Gateway Co-op

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how to contribute a server to the network

this is a guide on how to contribute a physical server to the co-op. once a server is connected to the co-op tailscale network (more explanation here), then you will not need to maintain the server yourself — you can get help from the other members of the co-op to maintain the server, and install new software — but for the initial steps of getting connected to the network, you will essentially need to do it on your own (or with someone video-calling with you to walk you through it), as remote collaboration on your server is not possible until its connected to the public internet.

so this is a guide on that first mile of setup, to get yunohost installed onto your server, get your server connected to the internet, and get your server connected to the co-op tailscale network.

contributing a physical server is a great contribution, and way to participate in the co-op. by having more servers and more people offering servers, we can offer more services, and add collective resilience to the co-op's offerings.

steps

  1. choose which computer you will use as a server

    • here is a guide on sourcing hardware for a server, although in short "the best server is the one you already have". pi 5, and similar machines, and small form factor computers (as described in the article), are often the best options, in terms of a balance between computational power and energy use.

  2. install yunohost onto it

    • you can follow this guide

  3. message someone from the co-op on signal to ask for the authentication key for the co-op tailscale network — they will send you a temporary link (using pastebin) with the key. after receiving this key, save it somewhere safe (like a password manager).

  4. use a screen and a keyboard to access the terminal of your server, to connect the server to the co-op tailscale network. you can follow the "tunnels with tailscale" section of this guide and in the relevant step, use the key given in the last step

    • after successfully connecting to the co-op tailscale network, you can run this command sudo tailscale ip to get your tailscale ip. send this ip to one of the members of the co-op along with your yunohost admin password, and now the co-op can remotely collaborate on the maintenance of your server. initial setup is complete. 🌐