Dear Fedi friends,

Happy Thursday from rainy northern Italy 🌧️

In case you missed it: I've spent the past two weeks doing all kinds of #selfhosting explorations, as I strive to learn #Docker to move my Ghost site there (it's recommended for Ghost v6 and going forward).

Yesterday I shared a blog post about the peaches (highs) and pits (lows) in #MySoCalledSudoLife adventures.

I'm hoping my mistakes can be useful for fellow newbies 😅

🔗 : https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-so-called-sudo-life-month-8-peaches-pits/

#blog#VPS #newbie

Dear Fedi friends,

Happy Thursday from rainy northern Italy 🌧️

In case you missed it: I've spent the past two weeks doing all kinds of #selfhosting explorations, as I strive to learn #Docker to move my Ghost site there (it's recommended for Ghost v6 and going forward).

Yesterday I shared a blog post about the peaches (highs) and pits (lows) in #MySoCalledSudoLife adventures.

I'm hoping my mistakes can be useful for fellow newbies 😅

🔗 : https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-so-called-sudo-life-month-8-peaches-pits/

#blog#VPS #newbie

New blog post: "My so-called sudo life: month 8: peaches & pits" in which I share the highs (peaches) and lows (pits) of my #selfhosting adventures for this month:

🔗​: https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-so-called-sudo-life-month-8-peaches-pits/

Dear sysadmins, trigger warning: this post contains mention of clueless/reckless behavior by a self-hosting newbie. You may shudder in horror 😆​

On the upside, I hope that people who aspire to self-host can learn from my mistakes.

As I wrote in the post: I know very little about self-hosting, but I know more than I did yesterday (and I'm having a lot of fun in the process)

#MySoCalledSudoLife

New blog post: "My so-called sudo life: month 8: peaches & pits" in which I share the highs (peaches) and lows (pits) of my #selfhosting adventures for this month:

🔗​: https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-so-called-sudo-life-month-8-peaches-pits/

Dear sysadmins, trigger warning: this post contains mention of clueless/reckless behavior by a self-hosting newbie. You may shudder in horror 😆​

On the upside, I hope that people who aspire to self-host can learn from my mistakes.

As I wrote in the post: I know very little about self-hosting, but I know more than I did yesterday (and I'm having a lot of fun in the process)

#MySoCalledSudoLife

Hello Fedi friends,

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

I just published a new post as part of the #NOWpage movement, sharing what I've been up to this month (writing, reading & learning):

🔗 : https://news.elenarossini.com/what-im-up-to-august-2025-edition/

If you want to check out the occasional train wreck that is my #selfhosting experimentations, I have a custom RSS feed for #MySoCalledSudoLife posts.

I still know very little, but I know more than yesterday 😆

Special shoutout to @rwg and his superb book on the Fediverse.

#blog

Hello Fedi friends,

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

I just published a new post as part of the #NOWpage movement, sharing what I've been up to this month (writing, reading & learning):

🔗 : https://news.elenarossini.com/what-im-up-to-august-2025-edition/

If you want to check out the occasional train wreck that is my #selfhosting experimentations, I have a custom RSS feed for #MySoCalledSudoLife posts.

I still know very little, but I know more than yesterday 😆

Special shoutout to @rwg and his superb book on the Fediverse.

#blog

🏕️ my adventures in #selfhosting: day 249 (mind of a #newbie edition) 🧠

a blog post about what it's like for newbies to self-host... read till the end to find out what caused my OVH VPS fail (a facepalm moment for sure):

🔗​: https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-adventures-in-self-hosting-day-249-mind-of-a-newbie-edition/

I'll probably take a break from self-hosting and reading about #Docker (my Everest) for the rest of the weekend... so I can come back to it on Monday with my batteries fully recharged 😅​

#MySoCalledSudoLife

🏕️ my adventures in #selfhosting: day 249 (mind of a #newbie edition) 🧠

a blog post about what it's like for newbies to self-host... read till the end to find out what caused my OVH VPS fail (a facepalm moment for sure):

🔗​: https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-adventures-in-self-hosting-day-249-mind-of-a-newbie-edition/

I'll probably take a break from self-hosting and reading about #Docker (my Everest) for the rest of the weekend... so I can come back to it on Monday with my batteries fully recharged 😅​

#MySoCalledSudoLife

Dear Fedi friends,

I've been a little quiet on this account because I'd been pouring all my energy into setting up a new VPS as a testing ground to learn #Docker.

I need to become proficient in Docker ASAP in order to move my Ghost CLI site there (if I want it to federate).

The past 48 hours have been a real rollercoaster ride, as you could read on my GoToSocial account @elena.

Please beware of #OVH! They terminated my VPS without any notice: https://aseachange.com/@elena/statuses/01K35V57PPWH29969DSTC1117A 😵‍💫

#MySoCalledSudoLife

​ MAJOR Plot twist! ​

I'm sure you're having a better morning than me because I was greeted with an email from #OVH (the VPS provider) that started with "Hello Mr. Rossini" and informed me that the VPS was stopped because they suspected a hack - and it will be permanently deleted. "Now let us know Mr. Rossini if you'd like to purchase a new VPS plan."

30 Euros* for 4 hours of VPS experimentation with Docker! YAY (not!)

(*30 Euros corresponded to a 6-month plan, sigh)

I received ZERO advanced warnings... #OVHCloud simply deleted my VPS because of "unusual activity" and proposed I buy a new one.

I had installed #Fail2Ban on it first thing yesterday morning, but I suppose changing 0.0.0.0 with my VPS's IP4 address in one of the Docker settings... to connect it to Docker GUI did it for me.

You live, you learn.

I will stay away from OVH Cloud.

