From 609cff3bca7f3db77256214630d433ebc6656068 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muhammad Nauman Raza Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2024 23:26:33 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] docs: new document selfhost-search-engine.typ --- blog/selfhost-search-engine.typ | 146 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 146 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/selfhost-search-engine.typ diff --git a/blog/selfhost-search-engine.typ b/blog/selfhost-search-engine.typ new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46db651 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/selfhost-search-engine.typ @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +#show link: underline +#set text( + font: "ETBembo", + size: 10pt) +#set page( + paper: "a4", + margin: 1cm, +) +#set par( + justify: true, + leading: 0.52em, +) + +#align(center, text(20pt)[ + *An overview on hoaxes* +]) + += Introduction +#link("https://docs.searxng.org/")[SearXNG];, put in its own words, is a +'free internet metasearch engine'. Note that it describes itself as a +#emph[metasearch] engine specifically - unlike your traditional search +engine like Google or Bing, SearXNG does things a little bit +differently: It aggregrates the results produced by search services like +those aforementioned, and feeds them back to you. + +Because of this key detail and a great deal of effort by those who’ve +helped shape it, SearXNG protects your privacy, and does so very well: - +Private data from requests going to the search services it aggregrates +results from is removed - It does #strong[not] forward #emph[anything] +to any third parties through search services - Private data is +#emph[also] removed from requests going to the results pages + +Furthermore, SearXNG can be configured to use +#link("https://torproject.org")[Tor];. + +However, the aspect of privacy isn’t the only great selling feature of +the engine; from my use of the engine so far, it’s also great +at…searching \(is that a surprise?). The fact that it’s a metasearch +engine plays a key role in this, as it provides SearXNG the ability to +pull content more efficiently and gives #emph[you] the ability to +further tailor your experience. + += Setting up SearXNG +== Installing the service +As you may have expected if you’ve used NixOS for a while, searxng is +packaged #emph[and] has a service on NixOS. This makes setting it up +just that much easier. + +To get started, place somewhere in your #emph[system] config the +following: + +```nix +{ + # ... + services.searx = { + enable = true; + settings = { + server = { + port = 8888; + bind_address = "127.0.0.1"; + secret_key = "@SEARX_SECRET_KEY@"; + base_url = "https://search.devraza.duckdns.org/"; # replace with wherever you want to host yours + }; + }; + }; + # ... +} +``` + +The snippet above starts the `searx` systemd service for listening on +port `8888`, and assumes a `base_url` of +`https://search.devraza.duckdns.org`. + +Now that we’ve got the actual `searx` instance running, we can now set +up a reverse proxy allowing the service to be accessed remotely +\(whether this is within your local network or across the internet is up +to you). + +== Setting up a reverse proxy +=== What is a reverse proxy? +Before I get started with the technical details of setting this up, I’d +like to briefly clarify what a reverse proxy exactly is \(to my +understanding). + +Let’s get the wikipedia definition of reverse proxy out of the way +first: + +#quote(block: true)[ +\[…\] a reverse proxy is an application that sits in front of back-end +applications and forwards client requests to those applications. \[…\] +] + +However, you might be confused as to what this actually means; I’ll give +an example of the usage of reverse proxies to better explain this: + +- Suppose you’ve got a few services running on a server \(for + demonstration purposes, let’s name these `x`, `y` and `z`), each + running on their own unique port. +- Assuming you had a domain, and wanted to access all of these services + from their own unique sub-domains \(e.g.~`x.yourdomain.com`, + `y.yourdomain.com` and `z.yourdomain.com`), you would have to use a + reverse proxy. +- This reverse proxy would take in requests from clients going to + sub-domains, and forward these requests to the appropriate port on + your machine for the service being requested. + +The concept should be clear now, if it wasn’t already. + +=== Using NGINX to set up the reverse proxy +NGINX is a popular web server that supports the creation of virtual +hosts and the usage of reverse proxies. To accomodate our `searx` +instance, we append the following to our NixOS server configuration: + +```nix +{ + # ... + services.nginx = { + enable = true; + # any extra configuration here + virtualHosts = { + "search" = { # this can be anything, being an arbitrary identifier + forceSSL = true; + serverName = "search.yourdomain.com"; # replace this with whatever you're serving from + # SearX proxy + locations."/" = { + proxyPass = "http://${toString config.services.searx.settings.server.bind_address}:${toString config.services.searx.settings.server.port}"; + proxyWebsockets = true; + recommendedProxySettings = true; + }; + }; + }; + }; + # ... +} +``` + +The expression highlighted above is used to dynamically adjust the location NGINX will forward requests to, depending on your `searx` config + +After saving your changes and rebuilding your server’s system +configuration \(as usual), you should have a working #emph[private] +instance of SearXNG that you can access using the `serverName` you’ve +given it. + +Set your browser to use this as your search engine using the relevant +documentation \(with Firefox this is as easy as right-clicking on the +URL after opening up the page and clicking a button). Enjoy!