This hasn’t been asked in a while, and I really loved reading the last discussion so I’m hoping to kick it off again and see what has changed!
What I’d like to know is:
- What specific products do you wish you could host on your own infrastructure, but the product does not offer such a deployment method
- Do you or would you use the product without being able to self-host? I.E. In its current state
- Do you think your employer, if any, holds the same opinions?
Google maps alternative that’s as good as Google maps. Its the only service left that has kept me from degoogling 100%
I like Apple Maps, but to completely compete with Google Maps it would need to stop being exclusive for Apple devices. Open Street Maps data quality is very close to Google Maps, but the applications for it themselves aren’t as intuitive and feature rich
Private uncesored version of GPT-4.
I want it to answer questions like:
- give me a step by step guide on how to build a hydrogen bomb using consumer-grade components.
- give me 20 jokes about wokism (I’m semi-woke myself)
- give me 10 jokes that are so horrible, they would put anyone posting them on a watch-list
More realistically, I want it to have access to an entire programming project via IDE
Any MDM solution. All self-hosted options that were available (onemdm, flyve) are dead. I’m my own employer, so we definitely agree everything should be self-hosted :)
What does MDM stand for?
What about Connectwise Automate (formerly Labtech)?
I’m looking into ManageEngine MDM Pro. It only runs on windows tho :-/
I use the self hosted ManageEngine MDM at work and really like it
That’s great. My only complaint is it only runs on windows, but oh well. I’m assuming you guys are using Windows server?
Sadly, there will never be a truly self-hosted solution given how the devices in question rely on Google, Samsung, Microsoft or Apple servers to be active and available on initial enrollment. The control plane can be on-prem, but the actual enforcement is done through built-in management APIs that depend on external services.
That said, I created my own zero-cost MDM solution by leveraging Android Enterprise APIs along with Samsung Knox. There’s no pretty UI though - everything is done through API calls using Postman. Enrollment is achieved by scanning a QR code on the device’s first boot. I’m managing ~450 Samsung tablets and a dozen mobile phones using this approach.
hmm, for Apple a MDM Push certificate is the link between the two, for Google the managed play store, neither of these have a “requirement” for a SaaS solution.
both of these are just to connect the device to the MDM platform via a “managment profile” (waves hands), the settings and enforcement is all on the MDM platform.
A very long time ago (the days of the 3G) I had an internal web server that hosted iPhone configuration profiles, it was very (very) “basic”
Granted this is only for Apple (and with a last commit in 2022 might be dead) but is useful for showing what part connects where to do what.
Any priority features of the MDM and how many devices managed total?
I own a small business, 20-30 devices only. But they’re a mix of all possible platforms (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS). Would like to force disk encryption, strong password policy, automatically install/update/configure corporate VPN/mail/etc., prevent use of blacklisted programs, remote wipe of lost/stolen/otherwise compromised devices. I know it’s not feasible with any selfhosted solution, sadly.
I agree. Literally, everything.
I would love to see a self-hosted VDE solution. We have a ton of VM options so I’d like to see the next logical step.
You might want to look into Kasm
A proper inventory system. Homebox still too limited and others are to complex or too much asset management focused.
What’s missing in Homebox?
A good RMM solution with scripting options. Ie. Labtech, etc.
There was TacticalRMM but there was some controversy around a crypto miner baked into a private installer. Thought of trying it in my isolated network, but can’t decide how I feel about it.
Organic Maps
We are using it for managing 250-300 devices (Win Desktop, Win Server, MacOS, Linux based Server and Desktop). So far we love it (no mote TeamViewer and Anydesk since it’s using MeshCentral). What is missing (as a major component) - reporting. Still you can create/build your own reporting since there is a good API. Reporting is almost there (crossing fingers)
I really appreciate you mentioning this as I’m looking for something small and light for work as well. We have a hundred or so Pi’s that are critical enough to need management and monitoring, but not critical enough to actually spend money on a RMM or something from one of the big guys.
Right now I’m setting up ansible and getting everything in place, but I’d love something that is more agent based and not just a reoccurring script.
Take a look at simple-help
Very interesting!
We’ve used it for years, feel free to hit me up if you have questions
Teams with sharepoint and office functions
Nextcloud with NC Talk and OnlyOffice Plugin.
I never got a love for nextcloud. It fails me every time i try it out.
I am using it hosted (Hetzner) and like it very much. Stable, fast, always available.
I have an openssh server and i want to access it remptely. Port forwarding is blocked by my isp and i use the unifi debug terminal to ssh into the server. But isnt there a tool that does the similar but designed to do it instead of this workaround? If ubiquity stopped this feature, id be f.
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Google photos (I know about prism and have it, still not the same)
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email… Fuuuck all you spammer asshomes, I just wanna host my own email 😭
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Steam but for my own local games and isos
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maps
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Did I already say email?
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something like OneNote (typing, writing, drawing… all collaboratively)
Workflowy and Loom
I hear you can do something pretty close to workflowy with obsidian.md, which you can pretty much self host with the help of syncthing
It’s almost as good to have obsidian with a sync option on multiple devices, but still an obsidian self hosted webapp would be fantastic! I know there is a docker image that offers something like that, but it’s a webversion of vnc and a small Linux container, instead of a proper web app.
Again: going with local apps and a sync option (I too use syncthing) is very user friendly too, but I still miss the option to kust browse to my vault from any computer. Log in, do some work and see the changes reflected in my local vaults:)
I’d love a replacement for AppSheet using BaseRow.
Discord, hands down
Discord servers
There is a Spacebar project: https://spacebar.chat
Self-hosted alternative to Google Street View (with the ability to upload own street views of course).
This is obviously not possible, as it is a huge undertaking to do that for the whole world. There is “Street View” in Apple Maps as well, btw.
And even if it were possible to “self host” Google Street View, its image dataset is estimated at 115 PB. So you you kinda would need to have a little bit of space on your homeserver.