stop giving your passwords to hackers

About this video

For viewers who want a password manager without handing passwords to another company, Chuck self-hosts Passbolt — described as free forever with unlimited users — using Docker, so the same setup works on a spare laptop, a Raspberry Pi, or a cloud server. He builds it on a Linode (by Akamai) Ubuntu 22.04 LTS instance, choosing the 4 GB plan at $20 a month because Passbolt wants at least two CPU cores, and notes Linode bills hourly, so a one-hour test costs only cents. After installing Docker and Docker Compose, he downloads Passbolt’s compose file — a MariaDB database container plus the Passbolt app — sets the app’s full base URL to the server’s reverse DNS name, and brings it up with one compose command. He then adds a Traefik container to handle HTTPS with a free Let’s Encrypt certificate, using extra Traefik, headers and TLS config files. Finally he creates the first admin user, installs the browser extension, sets a passphrase and recovery kit, enables multi-factor authentication, and tests the mobile app — and confirms at the end that the smallest 1 GB Linode plan also runs it. He is candid that he personally still uses hosted Dashlane for convenience.

Key takeaways

• Passbolt is presented as a free-forever, unlimited-user, self-hosted password manager using OpenPGP, end-to-end encryption and full private-key control, with regular audits.
• The deployment is Docker Compose based and portable: the compose file defines a MariaDB database container and the Passbolt application, brought up together with a single ‘up -d’ command.
• Chuck recommends at least two CPU cores — the Linode 4 GB plan at $20/month — though his end-of-video test shows the smallest 1 GB plan also works; hourly billing makes a short test cost about 3 cents.
• Real-world use needs SSL: he adds a Traefik service to the compose file to obtain a free Let’s Encrypt certificate and handle HTTP/HTTPS, removing the port handling from Passbolt itself.
• Set-up finishes with the first admin user, browser extension, passphrase and downloaded recovery kit; enable multi-factor authentication (authenticator apps, YubiKey or Duo are named) because a passphrase alone is not enough.

Episode details: published March 31, 2023 · 16:25 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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