I have been using a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for a while now as an adblocker for my network (https://pi-hole.net). As this is already on 24/7, I decided to see if I could use it to host my websites and projects. Seems I can!
The Pi is running Debian Stretch. For this website I installed an Apache server, PHP7 and a MySQL database. As I have a dynamic IP address at home, I use a dynamic DNS service (https://duckdns.org) that gives me a static address I can point my domain at. I have a cron job that checks if my IP address has changed and if it has, it updates the IP address I use with the duckdns service.
Next was to put my Amazon Alexa skills on the Pi. For this I needed an HTTPS address, so I installed a SSL certificate from https://letsencrypt.org. I also have Ruby installed for my code and am running an Icecast server.
Seems to be coping – so far, but I may add another Pi for load balancing.
UPDATE:
I’ve added another Pi. I’m working on another skill for the Alexa, so I decided to use a second Pi for development. I am currently handling all web requests on the first Pi. When it receives a request for the new skill I am working on, a reverse proxy sends it to the second Pi. This works fine for development, but I think I will add a third Pi to act as a load balancer.