Let’s get started…

What is this Mac2Net?

Mac2Net is an opinionated site focused on self hosting, starting with basic stuff like hosting virtual machines with websites, internal PIM applications and looking at what else is out there. Initially, the assumption is the interface to the self hosting infrastructure will be via a Mac (or perhaps from an iPad or iPhone which is limited but still useful) and operated on an AMD CPU inside a MiniPC. The tools I will discuss, while similar to those used by a developer, are focused on managing the self hosting infrastructure.

There are five main elements of this idea:

  1. Use low energy, efficient, powerful, secure and inexpensive MiniPCs in the home or on premises instead of cloud or data center services. A powerful system can be purchases for under €1000 (Minisforum is one well-known MiniPC company).
  2. Build the server on the bare metal with the high quality Fedora Linux server which is sponsored and developed by Red Hat which is owned by IBM.
  3. Populate the server with virtual machines chosen from a large number of operating systems and focusing on applications run on the RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) compatible platform (Alma Linux for example).
  4. Manage the server(s) from a Mac using mostly free tools available on Apple’s App Stores, SetApp – a commercial third party app store or distributed via Brew. There are also tools, such as WhatRoute that are only avaialble on the developer’s web site.
  5. Take advantage of high speed fiber connections to premises and the expanding IPv6 technical infrastructure which makes it easier to deploy a virtual machine on the internet due to the virtually unlimited number of IPv6 addresses available.

The goal of mac2net.com is to provide information, guidance and technical resources to enable an individual or small company to to test the self hosting waters.

Why self host?

  1. Professionals and Small business: while it maybe more efficient for professionals to use cloud services, there are compelling reasons for many to consider self hosting some of their services.
  2. Hobbyists: who are energized by MiniPCs focus on the big picture rather than just informing the reader to do such and such to solve a particular issue.
  3. Families: this segment is motivated to leverage fast fibre internet connections and cheap and powerful MiniPCs to build family solutions such as internal email, photo and document management, calendars, organize family documents. For many families one MiniPC is never going to be enough and once the hardware investment expands so do the potential uses of a self-hosted system. Self-hosting for families is an excellent way for young adults to learn new skills with a lifetime of usefulness.

Why do this?

Below is a list of articles discussing the advantages of self-hosting. The title of the articles express common motivations: cost and security. While the articles focus on larger scale companies, the advantages for self-hosting are similar and recognized by the industry as significant. The smaller end of the market that I am focused on is can now also participate in this trend because of the advantages I outlined above in

There is general recognition that it is not a good idea to have all computing and data resources located in the cloud.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd114lllyp6ohttps://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/basecamp-maker-37signals-says-its-cloud-exit-will-save-it-10m-over-5-years/
Are rainy days ahead for cloud computing?

On-Premises Data Centers Aren’t Dead or Dying — Not by a Long Shot


https://www.itprotoday.com/industry-perspectives/have-you-hugged-your-server-today-when-prem-right-data-storage-choice#close-modal
https://www.infoworld.com/article/3712861/why-companies-are-leaving-the-cloud.html

What info is on Mac2Net?

  1. Most posts are focused on providing instruction on installing, configuring or operating a particular part of the self-hosting technical platform. The posts will link to a comment on the bulletin board where readers can add feedback.
  3. a bulletin board – https://mac2net.net which is self hosted at my home. I have been practicing what I am preaching for almost a year, documenting all the technical steps and written drafts of about 25 posts and outlined 25 others. I will also publish RSS feeds from other sites of technical interest.