A VPS is fungible. What you do with it is not. Each page below picks one thing worth self-hosting, names the NordBastion tier it actually fits on, and writes the end-to-end recipe — not just the install line.
Every editorial is built on a real NordBastion VPS, with the actual commands, the actual quirks, and the actual answer to "will this still hold up at 3 a.m. on a Sunday".
Not just the apt-install line. Each page covers the network plane, DNS, the systemd unit, the firewall ruleset, and the failure mode it would not be the page's fault if you skipped.
Each use case names the Sentinel / Garrison / Ravelin tier that fits — and the upgrade trigger when your peer count, federation traffic or chain index grows past the sweet spot.
One editorial per use case. The rest are queued — published as soon as each recipe has been run end-to-end on a fresh NordBastion install.
Your own kernel-fast VPN tunnel, one VPS, every device.
Kernel-native WireGuard on a $5.90/mo Sentinel; Nordic exit IP, sub-millisecond handshake, no logs by law plus by design.
Donate bandwidth to the Tor network on a KYC-free Nordic uplink.
Unmetered 1 Gbps from a constitutional-jurisdiction host; middle/guard relay with no exit-node legal exposure.
Federation-ready Mastodon on Docker Compose, mail-relay-aware.
Postgres-backed Mastodon, Elasticsearch optional, with the SMTP-out path documented up front so federation actually works.
Your own E2E-encrypted Matrix, postgres-backed, well-known delegation.
Synapse + Postgres on a Garrison, TURN co-resident, /.well-known/matrix/server delegation, federation passing the tester.
bitcoind + LND or CLN on NVMe, Tor-routed, BTCPay-ready.
Pruned or full bitcoind on a Ravelin, LND or CLN over Tor, optional BTCPay Server for merchant flows.
Mailcow / Mail-in-a-Box / iRedMail, on a host that opens port 25.
Full SMTP-in + SMTP-out, reverse DNS configurable from the panel, SPF/DKIM/DMARC walk-through, deliverability honestly mapped.
