this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Selfhosted

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I just started self hosting. I have been really enjoying it so far but I'm nervous that the excitement will wear off soon unless something stressful or even catastrophic happens. Any advice?

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[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

I set up some stable systems and some home lab stuff. The homelab stuff is in constant state of near disatser as i keep playing with stuff. If it works well I backup, look at my roll bacl plan, and implement it on stable cluster.

Rinse repeat.

Stable stuff keeps the doubt at bay (and rebuilding tools you get used to using stinks), near disaster keeps the bordom at bay.

[–] glitching@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago
[–] glizzyguzzler@piefed.blahaj.zone 27 points 2 days ago (2 children)

King, all you must do is set up root ssh access with a short password and port forward port 22 to it. Super easy, super quick!

For extra spice, I’d recommend also hitting your hard drives with a hammer once or twice a day. They just don’t like vibrations; you’ve gotta weed out the weak ones. Only the strong data will survive.

[–] GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Thanks for your interest in joining the botnet!

I'd recommend using "password" as your password and "root" for the username. Attackers have a lot of stuff going on! Don't make their job all complicated, make it easy to remember.

Older operating systems like a really old Linux distro or Windows XP are the best, since their performance requirements are a lot lower, giving better overhead for the crypto miners that will be installed. Modern OSs waste resources on security features and such.

[–] crash_thepose@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

this is very helpful thank you!

[–] crash_thepose@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

very good point. thank you m'lord.

[–] crash_thepose@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

.....how bad would it be if i actually tried this. not the hammer part but now i really wanna know what happens if i open port forward to 22.

[–] glizzyguzzler@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

SSH lets you remotely control a computer It runs on port 22 If you forward port 22 to your computer, you will allow anyone on the internet to SSH to your computer

You can do that pretty safely by disabling root login and disabling password logins - only using keys to SSH in.

You can join the ~borg~ botnet by enabling root login, setting a simple password (maybe even password as recommended!), and waiting.

on any server with ssh exposed you'll probably see a bunch of login attempts in the logs (automated attacks trying to find machines with a weak password). only keys is the way lol.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Open port 22

Wait 10 minutes

Prepare your anus

[–] crash_thepose@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Okay. Let me look up how to open this portal 22 you speak of.

Just have it open in your home router configuration to forward traffic somewhere.

Or you can have an SSH server running on a small VM and you can route traffic there and watch the logs. Like a honeypot type of thing.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago
[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago

Delete your backups and do a full system upgrade.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 3 points 2 days ago

Back up an image the entire operating system HD when it's working well. If you ever get overwhelmed with bugs you can always go back to a functioning state.

We all like checking out the latest features and updates but it's important to remember that it's not a race.