I've been doing exactly this for my whole life, two servers currently running, and I've never had an issue.
I miss being able to put a lightly authenticated game server up and not worry too much at night – wondering if that process is now mining bitcoin. I miss being able to run a server in my home closet.
I've been doing exactly this for my whole life, two servers currently running, and I've never had an issue.
I'm also confused about this. I run tons of game servers for my friends on a spare machine under my desk. In the 8 years I've been doing this I've only had a single problem with security and that...
I'm also confused about this. I run tons of game servers for my friends on a spare machine under my desk. In the 8 years I've been doing this I've only had a single problem with security and that was the fault of Valves "steam groups" being abused by some Chinese bots to hijack my L4D2 server. Should I be more worried about my game server security?
A few years ago I had the idea to connect the network at my parents' house with mine, so I could run a NAS there and we could off-site backup to each other's houses. My brother wanted in too from...
A few years ago I had the idea to connect the network at my parents' house with mine, so I could run a NAS there and we could off-site backup to each other's houses. My brother wanted in too from his house. But I never built it - these guys did, and then went way farther.
It's amazing how far apart we've been pushed from one another. Why don't we try to fix that? We have the technology.
How would one try to set this up without dedicated hardware? I’m guessing not at all, since it’ll probably require at least some decent amount of always-on, always-available compute, right?
How would one try to set this up without dedicated hardware? I’m guessing not at all, since it’ll probably require at least some decent amount of always-on, always-available compute, right?
That is what I am running. I use a tail net to connect with my parents house to play LAN games with my dad and brother from across town. Haven't used it extensive, but it has worked well so far.
That is what I am running. I use a tail net to connect with my parents house to play LAN games with my dad and brother from across town. Haven't used it extensive, but it has worked well so far.
Since it came up, figured I'd also mention that Zerotier is another service that functions similar to Tailscale, but it also has some Layer 2 functionality which just means that for certain...
Since it came up, figured I'd also mention that Zerotier is another service that functions similar to Tailscale, but it also has some Layer 2 functionality which just means that for certain applications, and its more common with games in my experience, it can allow for greater connection capabilities. It's typically more associated with applications that 'scan' for other devices on the local network rather than ask you to put in an IP address to connect.
You probably would want something always-on, but from my quick skim of what they're doing with it I don't think it'd need to be anything crazy. Seems like the requirements would be comfortable...
You probably would want something always-on, but from my quick skim of what they're doing with it I don't think it'd need to be anything crazy. Seems like the requirements would be comfortable enough in RasPi / old laptop / $50 eBay machine kind of territory.
I love how far these guys went and I'd be right there with them if my technical friends, gaming friends, and IRL friends had much of an overlap (and I suppose a larger roster). Most of the cooler,...
I love how far these guys went and I'd be right there with them if my technical friends, gaming friends, and IRL friends had much of an overlap (and I suppose a larger roster). Most of the cooler, more exotic stuff from the article only starts to make sense when you can grow your group and sadly as my cohort broke into the later 30s and now 40s, "real life" simply took too much of our time from cool stuff like this. I love seeing this though, I have always thought something like this would work really well with a group of like minded friends.
I did actually set up a co-joined LAN with one of my best friends for a few years when we worked together and he lived nearby. We did it mostly so that he could work in person with me at my home office by using any PC at my home as a dumb terminal to access his workstation on his side of the LAN, but it also made for great gaming fun as we both have mini closet racks and could host game servers and file servers.
This piece definitely struck a chord with me. I've been musing for a while about this idea I've had about "community computing", and what's described here gives me a concrete example to chew on....
This piece definitely struck a chord with me. I've been musing for a while about this idea I've had about "community computing", and what's described here gives me a concrete example to chew on. Out of my friend circle, I'm likely the only one with the technical know-how and desire to participate in a shared LAN of this nature, but I'd still like to be able to "share the love" with the less techie people in my life in some way. I've started sharing my Jellyfin server with a close circle of friends for our TV night to take advantage of the watch group feature, so at least I have a start there.
Cute article. I'm hardly versed in LAN building, but the sentiment rings true. The simpler times of both technology and adolescence is pretty attractive to the 9-5'ers who only have 3 hours a week...
Cute article. I'm hardly versed in LAN building, but the sentiment rings true.
The simpler times of both technology and adolescence is pretty attractive to the 9-5'ers who only have 3 hours a week to spend on passion projects. I comment those who can see things like this through with the demands of adult life.
I've been doing exactly this for my whole life, two servers currently running, and I've never had an issue.
Never had an issue so far!
I'm also confused about this. I run tons of game servers for my friends on a spare machine under my desk. In the 8 years I've been doing this I've only had a single problem with security and that was the fault of Valves "steam groups" being abused by some Chinese bots to hijack my L4D2 server. Should I be more worried about my game server security?
A few years ago I had the idea to connect the network at my parents' house with mine, so I could run a NAS there and we could off-site backup to each other's houses. My brother wanted in too from his house. But I never built it - these guys did, and then went way farther.
It's amazing how far apart we've been pushed from one another. Why don't we try to fix that? We have the technology.
How would one try to set this up without dedicated hardware? I’m guessing not at all, since it’ll probably require at least some decent amount of always-on, always-available compute, right?
That's basically what tailscale is for. You could set up a private tail net with virtually any computer in a few minutes.
That is what I am running. I use a tail net to connect with my parents house to play LAN games with my dad and brother from across town. Haven't used it extensive, but it has worked well so far.
Since it came up, figured I'd also mention that Zerotier is another service that functions similar to Tailscale, but it also has some Layer 2 functionality which just means that for certain applications, and its more common with games in my experience, it can allow for greater connection capabilities. It's typically more associated with applications that 'scan' for other devices on the local network rather than ask you to put in an IP address to connect.
You probably would want something always-on, but from my quick skim of what they're doing with it I don't think it'd need to be anything crazy. Seems like the requirements would be comfortable enough in RasPi / old laptop / $50 eBay machine kind of territory.
I love how far these guys went and I'd be right there with them if my technical friends, gaming friends, and IRL friends had much of an overlap (and I suppose a larger roster). Most of the cooler, more exotic stuff from the article only starts to make sense when you can grow your group and sadly as my cohort broke into the later 30s and now 40s, "real life" simply took too much of our time from cool stuff like this. I love seeing this though, I have always thought something like this would work really well with a group of like minded friends.
I did actually set up a co-joined LAN with one of my best friends for a few years when we worked together and he lived nearby. We did it mostly so that he could work in person with me at my home office by using any PC at my home as a dumb terminal to access his workstation on his side of the LAN, but it also made for great gaming fun as we both have mini closet racks and could host game servers and file servers.
This piece definitely struck a chord with me. I've been musing for a while about this idea I've had about "community computing", and what's described here gives me a concrete example to chew on. Out of my friend circle, I'm likely the only one with the technical know-how and desire to participate in a shared LAN of this nature, but I'd still like to be able to "share the love" with the less techie people in my life in some way. I've started sharing my Jellyfin server with a close circle of friends for our TV night to take advantage of the watch group feature, so at least I have a start there.
Cute article. I'm hardly versed in LAN building, but the sentiment rings true.
The simpler times of both technology and adolescence is pretty attractive to the 9-5'ers who only have 3 hours a week to spend on passion projects. I comment those who can see things like this through with the demands of adult life.