Dive into the vibrant world of self hosting with our latest insights! This week, we explore the surprising rise of Dockhand, a fresh Docker management platform challenging established players, and celebrate a significant milestone for selfh.st/icons. Discover new home lab essentials like Raspberry Pi’s latest storage solutions, exciting updates from Snikket and Astro, and a powerful network visualization tool, Scanopy. Get ready to optimize your server infrastructure and enhance your digital independence.
Self-Host Weekly is sponsored by XPipe, the connection hub for your server infrastructure. Manage and access all your servers, virtual machines, containers, and more from your local desktop using your favourite tools. Seamlessly integrates with your terminal, VNC/RDP client, password manager, text editor, and command-line tools.
Discovering Dockhand: A Fresh Take on Docker Management
Initially, we might have overlooked Dockhand, a new Docker management platform featured last December. Despite some initial reservations—from its humble icon to an intriguing AI disclaimer—Dockhand has recently surged in popularity within the self-hosting community. Noteworthy coverage from YouTube channels like DB Tech and Lawrence Systems highlights a strong consensus: its functionality, user-friendliness, and streamlined interface are proving more attractive than many established counterparts.
Beyond First Impressions: Why Dockhand is Gaining Traction
This resurgence is a powerful reminder not to judge a project too quickly. If you’ve found yourself seeking alternatives due to Portainer’s recent rebranding or simply don’t require the extensive features of tools like Komodo, Dockhand presents a compelling, lightweight solution for managing your containers. Its growing adoption underscores a valuable lesson: sometimes, simplicity and practical utility truly win out.
Unique Tip: When evaluating new open-source self-hosting tools, always look beyond initial aesthetics. Engage with community discussions and reviews, as practical usability and ongoing development often outweigh superficial first impressions. Dockhand is a prime example of a project that has proven its worth through user experience rather than marketing polish.
The Power of Community: Celebrating selfh.st/icons’ Milestone
In other news crucial for enhancing your home lab dashboards and projects, selfh.st/icons has achieved an incredible milestone: over 100 million monthly requests! This project, a true labor of love, significantly contributes to the visual appeal and consistency of countless self-hosting setups. Its success is a testament to the dedication of its contributors and the vibrant community it serves.
Contributing to Your Visual Self-Hosted Experience
For those aiming to perfect their personal dashboards or applications, selfh.st/icons offers an invaluable collection of icons. If you find any missing elements crucial for your specific project or preferred dashboard, don’t hesitate to initiate a discussion on GitHub. Your contributions and suggestions are vital in continually expanding and refining this essential resource for the self-hosted world.
Latest Buzz in the Self-Hosting Ecosystem
Beyond our main features, the self-hosting world continues to evolve rapidly. Here’s a roundup of other notable developments to explore this week:
Raspberry Pi’s Storage Expansion
For enthusiasts building or expanding their home lab, Raspberry Pi has completed its storage trifecta by adding new USB flash drives to its existing SSDs and microSDs. These new 128GB and 256GB drives boast impressive sustained write performance of 75MB/s and 150MB/s respectively, offering reliable and speedy storage solutions for your projects.
Open Source Initiatives and Ecosystem Developments
- The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has released its list of the Top 50+ Open Source Conferences in 2026, covering vital intersections with AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and policy. A great resource for planning your professional development.
- Snikket (XMPP) is set to receive a significant visual refresh with its upcoming Android release, promising a more modern user experience for secure, self-hosted communication.
- The Astro web framework team is joining Cloudflare, signaling a reinforced commitment to making Astro the premier framework for content-driven websites.
Content Spotlight: Scanopy – Visualize Your Server Infrastructure
This week’s content spotlight shines on Scanopy, an ingenious web-based platform designed for network diagram and visualization. Scanopy empowers users to easily generate interactive diagrams of hosts and services on their network through auto-discovery. This is incredibly valuable for network monitoring, documentation, and collaborative sharing within your server infrastructure.
Key features include pre-defined service definitions for over 200 platforms, fully interactive and customizable diagrams, distributed scanning capabilities, robust Docker integration, multi-user support, and scheduled discovery. Deploying Scanopy is straightforward via Docker, requiring only a separate PostgreSQL container for data storage. It’s an indispensable tool for anyone looking to gain better visibility into their networked devices.
Links: Website, Source Code
Command Line Essentials for Self-Hosters
Mastering File Comparisons with diff -y
For any dedicated self-hoster, mastering command-line tools is crucial. This week, we highlight a powerful utility for quick file comparisons: diff -y file1 file2. This command allows you to efficiently view side-by-side differences between two text files directly in your terminal, simplifying troubleshooting and configuration management.
$ cat example.txt
self-
host
weekly
$ cat example2.txt
self
host
weekly
$ diff -y example.txt example2.txt
self- | self
host host
weekly weeklyClick here for an archive of commands shared in past newsletters, a valuable resource for expanding your command-line toolkit.
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FAQ
Question 1: What new Docker management platform is gaining attention in the self-hosting community?
Dockhand is rapidly gaining traction as a user-friendly and streamlined Docker management platform. Despite initial skepticism, its ease of use and clean interface are making it a popular choice for self-hosted container solutions, especially for those looking for alternatives to Portainer or Komodo.
Question 2: What are the latest storage options available for Raspberry Pi home lab setups?
Raspberry Pi has expanded its storage offerings with new 128GB and 256GB USB flash drives. These provide reliable and fast storage, with sustained write speeds of up to 150MB/s for the 256GB model, making them excellent choices for various Raspberry Pi projects and home lab server deployments.
Question 3: How can I effectively visualize and document my network infrastructure?
Scanopy is a powerful web-based tool designed for network diagram and visualization. It uses auto-discovery to generate interactive diagrams of your hosts and services, offering features like Docker integration and multi-user support, which are invaluable for monitoring and documenting your server infrastructure and self-hosted network tools.