and working on one is a little technical, but also become easier over time, so if you do want to make these transformations, stick with the trouble and you will hopefully start to get it!
Also if it is not your thing don't worry too much, everyone has their strengths and maybe servers aren't yours (there are many more things in life!). The main thing though is not to run away from it and at least try, as if you don't try, you wont know how great you might be and what transformations you could make!
Choosing a server
Now this really depends on what you are doing, but to help work this out maybe follow the questions below and they might help you make up your mind of what type and where.
What are your doing?
There are different types of things you can put online, and depending on what you want to do you will need different hardware. Think about the different tools you need to bake a cake and or hammer in a nail, it is the same here but maybe a bit more hidden behind tech jargon. Hopefully these notes will help you work out what you need, but do reach out if you need.
Simple websites
If you just want to host a website like this one here, you can use a Shared Hosting platform which enables you to host a simple set of pages. This can either be as classic HTML which can be a bit particular, or you can use a CMS (content management system) like wordpress, but I would recommend a lighter one like Pico, that this site runs on. Both of these work with Markdown which is a friendlier way of writing pages than HTML and friends.
For this you would want Shared Hosting
More complex applications
Now this is a little vague in title, as their are so many varieties of applications, but this normally means any software we need install to host on the server, or anything that might be running on a port (an internal gate/door to access it) that might need proxying to (redirecting internet trafic to).
This could be something simpler like an etherpad (a FOSS collaborative pad e.g. varia's pad) or up to more complex things like Jitsi (a video calling app e.g.greenhost's jitsi). It could also be a collective password manger, a custom web application or next cloud storage or more.
This is the space where we can start to think about what we actually want to use and have autonomy over. What virtual spaces do you want to care for and to make your own cozy hub?
To do this you will need a VPS (Virtual private server) or Home Server (which is too complicated to cover here). Either of these are dedicated servers (computers) that have a static IP address and can run these softwares online for you.
What are your values x politics?
Now this is just as complex a question as to what you are hosting, but needs a bit deeper internal debugging and researching to check what organizations and companies providing hosting believe in, not only through missions and advertising but through also through their actions.
Approach to greener internet
Many platforms will say they believe in being green or carbon neutral but in many ways the economies of carbon neutrality are complex and not as good as just using green energy. By this I mean it is better to not produce the green house gasses in the first place instead of creating new economies that profiter off of capturing carbon that is released, as this may incentives releasing more carbon, and the capturing of it may take more energy again.
Politics and approach
Another more complex nuanced thing to consider here is also what they imagine the internet as? Do they see it as an infinite resource to infinitely scale into? which it isn't, all it's materialxlabours are finite. And in this scaling do they want to dominate (not a nice word) the market to own a monopoly on it? Pushing out other voices, directions and possibilities with that domination? Generally speaking these are standard practices for many big tech companies from cloud service providers like AWS, Google, meta etc.
Instead I personally think it is cozier to look out for more nuanced and self determined providers that have their own stance and approach to how they might image the internet. There are a number of these providers around and I have put together a list below (do add to if you know any more).
Recommended providers
When choosing do take time to work out who and what might be the best fit for you. If it helps go through the points above while checking their sites and info to make your own choice.
hosting
- They do great self hosting and also provide cloud services like nextcloud and gitlab all in the same fee. Run by a collective in Linz, Austria, and runs on hydro electric energy.
- They have great cost for the quality of the services, whilst also maintaining great politics and goals. T
- They do a mixture of services from managed servers to web hosting and VPS at a pretty good price.
- A more commercial option that does good shared web hosting.
- They do a mixture of services from static web hosting to VPS at slightly above market prices.