Hosting My Website on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W - A Technical Deep Dive

Feb 9 2025

For my new personal website (rebuilt with Astro – lightning fast, by the way!), I decided to take the road less traveled when it came to deployment. Forget the usual cloud hosting; I wanted to self-host. And what better challenge than to push a tiny, yet surprisingly capable, Raspberry Pi Zero 2W to its limits?

Why the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W? The Allure of the Tiny Server

Let’s be honest, there were easier routes. But the Pi Zero 2W offered a few compelling reasons:

• Cost-Effective: At around $15, it’s incredibly cheap. Perfect for a personal project where budget is a consideration (and let’s face it, when isn’t it?).
• Pushing the Limits: I wanted to see what this little device could handle. Could it reliably serve a website? It was a fun experiment in resource optimization and proving the “bare minimum” could be more than enough.
• Bare-Minimum Challenge: The Pi Zero 2W isn’t a powerhouse. This constraint forced me to focus on efficient configurations and a lightweight setup, wwhich turned out to be a great learning experience.
• Security Focus: Hosting at home means taking security seriously. Figuring out how to securely expose my website through my home network, without leaving gaping holes, was a key learning objective. Reading countless articles and guides to get this right was a core part of the process.
• DIY Satisfaction: There’s a unique satisfaction in building something from the ground up, especially the infrastructure. Self-hosting on a Raspberry Pi embodies that DIY spirit perfectly.

Setting Up the Pi Zero 2W as a Web Server: Key Steps

Here’s a high-level overview of the steps I took to host my website on the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. This is a simplified summary; future posts might delve into each step in more detail.

1. Operating System & Web Server:

   • Installed with Raspberry Pi OS Lite for minimal resource usage.
   • Chose Apache2 as the web server – reliable and well-documented. While Nginx is often touted for performance, Apache is perfectly capable for a static site on a Pi Zero 2W and my familiarity played a role.

2. DHCP Reservation (Optional, but Recommended for Local Network Stability):

   • To ensure my Raspberry Pi always has the same IP address on my home network (useful for consistent SSH access and local network testing), I configured a DHCP reservation in my home router’s settings.
   • This involves associating the Raspberry Pi’s MAC address with a specific IP address within my router’s DHCP range. Consult your router’s documentation for the exact steps, as it varies by manufacturer.

3. Securing with HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt):

   • Obtained a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt for my domain (abhinav.xyz).
   • Used Certbot with the Apache plugin to automate certificate issuance and renewal.
   • Configured Apache to use the Let’s Encrypt certificate, ensuring HTTPS.

4. Dynamic DNS and Cloudflare Tunnel for Public Access:

   • My home internet has a dynamic IP address, so traditional port forwarding alone isn’t ideal.
   • Utilized Cloudflare Tunnel. This creates a secure, outbound connection from my Pi to Cloudflare’s global network.
   • Cloudflare Tunnel handles routing traffic from the internet to my Raspberry Pi, bypassing the need to expose my home IP directly.
   • Configured Cloudflare DNS to point my domain to the Cloudflare Tunnel.

5. Security Hardening (Crucial for Home Hosting):

   • System Updates: Ensured Raspberry Pi OS is always up-to-date with security patches.
   • SSH Hardening: Changed default passwords, implemented SSH key-based authentication, and disabled password-based SSH login.
   • Firewall (UFW): Configured UFW to deny all incoming connections by default and allow only necessary outbound traffic.
   • Apache Security Headers: Added security-focused HTTP headers to enhance browser-side security.

Challenges and Learnings:

The weekend wasn’t without its challenges! Debugging Apache configurations, understanding Cloudflare Tunnel intricacies, and ensuring robust security required plenty of reading and troubleshooting. But every hurdle was a valuable learning experience.

Is it “Worth It”?

For a simple static website like mine, deploying on Netlify would have been undeniably faster and easier. But this Raspberry Pi Zero 2W self-hosting project was about more than just speed and convenience. It was about the journey, the learning, the control, and the satisfaction of building something unique and personal. And for that, it was absolutely worth it.

If you’re considering self-hosting—especially on a Raspberry Pi, I highly encourage you to give it a try. It’s an incredible way to deepen your understanding of web infrastructure and appreciate the magic behind every website you visit.