Server Introduction

Welcome to Honse Farm server hosting. This guide will help you understand what it means to run a federated Mare Synchronos server and whether it's right for you.

The Vision: Distributed Federation

Honse Farm is designed around the principle of many small servers rather than a few large ones. Unlike traditional Mare Synchronos implementations that rely on centralized infrastructure, our federated approach distributes the network across numerous independent servers.

This architecture provides critical advantages:

• Resilience Against Takedowns: No single point of failure means the network continues even if individual servers go offline
• Enhanced Security: Isolated servers limit the blast radius of potential security incidents
• Community Ownership: Free Companies, venues, and friend groups can control their own data and moderation policies
• Geographic Distribution: Servers can be located closer to their user base for better performance

Federation isn't just a technical choice—it's a philosophical commitment to decentralization and community autonomy.

Server Modes

Honse Farm supports two operational modes to fit different community needs:

Public Servers

Public servers allow users to freely register and join without restrictions. Anyone with a Honse Farm client can create an account and connect to your server. Public servers:

Private Servers

Private servers are password-protected, perfect for Free Companies, venues, or close-knit friend groups. Server owners set a registration password that users must provide to join. You can absolutely run a server exclusively for your FC or venue by setting it to private mode and sharing the password only with your community.

Technical Requirements

While running a server does require some technical knowledge, we've done the heavy lifting for you. Our installer handles:

• Docker container orchestration
• Database initialization and migrations
• TLS certificate provisioning via Let's Encrypt
• Reverse proxy configuration
• Service health monitoring
• Automatic updates and rollbacks

You don't need to be a systems administrator or understand containerization. If you can follow documentation and have basic command-line familiarity, you can run a Honse Farm server.

Server Management

Every Honse Farm server includes a comprehensive admin panel accessible via web browser. Through this interface, you can:

• Configure server settings (name, description, privacy mode)
• Manage user access and permissions
• Monitor server health and performance metrics
• Review federation connections and gossip activity
• Access logs and diagnostics

No manual database queries or configuration file editing required—everything is managed through an intuitive web interface.

Ready to proceed? Continue to Hosting Prerequisites to understand what you'll need to get started.