Afrihost Fibre Server at Home

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skusku

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I have a home fibre connection with Afrihost on the Openserve network, and I'd like to host several websites and web applications from a mini PC.

I'd like users to be able to access them via normal domain names such as https://app.myserver.co.za .

I have a few questions:

  • Am I correct in assuming that Afrihost/Openserve residential fibre uses CGNAT by default?
  • If so, what is the process and cost to obtain a public IPv4 address?
  • Are inbound ports 80 and 443 blocked on residential fibre, or can they be opened once I have a public IP?

    I did it once on another network for someone else (also openserve), and they said to just get the static ip which then is also on a public ip.
    Any Afrihost rep to comment perhaps?
Thanks
 
skusku said:
I have a home fibre connection with Afrihost on the Openserve network, and I'd like to host several websites and web applications from a mini PC.

I'd like users to be able to access them via normal domain names such as https://app.myserver.co.za .

I have a few questions:

  • Am I correct in assuming that Afrihost/Openserve residential fibre uses CGNAT by default?
  • If so, what is the process and cost to obtain a public IPv4 address?
  • Are inbound ports 80 and 443 blocked on residential fibre, or can they be opened once I have a public IP?

    I did it once on another network for someone else (also openserve), and they said to just get the static ip which then is also on a public ip.
    Any Afrihost rep to comment perhaps?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi,

Openserve residential fibre with Afrihost does not use CGNAT by default. All Openserve fibre clients are assigned public IPv4 addresses, so there is no need to request a public IP to avoid CGNAT.

If you require a static public IP, we can assign a NAT static IP. In this setup, your public-facing IP address remains static and will not change. Your router's WAN interface will still receive a private IP address in the 10.x.x.x range, and this address may change each time the PPPoE session reconnects. However, all traffic destined for your static public IP is automatically forwarded to your router's current WAN IP, so no ports or inbound traffic are blocked as a result of this setup. It's also worth noting that the static public IP itself will not appear on your router's WAN interface.

From a connectivity perspective, inbound ports such as 80 and 443 are not blocked.

That said, our Residential Fibre Terms and Conditions do prohibit the use of residential services for hosting.
 
$m@Rt@$$ said:
I don't think reps are going to help you buddy.

View attachment 1920463
Click to expand...
I didnt know this, particularly the home server and private servers, which is a bunch of kek to be honest.

Since seeing this, I have submitted my cancellation and moving to Atomic who allow home servers, and crap, decided to upgrade to 1000/250 from my 100/50 line.
 
Bl4d3 said:
I didnt know this, particularly the home server and private servers, which is a bunch of kek to be honest.

Since seeing this, I have submitted my cancellation and moving to Atomic who allow home servers, and crap, decided to upgrade to 1000/250 from my 100/50 line.
Click to expand...

So I assume you are moving to a dedicated FTTB line right because these terms are mainly from the FNO side and are applicable to FTTH lines.

They are not enforced but some FNO's do site visits on high traffic FTTH lines to check if the line is being resold or used for commercial purposes.
 
cavedog said:
So I assume you are moving to a dedicated FTTB line right because these terms are mainly from the FNO side and are applicable to FTTH lines.

They are not enforced but some FNO's do site visits on high traffic FTTH lines to check if the line is being resold or used for commercial purposes.
Click to expand...
Well, no.
There are 2 sets of terms here that one needs to abide by. The ISP's terms and the FNO.
Afrihost clearly states no private or home servers, for whatever reason. Thats a rather wide condition from them, likely for them to apply whenever they want an excuse to close down a high traffic user.

Atomic's terms are quite a bit more friendly towards running your own servers considering it sells static IP's and even publishes instructions to port forwards "servers on your LAN".

However, Vumatels terms for FTTH is for general residential and private use. Obviously, you cant use this for anything commercial or business related (wonder how this would technically affect Work From Home?) which in my case, isnt.
I run several home servers which I often want and need to access while not at home, all for private matters.
 
Bl4d3 said:
Well, no.
There are 2 sets of terms here that one needs to abide by. The ISP's terms and the FNO.
Afrihost clearly states no private or home servers, for whatever reason. Thats a rather wide condition from them, likely for them to apply whenever they want an excuse to close down a high traffic user.

Atomic's terms are quite a bit more friendly towards running your own servers considering it sells static IP's and even publishes instructions to port forwards "servers on your LAN".

However, Vumatels terms for FTTH is for general residential and private use. Obviously, you cant use this for anything commercial or business related (wonder how this would technically affect Work From Home?) which in my case, isnt.
I run several home servers which I often want and need to access while not at home, all for private matters.
Click to expand...

I can assure you it's not about traffic. If it was then the WISP reselling on their FTTH lines on the Afrihost network would have been kicked a long time ago considering they do a few Petabytes on the lines in a month.

Hosting servers, reselling or making money out of a FTTH line is against the FNO's terms. It's in the ISP master agreement with the FNO so if Atomic allows that they are breaking the terms of said agreement.

