Ahoy mateys! I've been doing some research into getting a self-hosted streaming setup built, and I'd like to ask the knowledgeable folks here for advice as well.

My goal is to be running a server that can host a jellyfin stack for acquiring and streaming media for myself and my partner. (I'd like to also run a matrix chat server on it for us to have secure chats as well, but I think that'll be less of a hassle. I hope...)

I found a few guides that don't seem too out of date. I'm an experienced full stack software dev, so the idea of running some docker containers and doing a little command line server set up doesn't intimidate me.

These guides though, they just cover the software application set up mainly. I also need to know:

Where should I host at? I'm on a shitty 5G internet at home, so VPS seems like the way to go but with who? What are some good secure hosts that aren't super expensive? Considering Hetzner auctions maybe? Anyone used them?
Will I need a VPN on the server too? If I'm torrenting, do I need to be careful which hosts I choose so I don't get copyright pinged?
Is there a good guide for securing and hardening my server? I'd like my partner and i to have easy access from home or on our mobiles, but I also don't want to find out my box is suddenly mining crypto because I forgot to close one port. I don't know what gotchas to be looking out for.
Any other guides you'd recommend? Any must have software or sites to know about?

Thanks in advance!

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[–] Whirlybird@aussie.zone 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

If you’re going to be doing torrenting a nice easy way to do it is with a docker image for torrenting software that has built in VPN functionality. I use a transmission docker image that I put my VPN credentials into and then all traffic from that container goes through the VPN.

For security, use docker for everything and open only the required ports. Use something like Tailscale or RustDesk to access the server, and limit access to only your IP address if possible.