I think of myself as technically inclined. I have installed Linux multiple times and have basic command line knowledge, and I’ve programmed in many languages, with the most experience making a static website game using HTML/CSS/JS.
Additionally, I own the superspruce.org domain (my registrar is Dynadot), but I don’t really know how to wield the power of owning a domain. I also have some spare computers to be used for hosting, a 2009 laptop running Lubuntu and a 3900X+32GB RAM desktop other running KDE Neon, but I’m also open to experimenting with cloud hosting too (I know, sacrilege here).
However, I don’t know much about the TCP/IP protocol or other networking protocols. I’m happy to learn, but the curve would need to start gently.
I would want to try hosting my websites, and also a personal non-federated Lemmy instance to serve as a archivable forum for my games. Even if it’s not very useful, it’s great experience.
Maybe I should just cloud host, as it costs the same as a VPN. But then again, a VPN will also protect my privacy. Do I need to use let’s encrypt if I use a VPN or cloud host if I want to be secure?
Short answer VPN no, cloud yes. That is, if the VPN server is on your network and you are not simply forwarding ports to an external VPN. If your choices are VPN vs cloud, I would recommend cloud as it is satisfying to be able to type in a URL and go to your site instead of having to go through VPN weirdness. If you keep sensitive data on your server then a VPN is definitely better (again, the local kind). I personally just forward 80 and 443 and use nginx to control what domains everything is on.