Infra autonomy: self-hosting
| Infra autonomy: self-hosting | |
|---|---|
| Name | Infra autonomy: self-hosting |
| Location | H&D Studio |
| Date | 2026/07/16 |
| Time | 11:00-16:00 |
| PeopleOrganisations | Hicham |
| Type | HDSC2026 |
| Web | Yes |
| No | |
This event was only for participants of the Summer Camp 2026 and not open to the public. For public events you could check: HDSC2026 Clouds to Commons Public Program
The Cloud Computing era represents a change of the power dynamics on the Internet. From scattered web pages, small hosting providers and home-made applications, the paradigm has shifted towards centralized hyperscalers and locked-in platforms. In a very annoying move, Microsoft has unilaterally decided that its latest Windows OS will not be compatible with "old" hardware (read: more than 3-year old) and that Windows previous versions will stop receiving security updates. Overnight this virtually created tons of e-waste, depsite said e-waste remaining perfectly functional. Coincendetly, Microsoft is also an hyperscaler and sells Cloud services.
Installing Linux on these machines is a way to extend their lifespans but also a great opportunity to start your own cloud, maintain your own server, and reclaim autonomy over the Big Tech mafia. In this workshop we looked at how any computer qualifies as a server, and how easy they can start serving content. We also had a look at what free and open source products are out there and can replace most of the tech products we've been engineered to get addicted to.
We needed:
- old laptops with Linux installed (which we did in Nastja's session!)
Timeline
- Introduction to "Cloud Computing"
- Journey of self-hosting
- Very first web server
- Docker web server
- From local to wide network
- Accessing services from the Web
- (Bonus: automated deployment)
Access notes
- No prior experience required. Basic understanding of networking is a plus.