Knowledge Base

Foundational knowledge for self-hosting and digital sovereignty. Structured, technically sound, and based on real-world experience.

What You’ll Find Here

Technical knowledge for self-hosting and digital sovereignty. Fundamentals that service guides build upon. Concepts that work consistently across different systems. Distribution-specific differences explained where they matter.

The structure separates universal concepts from specific implementations. Network fundamentals apply to all Unix-like systems. APT syntax is specific to Debian. This separation avoids repetition and keeps documentation clear and focused.

Available Fundamentals

Cross-Platform Fundamentals

Concepts shared by all Unix-like systems

Network Fundamentals

IP addressing, DNS, SSH keys, firewall concepts, and reverse proxies. The foundation for self-hosting services and container networking.

Read 6 articles

Linux/Unix Filesystem

Directory hierarchy, permissions, links, and mount points. Understanding the FHS standard and POSIX permissions across Unix systems.

Read 4 articles

Package Management Concepts

Repositories, binary versus source packages, dependency resolution, and update strategies from rolling to stable releases.

Read 3 articles

Init Systems

Understanding PID 1, service management, and dependencies. A practical introduction to systemd, SysV init, and BSD init.

Read 3 articles

Backup Strategies

The 3-2-1 rule, storage selection, automation, verification, and systematic backup strategies.

Read 2 articles

OpenBSD Fundamentals

Secure by Default, the pf firewall, rcctl service management, and practical use of pledge and unveil.

Start the series

Planned Expansions

The Knowledge Base grows continuously through practical experience and community feedback.

Additional Fundamental Series

Database Fundamentals – PostgreSQL, MariaDB, and backup strategies
Debian Fundamentals – The APT ecosystem, systemd integration, and server configuration

Self-Hosting Services

Plausible Analytics – A privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics (currently being revised)
Listmonk Newsletter – A self-hosted alternative to Mailchimp (currently being revised)
Matrix / Element – An open communication platform (currently being revised)

Specialized Areas

Monitoring & Backup – Monitoring, alerting, and data protection
Development – Git servers and CI/CD pipelines
Communication – Mail servers, CalDAV, and CardDAV

Guiding Principles

Fundamentals before services. Network fundamentals explain IP addresses and SSH keys. Service guides reference these concepts instead of repeating them.

Cross-platform before platform-specific. TCP/IP behaves the same on every system. The tools used to configure it differ.

Built from real-world experience. Every article is based on systems that are actually operated, not theoretical examples.

This structure reduces redundancy and helps readers learn exactly what they need based on their experience and goals.

Fundamental Series

Learn universal concepts and platform-specific details.

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Infrastructure

Self-hosting services, monitoring, and backup solutions currently in development.

Coming soon

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