So I was looking into getting port forwarding set up and I realized just how closed-off the internet has gotten since the early days. It's concerning. It used to be you would buy your own router and connect it to the internet, and that router would control port-forwarding and what-have-you.
Now, your ISP provides your router, which runs their firmware, which (in my case) doesn't even have the option to enable port forwarding.
It gets worse - because ISPs are choosing NATs over IPv6, so even if you install a custom firmware on your router without it getting blacklisted by your ISP, you still can't expose your server to the internet because the NAT refuses to forward traffic your way. They even devise special NAT schemes like symmetric NAT to thwart hole punching.
Basically this all means that I have to purchase my web hosting separately. Or relay all the traffic through an unnecessary third party, introducing a point of failure.
It's frustrating.
I like to control my stuff. I don't like to depend on other people or be in a position where I have to trust someone not to fuck with my shit. Like, if the only thing outside my apartment that mattered to my website was a DNS record, I'd be really happy with that.
Edit: TIL ISPs in the US don't have NATs
Edit 2: OMG so much advice. My knowledge about computers is SO clearly outdated, I have a lot of things to read up on.
Edit 3: There's definitely a CGNAT involved since the WAN ip in the router config is not the same as the one I get when I use a website that echos my IP address. Far as I can tell ~~my devices don't get unique IPv6 addresses either~~. (funnily enough, if I check my IP address on my phone using roaming data, there's no IPv6 address at all). It's a router/modem combo, at least I think since there's only one device in my apartment (maybe there's a modem managing the whole complex or something?). And it doesn't have a bridge mode, except for OTT. Might try plugging my own router into it, but it feels like a waste of time and money from what I'm seeing. Probably best to just host services over a VPN or smth.
Edit 4: Devices do get unique IPv6 addresses, but it's moot since I can't do anything but ping them. I guess it wouldn't be port forwarding but something else that I would have to do that my router doesn't support
If you're trying to self-host http service, you can use cloudflare tunnels.
I've thought about using AWS for hobbyist web applications, but I worry about difficult-to-predict costs
That said, after a cursory glance, HOLY SHIT IT'S FREE
Obviously still not a great solution if DMCA is a concern
Hetzner is affordable and way more transparent than AWS, btw
For free tier, Google Cloud is more transparent about what you get than AWS IMO.
The only catch is to make sure your persistent disk is "standard" to make it totally free as it defaults to SSD.
However if you do mess up the disk you'll still only be paying $1-2/mo. Been using GC for years, and recently they finally started offering dual stack so you can do your own 6to4 tunneling or translation if you want, depends on your usage case.
AirVPN also are legit and will let you forward ports to expose your local services if you're worried about DMCA type issues.
I finally got IPv6 here through Starlink, it's nice to have full access to the internet again after a decade behind CGNAT
Cloudflare tunnels are definitely the way, letting you expose a service to the open internet regardless of what your ISP thinks. I’m not sure how they would handle DMCA complaints but given they are just a DNS provider, I’m not sure they would do much given it’s the server owner’s responsibility for the content. Which in this case is you.
Tunnelling isn't a DNS provider
If you're lucky enough to successfully create an account on Oracle Cloud, you can also try Oracle Cloud Free Tier. You can have free ARM64 x4 CPU and 24 GiB RAM totally free of charge. There might be problems with availability during VM registration, but there are scripts that automate spamming for checking every 80 seconds.
I've been using it for 2 years and it's great. However be aware that your VM might get erased if you have a free account. That too can be remedied if you update to a premium subscription (You still get Free Tier resources without a charge). Nobody has reported an erased VM on a premium plan yet.
Still, I am pretty sure they can erase it if you do illegal stuff with it. I've been using it only to host Minecraft Server, as well as other services using Docker. So far so good.
wait, all I got from this is Oracle gives out free 24GiB 4core VPSs? Free cake and I can eat it too? Please fill me in on more details, or links
https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/
There are tutorials on youtube on how to create a VM and set up a firewall for external access.
Where's the catch? Seems to good to be true? On that power I can host everything I ever wanted and more
https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm
Reclamation of vms as others have mentioned and the service limitations as to what qualifies for the free tier are really the only catch, but not a problem if you're willing to give them your credit card info for a paygo acct. More details are in this link to the docs. It's honestly a really good deal and I find it way more transparent and easier to use than AWS.
I give them an empty online card, and install some random bloatware so it uses cpu and ram. Now I have a server for free forever? How do they profit from this, it's hard to believe that it's truly free?
Awesome, thanks for the trick!