Thank you all so much for your comments. I didn't expect this will be this high on HN. I'm aware there are more simple solutions for self-hosting, even partially. I'm also aware that my setup is not perfect - that's why this post was created. I was hoping to get some feedback. Not from that many of you, but some friends. :) Ask me anything you like, I'll try to answer every question.
You're system architecture is very clean and understandable. I spend a lot of time marveling at the beautiful but often overly complex diagrams on r/homelabs, which more often than not dissuade me from actually having a go at it. Your explanation made it feel very approachable.
That being said...
> Some people think I’m weird because I’m using a personal CRM.
This strikes me as incredibly...German, hahaha! Is there any reason your Contacts solution doesn't/can't provide this functionality?
Heh, I'm living and working in Germany, but I'm not German, still (or yet). :)
Regarding CRM and Contacts - I could possibly fit all the info in the 'about' field for a particular contact, but Monica offers me so much more. With Monica, I can structure the data for a contact in a better way. That 'better way' and the feature set of Monica is why I'm using it.
I mean, I'm sold. I guess the biggest question is could your Contacts be pulled from Monica so that things like messages and phone apps pull that info?
The article sounds like you enjoyed building the system you put together, and I think that's probably a seriously undervalued aspect of why someone might take on this kind of work.
Thanks. It is kind of a show-off of what I built for myself. That's why I put that little disclaimer into the post, that it's not for everyone. I do have strong opinions about a lot of the things regarding where I hold my data, but I don't want to strong-arm anyone in doing the same thing.
>Ask me anything you like, I'll try to answer every question.
What's stopping you from hosting at home?
While I admit that I often feel claustrophobic with only ~35-40 Mbps of usable bandwidth, my power costs for several orders of magnitude more usable storage+cpu are in line with what you're paying for VPS right now.
>I was hoping to get some feedback.
Do you run any additional layers of security of top of NextCloud? From something simple like requiring SNI to ward off casual scanning activity, or more advanced like a WAF layer?
I ask because I've been hesitant to trust my whole digital life to something that doesn't have a full-time paid security staff.
Thank you all so much for your comments. I didn't expect this will be this high on HN. I'm aware there are more simple solutions for self-hosting, even partially. I'm also aware that my setup is not perfect - that's why this post was created. I was hoping to get some feedback. Not from that many of you, but some friends. :) Ask me anything you like, I'll try to answer every question.