# Self hosting for free (with caveats!) with Oracle Cloud

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-for-free-with-caveats-with-oracle-cloud/139184
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** hosting
**Created:** [January 20, 2020, 12:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-for-free-with-caveats-with-oracle-cloud/139184 "2020-01-20T12:51:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 90

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### Author: ![jericson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jericson/32/116215_2.png) [@jericson](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jericson)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-for-free-with-caveats-with-oracle-cloud/139184/90 "2021-03-17T19:18:40Z")

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I’ve tried this and the old adage rings true: you get what you pay for.

> [@ddf](#):
>
> But check on cli is not 1GB … Don’t know why.

The default is image Oracle Linux, which does not have 1GB as advertised. I used the Ubuntu image that is eligible for the free tier and that did have 1GB. Or rather close enough for Discourse to install.

> [@Canapin](#):
>
> By default, you can’t install Discourse because connections to port 80 and 443 aren’t allowed. You need to allow them both in the **security list** (in the Oracle control panel) and the **instance firewall** (via SSH).

This was super helpful because I got lost in a maze of contradictory suggestions when following the script’s advice to Google “[open ports oracle cloud](https://www.google.com/search?q=open+ports+oracle+cloud)”.

> [@Fer\_Cazares](#):
>
> I set up my forum with [Mailjet](https://www.mailjet.com/pricing/), they have a Free plan.  
> 6,000 emails per month - 200 emails per day, not bad for starters.

It was disappointing to see Oracle dropped free SMTP service, but setting up Mailjet wasn’t too complicated. You still get what you pay for, but at least you aren’t paying the price of a byzantine setup. And you’ll need an email provider if you move to a different hosting service anyway.

Having plowed through those troubles, I’m now getting this error from discourse-setup:

```plaintext
Launcher is up-to-date
cd /pups && git pull && /pups/bin/pups --stdin
fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/discourse/pups.git/': Could not resolve host: github.com

```

I suspect I’ve messed something up while fighting with the firewall settings. It looks like this is still an option if you don’t want to spend any money, but I think I’m giving up for now. Hopefully these notes will help others in the future.

Oh. I also got an email from an Oracle sales person just now. Never change, Oracle. 😉

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