As mentioned before the terms are there but not enforced but they are there. It's not just an Afrihost thing. Inf fact if more people decide to upload on their FTTH lines it would actually be nice because there are 100's of gigs of bandwidth just sitting there not utilized especially international.
 
cavedog said:
I can assure you it's not about traffic. If it was then the WISP reselling on their FTTH lines on the Afrihost network would have been kicked a long time ago considering they do a few Petabytes on the lines in a month.

Hosting servers, reselling or making money out of a FTTH line is against the FNO's terms. It's in the ISP master agreement with the FNO so if Atomic allows that they are breaking the terms of said agreement.

As mentioned before the terms are there but not enforced but they are there. It's not just an Afrihost thing. Inf fact if more people decide to upload on their FTTH lines it would actually be nice because there are 100's of gigs of bandwidth just sitting there not utilized especially international.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification. So technically it is not allowed, but you turn a blind eye. It's OK if you host your own private e.g. home assistant, file server, jellyfin server and want to access it when you are on the road. Got it.
 
Gimli_ said:
Thanks for the clarification. So technically it is not allowed, but you turn a blind eye. It's OK if you host your own private e.g. home assistant, file server, jellyfin server and want to access it when you are on the road. Got it.
Click to expand...
That 'turn a blind eye' is what worries me because technically at anytime, this obscure term could be enforced. I say obscure because it appears that retentions isnt even aware of it.

With that, I have to say, my time with Afrihost has been nothing but flawless. I have not had a single issue with their service. Aftersales have always been amazing, I would say likely best in the industry.
I just wanted to err on the side of caution which is why I opted to move.
 
Bl4d3 said:
That 'turn a blind eye' is what worries me because technically at anytime, this obscure term could be enforced. I say obscure because it appears that retentions isnt even aware of it.

With that, I have to say, my time with Afrihost has been nothing but flawless. I have not had a single issue with their service. Aftersales have always been amazing, I would say likely best in the industry.
I just wanted to err on the side of caution which is why I opted to move.
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Yes, it has been my experience as well, that is why I am hesitant to move. But see my post of last night, I have some IPv6 gripes with them that might force my hand.
 
I had a look - can't find any FNOs limiting this. Would be a bit unreasonable having somebody travel and not allowing them access to their home alarm system (IP on FTTH line).
 
SwimGeek said:
I had a look - can't find any FNOs limiting this. Would be a bit unreasonable having somebody travel and not allowing them access to their home alarm system (IP on FTTH line).
Click to expand...
Decided to use ChatGPT Plus to see if it can find anything. It cant find any FNO agreement from any operator that prohibits home server and private server use:
FNOPublic wording I found
VumatelResidential/private-use description; resale, licensing and public-wireless restrictions; no express server ban
FrogfootPublic AUP prohibits illegal activity and intentional interference with its network or third-party rights; no home-server restriction stated (Frogfoot Networks)
Zoom FibrePublic subscriber terms restrict unlicensed sharing and making the fibre facility available to third parties; no express server-hosting prohibition (zoomfibre.co.za)
MetroFibrePublic FTTH terms are available, but I found no publicly indexed clause expressly banning home servers (MetroFibre)
OpenserveI found no public wholesale or customer agreement expressly prohibiting servers; public packages are distinguished as home or business products
OctotelI found no publicly available agreement containing an express home-server prohibition; Octotel publicly markets connectivity for working and “running your business” (octotel.co.za)

"But the specific claim that “hosting servers or making money from an FTTH line is against the FNO master agreement” is not substantiated by any publicly available agreement I could find.".

Just saying
 
Bl4d3 said:
Decided to use ChatGPT Plus to see if it can find anything. It cant find any FNO agreement from any operator that prohibits home server and private server use:
FNOPublic wording I found
VumatelResidential/private-use description; resale, licensing and public-wireless restrictions; no express server ban
FrogfootPublic AUP prohibits illegal activity and intentional interference with its network or third-party rights; no home-server restriction stated (Frogfoot Networks)
Zoom FibrePublic subscriber terms restrict unlicensed sharing and making the fibre facility available to third parties; no express server-hosting prohibition (zoomfibre.co.za)
MetroFibrePublic FTTH terms are available, but I found no publicly indexed clause expressly banning home servers (MetroFibre)
OpenserveI found no public wholesale or customer agreement expressly prohibiting servers; public packages are distinguished as home or business products
OctotelI found no publicly available agreement containing an express home-server prohibition; Octotel publicly markets connectivity for working and “running your business” (octotel.co.za)

"But the specific claim that “hosting servers or making money from an FTTH line is against the FNO master agreement” is not substantiated by any publicly available agreement I could find.".

Just saying
Click to expand...
All of the MSAs we sign are under NDA and shouldn't be available publicly, technically.
 
SwimGeek said:
I had a look - can't find any FNOs limiting this. Would be a bit unreasonable having somebody travel and not allowing them access to their home alarm system (IP on FTTH line).
Click to expand...
I think its more an issue when they see large amounts of traffic from outside.

if they see you logging in and doing regular low traffic volumes it would be fine its more when your line is running at 90% speed 24/7 they going to be like ???? UHM *ban hammer*
 
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