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@ someone
2023-07-28 16:43:06Having a name:
namecheap.com: You can buy cheap domains here, ending like nostrelay.info.
This website shows cheapest ones like .xyz .info .online: https://tld-list.com/
noip.com: You can get free subdomains here like: nostrelay.noip.com
There are other free subdomain sites.
Having a machine:
I've been using Hetzner for 10+ years now. They are the best for Nostr! They use prosumer grade PCs as servers and hence stay cheaper than some of the well known brands. These are not enterprise grade and may fail occasionally. This means slightly less reliable server but much cheaper. When it comes to Nostr, your relay won't be the only relay. People will use lots more relays at a given time. So if your relay goes down it doesn't matter much for the whole network. The network continues to operate. Your job is to relay the notes as cheap and fast as possible. Don't think about hardware reliability.
Go to Hetzner and create a cloud server. Germany location is cheaper because they use Arm64 architecture. You can get a 4 core server with 8GB ram at $7/mo. That could probably run even a big relay like 10th most popular relay on Nostr! For the most popular, you could use 8 cores, which is like $15/mo.
You could also select USA if you want to serve USA and Japanese users faster. But that is like double the price.
After you get a machine it will come with an IP. Copy that IP to your domain's DNS records ("A" records).
Installing the software:
This guide looks like a good one.
https://github.com/hoytech/strfry/blob/master/docs/DEPLOYMENT.md
Having a spam filter:
When the relay is small the spammers won't bother you. If you start getting popular you can find plugins that may stop some of the spammers. Or you could learn simple programming using scripts and may develop your own spam filters.
Let others know:
Add your relay to nostr.watch. People use that website to find new relays.
Share the news! Make your friends use the relay.
Getting popular:
After you get experienced and grow your relay talk to client developers and show them your relay and ask them to include your relay in their default settings.
Talk to funds that donate to open source projects and nostr and get some sats. Or do it for free, you are allowing free speech online, which is hard to find nowadays!
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/63520e8494dd0f7e321fddf95b5752ac3a296f3aa3c3b81d76fdebe04fe8fd69.jpg