Which mobile ecosystem are you a part of, Google or Apple?

I’ve been a member of the Google ecosystem for over a decade now, but recently I’ve dramatically reduced my reliance on their closed-source cloud software services.

The ongoing battle over ever-increasing subscription fees, the lack of immediate control over my cloud-hosted data, and generally my disinterest in supporting the monopolization of technology have all motivated me to employ a variety of community-developed free and open-source software equivalents to the services Google offers at home.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the hardware and software I rely on on a day-to-day basis, the comforts I enjoy, and the limitations I steer around.

Lets start with a diagram

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a diagram showcasing the high-level hardware and software attributes of my self-hosted ecosystem:

Tim White’s self hosted cloud services diagram

Hardware

In order to reliably serve these services, I’ve invested in an assortment of hardware:

Internal Servers

  • (1x) Minisforum MS-A1 operating as a NAS for local data storage & backup and running a few docker applications
  • (1x) Beelink SER6 as a media client and day-to-day front-end computer

External Server

  • (1x) Minisforum UM690S runs this website and other publicly accessibly services.

Network Hardware

  • (1x) Protectli VP2420 router+firewall running PfSense, connected to my ISP’s fiber link.
  • (1x) Ubiquiti Switch Flex Mini, 5-port 2.5G switch.
  • (1x) Ubiquiti U6 Pro WiFi 6 Access Point.
  • (1x) Asus RT-A68u IoT Access Point (running Merlin firmware)

Server Rack

Here’s what it all looks like installed in a rack:

Tim’s self-hosted cloud service server rack

Remote Access

  • I primarily use Wireguard as a VPN to connect to my local network. No services are exposed to the public except for web applications on traditional web ports.
  • I’m able to protect my IP address publicly leaking by using Cloudflare’s Reverse DNS service (free)

Software I Self-Host

  • I replaced Google Drive with a combination of an NFS file share service (for sharing files internally) and SeaFile (for sharing files externally)
  • I replaced Google Photos with Immich, and I love it!
  • StandardNotes is my preferred Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and note-taking software
  • Frigate (NVR) for security cameras (I only really use these for watching our pets and looking at our garden)
  • I use LibreOffice locally instead of Google Docs
  • I run a Mattermost chat platform as an alternative to Discord/Slack
  • GoToSocial acts as an ActivityPub server (I’m my only follower!)
  • DokuWiki lets me document important information for my loved ones and I
  • A combination of either Ollama, llama.cpp, and OpenWebUI have replaced ChatGPT for local LLM
  • This website is compiled using Hugo
  • NginxProxyManager acts as a reverse proxy so I can access all of these web services by reverse-proxy.
  • Jellyfin is my Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/etc. of choice, and I obtain content from many sources including my local library and Kanopy
  • Calibre + Calibre Web acts as my Kindle books/Audible
  • I run HomeAssistant for home automation tasks, paired with their recently released HomeAssistant Voice Edition as a local voice assistant.
  • I use LinkStack as a LinkTree alternative
  • Homer organizes all of these services into a wonderful cloud dashboard
  • Uptime Kuma, ntfy, and Dockerge are all tools for control and monitoring the services for outages
  • BorgBackup is my backup client of choice
  • Wireguard is my VPN of choice
  • I have a JetKVM that lets me bare-metal remote into my servers in the event of hardware issues

I subscribe to Kagi for my internet search provider and highly recommend their services.

I still rely on cloud-hosted SaaS for email because running email locally is a nightmare even in 2025. I pay for a monthly subscription to ProtonMail. I like them very much so far and would recommend them!

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about how any of this works!