Core Concepts
Portability
A setup is portable if any node can be fully rebuilt from documentation alone — no manual steps, no tribal knowledge, no dependency on a specific cloud provider.
This means:
- Every host has a documented provisioning procedure (see Reproduce a host)
- Configuration files are versioned or backed up
- No data is stored only on one host
Persistence
A setup is persistent if data survives the permanent loss of any single node.
Persistence requires at least two independent copies in different failure domains (different physical machines, different locations, or different providers).
Levels of persistence used here:
| Level | Mechanism | Survives |
|---|---|---|
| Hot spare | Syncthing receive-only secondary | Single node loss |
| Encrypted relay | Syncthing receiveencrypted intermediate | Untrusted cloud compromise |
| Config backup | Exported ST config → synced | Syncthing misconfiguration |
Topology
A topology describes which nodes exist and how data flows between them.
The baseline topology used in these docs:
source ──(encrypted)──► relay (cloud, untrusted)
│
└──(plaintext, local)──► secondary (hot spare)
- The relay never sees plaintext data
- The secondary holds a full readable mirror
- The source is the only node where data is created/edited
Building bricks vs. scenarios
A building brick is one atomic component (e.g., "an encrypted Syncthing relay node"). A scenario is a tested combination of bricks that achieves a concrete goal (e.g., "3-node backup for a home office with one cloud relay").
Always read the relevant bricks before setting up a scenario.
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