Hi everyone,

a couple of friends and I have a Jellyfin server running which is exposed to the internet via a reverse-proxy and https by using a free dynDNS provider.

The setup is working fine besides the dynDNS provider. We constantly face connection issues, making the dynamic DNS functionality very unreliable.

So I started looking into possible solutions and one particular would be to buy an own domain which would only cost a few bucks each month. With this I could keep the current setup and would just need to change the domain (and possibly the SSL certificate). I found a provider over which I could buy (rent?) a domain and which also provides dynDNS functionality. But I am not too sure if I understood this correctly:

  • if I have an own domain, why would I need the additional dynDNS functionality? I would guess that I would just continue updating your server’s IP address to the domain name like we are doing now
  • can the provider over which I rent the domain with servers in my country actually see what our traffic is? Especially since we are streaming our movies etc.
  • is there a better way of obtaining and setting up your own domain also in terms of privacy and reliability than with a bigger company offering such services?

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

Edit: An important fact I forgot to add in my main post is that during these issues, the general server connection should be fine since it is located at a friends house and his internet connection is unaffected (e.g. we could still talk in Discord normally and he had no internet issues whatsoever)

  • determinist@kbin.earth
    2·
    14 hours ago

    @dingleberrylover@lemmy.world I have a static IP provided by my ISP. I own my own domain name. I use BunnyCDN to manage my DNS.

    On my server I run Jellyfin and reverse proxy with Caddy, I also run Fail2Ban. Caddy has built in SSL certification.

    After I set it all up (which took me a few tries to get it all right as I was learning on the go) it just runs with no apparent problems. I check logs and monitor it regularly however so far I haven’t had any problems.

    The Jellyfin address is shared only to a few family members.

    I’m in the EU so GDPR applies and none of the involved companies is datamining my stuff. Their policies are to be non-invasive.

    • dingleberrylover@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      13 hours ago

      I am in the same boat (learning on the go, living in EU and using fail2ban and reverse proxy although I use nginx). Sounds good that it runs so well for you! Where did you register your domain? I’ll look into BunnyCDN as well.

      • determinist@kbin.earth
        2·
        12 hours ago

        @dingleberrylover@lemmy.world
        It’s a domain I’ve had for 15 years (I keep renewing) and I registered with 123-reg.

        If you 're in the EU definitely check out Bunny. They’re based in Slovenia. I used their free trial, to test it all out. After that their pricing is competitive, and mostly if you’re a single user homelab type you’ll pay nothing. At least, that’s been my experience for the past 8 months. My use falls well under their provided no charge tier.

        I looked at using nginx however I liked what I read and saw of Caddy (it seemed easier for me). I don’t do anything very clever and Caddy is working great for me.

        *I’m not associated with them other than to be a customer. Prior to switching to Bunny I used Cloudflare free level but I wanted to get away from anything associated with the USA and their (lack of ) data protection laws.

        • dingleberrylover@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          1·
          11 hours ago

          Thanks a lot for your suggestions and feedback! I also would like to use services within the EU, so I will give Bunny a closer look.