(Yes I had tried creating an account with Hetzer and NetCup before but they had a convoluted signup process and wanted too much personal info/docs, so I had given up and turned to OVH. My bad).

What will I do now?

Find a new VPS provider.

Feeling salty about the 30 Euros I spent for 6 months with OVH but honestly I feel like I dodged a bullet. I had nothing installed on the VPS, except for Fail2Ban and basic Docker. Imagine how catastrophic it would have been if they had deleted my VPS without warning if I had important stuff on it! Shivering at the thought.

Onwards and upwards, more humble than ever, with infinite respect for sysadmins 🙏​

#MySoCalledSudoLife #N00b

Dear Fedi friends,

I've been a little quiet on this account because I'd been pouring all my energy into setting up a new VPS as a testing ground to learn #Docker.

I need to become proficient in Docker ASAP in order to move my Ghost CLI site there (if I want it to federate).

The past 48 hours have been a real rollercoaster ride, as you could read on my GoToSocial account @elena.

Please beware of #OVH! They terminated my VPS without any notice: https://aseachange.com/@elena/statuses/01K35V57PPWH29969DSTC1117A 😵‍💫

#MySoCalledSudoLife

​ MAJOR Plot twist! ​

I'm sure you're having a better morning than me because I was greeted with an email from #OVH (the VPS provider) that started with "Hello Mr. Rossini" and informed me that the VPS was stopped because they suspected a hack - and it will be permanently deleted. "Now let us know Mr. Rossini if you'd like to purchase a new VPS plan."

30 Euros* for 4 hours of VPS experimentation with Docker! YAY (not!)

(*30 Euros corresponded to a 6-month plan, sigh)

I received ZERO advanced warnings... #OVHCloud simply deleted my VPS because of "unusual activity" and proposed I buy a new one.

I had installed #Fail2Ban on it first thing yesterday morning, but I suppose changing 0.0.0.0 with my VPS's IP4 address in one of the Docker settings... to connect it to Docker GUI did it for me.

You live, you learn.

I will stay away from OVH Cloud.

(Yes I had tried creating an account with Hetzer and NetCup before but they had a convoluted signup process and wanted too much personal info/docs, so I had given up and turned to OVH. My bad).

What will I do now?

Find a new VPS provider.

Feeling salty about the 30 Euros I spent for 6 months with OVH but honestly I feel like I dodged a bullet. I had nothing installed on the VPS, except for Fail2Ban and basic Docker. Imagine how catastrophic it would have been if they had deleted my VPS without warning if I had important stuff on it! Shivering at the thought.

Onwards and upwards, more humble than ever, with infinite respect for sysadmins 🙏​

#MySoCalledSudoLife #N00b

Dear Fedi friends,

Oh happy day!

My #Docker woes have gone away since I realized I can use Docker exclusively via CLI (and not GUI - I thought that was the default). When I couldn’t connect Docker Desktop to my VPS yesterday I was feeling so down. But yay Docker CLI here I come.

Special thanks to everyone who offered advice yesterday, ESPECIALLY @antoine_ali 🏆

I have a feeling you’ll get a laugh out of my next blog post detailing my #selfhosting attempts - because my perception of how Docker operates was all warped.

I must have exposed to the outside my current Docker instance with yesterday’s inane tweaks to access the GUI, so I will uninstall and re-install Docker first thing today… and up the challenge by attempting to do a fresh Ghost installation on it.

I truly know nothing! But I know more than yesterday, that’s for sure. 🤗

Thank you for all your advice (and patience!) 🙏

#MySoCalledSudoLife

Dear Fedi friends,

Sometimes it's good to know when you need to call it a day. Today I ended my #sudo exploits at 10:00am... I'm mentally exhausted already... but happy about the progress I made.

I started tinkering with my new VPS at 7:30am and managed the following tasks:

- installed #fail2ban
- installed #Docker and checked if it was running successfully with their "hello world" method (it does)
- enabled remote access changing the listening port
- secured the connection with TLS

I wasn't able to create a new Docker context on Docker Desktop to point to my VPS... I ran into error messages about having to include certificates (with the right path)... so I decided to call it a day.

I wanted to end my Day 1 of Docker explorations on a good note.

I plan on writing about this on my blog later today so I can refer back to the steps later... when I actually install Docker on my VPS running Ghost.

Onwards and upwards (it's very apt that "sudo" in Italian means "I sweat" LOOOOL)

#MySoCalledSudoLife #selfhosting #newbie

Dear Fedi friends,

Sometimes it's good to know when you need to call it a day. Today I ended my #sudo exploits at 10:00am... I'm mentally exhausted already... but happy about the progress I made.

I started tinkering with my new VPS at 7:30am and managed the following tasks:

- installed #fail2ban
- installed #Docker and checked if it was running successfully with their "hello world" method (it does)
- enabled remote access changing the listening port
- secured the connection with TLS

I wasn't able to create a new Docker context on Docker Desktop to point to my VPS... I ran into error messages about having to include certificates (with the right path)... so I decided to call it a day.

I wanted to end my Day 1 of Docker explorations on a good note.

I plan on writing about this on my blog later today so I can refer back to the steps later... when I actually install Docker on my VPS running Ghost.

Onwards and upwards (it's very apt that "sudo" in Italian means "I sweat" LOOOOL)

#MySoCalledSudoLife #selfhosting #newbie

🏕️ my adventures in #selfhosting: day 244 (Everest edition) ⛰️

a blog post that details some of the highs and lows I have been experiencing lately in my self-hosting adventures. I have a major challenge ahead - learning #Docker - in order to take advantage of #Ghost x #ActivityPub federation. It's my new Everest 🥲

🔗​:
https://news.elenarossini.com/my-so-called-sudo-life/my-adventures-in-self-hosting-day-244-everest-edition/

#MySoCalledSudoLife