Self-Hosted CMS Options & Landscape#

What Was Established#

• User seeks a self-hosted CMS for an Ubuntu VM, explicitly rejecting WordPress due to business practices.
• Preference for tools respected by the web development and self-hosting communities.
• Exploration of CMS categories: Monolithic, Flat-file, Static Site Generators (SSG), Headless CMS, and Custom.

Key Decisions#

• Rejected WordPress: Cited business practices as a dealbreaker.
• Favoring Developer-Respected Alternatives: Leaned towards headless or modern flat-file CMS options.
• Top Contenders Identified: Directus (Headless), Strapi (Headless), Kirby (Flat-file), Payload CMS (Headless/TS), Ghost (Blogging).

CMS Landscape & Options#

Monolithic CMS#

• WordPress: Dominant (60% market), huge ecosystem, but rejected by user.
• Drupal: Flexible, steep learning curve.
• Joomla: Balanced ease/power, smaller community.

Flat-file CMS (No Database)#

• Grav: Fast, simple, file-based.
• Kirby: Beautiful UI, file-based, commercial license (~$129), highly respected by designers/devs.

Static Site Generators (SSG)#

• Jekyll: GitHub Pages compatible.
• Hugo: Blazing fast, Go-based.
• Eleventy: Flexible, JS-based.
• Next.js: React-based, hybrid.

Headless CMS (API-Driven)#

• Directus: Community favorite. Node.js/Vue.js. Provides REST/GraphQL APIs, beautiful admin UI. Excellent for full frontend control.
• Strapi: Most popular headless. Node.js/React. Strong plugin ecosystem.
• Payload CMS: Rising star. TypeScript-first, excellent DX.
• Ghost: Primarily for blogging/publishing. Markdown-native.
• Contentful/Sanity: Enterprise/Developer friendly, but often cloud-hosted (though self-hostable options exist).

Custom / Build-Your-Own#

• The Guardian’s “Composer”: Fully custom-built in Scala/Play Framework. Not recommended for small projects.
• Server-Side: PHP includes, Python (Django/Flask), Node.js (Express).

Recommended Stack for Ubuntu#

• For Maximum Control & Flexibility: Directus or Payload CMS.
• For Content-Focused Sites: Kirby or Statamic.
• For API-Driven Projects: Strapi.
• Quick Start (Directus on Ubuntu):

  curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
  sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
  npm create directus-project@latest my-cms
  cd my-cms
  npm install
  npx directus start

Historical Notes#

• Conversation date: 2025-11-17.
• User explicitly stated a preference against WordPress due to business practices.
• Focus remains on self-hosted, developer-respected tools.
• Note: Directus and Strapi have evolved significantly since late 2025; verify current self-hosting requirements, licensing, and Docker compatibility for homelab deployment.

Hugo-Specific Configuration#

Project Structure#

myblog/
├── config.toml   -- Main configuration (baseURL, languageCode, title, theme)
├── content/      -- Blog posts in Markdown
├── themes/       -- Installed themes (git submodules)
├── static/       -- Static assets (images, JS, CSS)
└── public/       -- Generated static files (deployed to Nginx)

Key config.toml Settings#

• baseURL — Domain URL (e.g., https://blog.nbkelley.com)
• theme — Must match theme folder name in themes/
• buildDrafts — true during development, false for production
• paginate — Posts per page

Creating Posts#

hugo new posts/my-post.md  # Draft in content/posts/
hugo -D                     # Build including drafts
hugo                        # Production build to public/

Deployment Options#

• Manual rsync: rsync -avz --delete public/ user@server:/var/www/html/blog
• Git webhook: Server-side script that git pull && hugo && cp -r public /var/www/html/blog on push
• Cloudflare Pages: Push Hugo source to GitHub, Cloudflare builds and deploys automatically

Comments for Static Sites#

• Utterances — GitHub issues-based, no backend
• Disqus — Traditional, JS-based
• Hyvor Talk — Self-hostable alternative

Related Pages#

• Hugo Deployment to Cloudflare Pages - Troubleshooting
• Hugo Git Submodule Extraction Pattern
• Web Server Stack (Nginx + Apache)

Sources#

• ingested/chats/106-Beginner Guide to Building Websites with Ubuntu.md
• ingested/chats/036-Setting Up Self-Hosted Blogs with Nginx.md
• DeepSeek conversation: “Self-Hosted Websites on Ubuntu Server” (historical)
• DeepSeek conversation: “Setting Up Self-Hosted Blogs with Nginx” (chat 036)

Varda Server (Ubuntu)#

Overview#

Varda is an Ubuntu Server VM at 192.168.1.131 used for web hosting and development. It serves as the primary host for the ilmare.nbkelley.com website.

Note: Varda is a different VM from servarr (192.168.1.112), which runs the media automation stack. These were previously conflated in some wiki pages.

Key Details#

• Hypervisor: Proxmox (Minas Tirith)
• Management: Cockpit GUI (Port 9090)
• Web Server: Nginx for static content
• Firewall: UFW enabled (ports 22, 80, 443)
• Development: VS Code Remote-SSH

Nginx Site Structure#

/var/www/ilmare.nbkelley.com/
├── Assets/
│   └── Images/  (Case-sensitive: capital I)
├── html/
│   └── index.html
├── Scripts/
│   └── scripts.js
└── Styles/
    └── styles.css

Nginx Server Block#

/etc/nginx/sites-available/ilmare.nbkelley.com:

Linux Server Optimization#

What Was Established#

Optimizations for headless Ubuntu servers (specifically HP Pavilion and Thinkpad T480) to prevent sleep/suspend when the lid is closed.

Key Decisions#

Modify systemd-logind to ignore lid switch events to ensure the server remains active when the laptop lid is closed.

Current Configuration#

Prevent Sleep on Lid Close#

Edit /etc/systemd/logind.conf:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/logind.conf

Ensure the following lines are uncommented and set to ignore:

HandleLidSwitch=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore
HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore

Apply the changes:

Web Server Stack (Nginx + Apache)#

What Was Established#

In this setup, Nginx is utilized as a high-performance reverse proxy to handle incoming traffic and static content, while Apache serves as the backend for dynamic content (e.g., PHP/WordPress) due to its flexible .htaccess support.

Key Decisions#

• Architecture: Nginx acts as the entry point (Port 80/443) and proxies requests to Apache running on a non-standard port (e.g., 8080).
• Rationale: Leverages Nginx’s superior concurrency and static content handling with Apache’s ease of use for per-directory configuration.

Current Configuration#

Apache Backend Configuration#

Modify /etc/apache2/ports.conf to listen on a different port to avoid conflict with Nginx:

Web Server Deployment Pattern (Beginner)#

What Was Established#

For a beginner-friendly, lightweight, and scalable homelab setup, a stack consisting of Ubuntu Server LTS and Nginx is the recommended standard. This provides a balance of ease of use, extensive documentation, and low resource overhead.

Key Decisions#

• Operating System: Ubuntu Server LTS (chosen for stability, community support, and ease of management).
• Web Server: Nginx (chosen over Apache for being lightweight, faster for static content, and better suited for future use as a reverse proxy).
• Resource Allocation (Small Site): 1-2 CPU cores, 1-2 GB RAM, 10-2/GB Disk.

Current Configuration#

Nginx Site Configuration#

Default root directory: /var/www/html