[Hidden-tech] Starting my own small Business Website

[Peter S]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your suggestion about using a raspberry pi to host it 
myself.  I hadn't really considered it.

On the one hand, as a software developer by trade, there's something 
appealing about not having to deal with the hassle of hosting everything 
myself (the devops side of things).

On the other hand, I feel like I'd probably learn a lot by configuring 
everything myself, which wouldn't be bad in the long run.  Plus, it'd be 
setup exactly like I'd want it, and maybe even be cheaper in the long run.

Do you have any recommendations, in terms of firewall?  There's 
(obviously) a software firewall built into my cable modem.  Would you 
consider that as sufficient, or would you recommend getting another 
piece of hardware?

Thanks again,

~Peter


On 12/20/21 10:40 AM, Mark D. Hamill wrote:
> If this is strictly for use by friends and family and you expect low 
> usage there may be a low cost alternative and host it yourself but 
> make it publicly available. It's amazing what you can do with a static 
> IP, a Raspberry Pi and a network firewall. This video talks about 
> putting a website on the dark web hosted in your house but it would 
> apply as well if you don't want it to be on the dark web. Food for 
> thought:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bllS9tkCkaM
>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 20, 2021 at 10:29 AM Peter S via Hidden-discuss 
> <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>
>     Hello Hidden Techers,
>
>     I want to apologize up front for what is a serious 'newbie'
>     question.. but I was hoping to draw from your collective wisdom,
>     if possible.
>
>     I've built a small website that essentially aggregates all of my
>     home utility data (from the various utility websites) into one
>     dashboard.  It's been a personal project of mine for the past few
>     years, written in Django, that I've essentially developed/hosted
>     on my home Linux server.  Its written to be scalable, so that it
>     works for any US State/City, assuming the web crawlers were
>     written for the utility web sites.  I see this as a hobby venture
>     (that could grow to be more).
>
>     I'd like to go live with it, and make it available to some of my
>     friends/family, if they were interested in using it.
>
>     While I've been buttoning up things from a security perspective,
>     I've also been researching the associated costs of actually
>     running a website.
>
>     Specifically:
>
>      1. Purchasing/Sustaining a domain name via Namecheap
>      2. Web hosting (maybe multiple nodes... one for main Django app,
>         one for Redis Queue workers, one for Splash Javascript
>         rendering support) via Digital Ocean, Heroku, or AWS.
>      3. Email Hosting..
>      4. (Possibly) SSL Certificate purchase
>      5. More?
>
>     I haven't yet decided on which hosting services etc to use
>     (multiple topics for other conversations).  My assumption is that
>     in the short (and most likely long term) this won't turn a profit,
>     and would just be a small money hole.
>
>     I thought it might make sense to at least capture these costs
>     under some sort of 'small business' umbrella.  My naive hope is
>     that maybe it would have positive tax implications.
>
>     I've never started a business of any kind before.
>
>     So.. what do I need to do?  I need to get an EIN from the IRS. 
>     I've heard an LLC may be more than I need.  What would be your
>     suggested approach?
>
>     Thanks in advance for your time and wisdom (and patience for my
>     newbie question),
>
>     ~Peter
>
>
>
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