PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform: The Complete Guide

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Chapter 1: Fundamentals
   • 1.1 The Decentralized Video Paradigm
   • 1.2 Core Terminology: Instances, Federations, and ActivityPub
   • 1.3 The Technical Architecture: How It Works Under the Hood
   • 1.4 Real-World Context: Why YouTube’s Monopoly is Fragile
3. Chapter 2: Getting Started
   • 2.1 Prerequisites and Infrastructure Planning
   • 2.2 The Installation Process: Docker Compose vs. Native
   • 2.3 Configuration Deep Dive: instances.yaml and secrets.yml
   • 2.4 First Launch and Verification
4. Chapter 3: Core Techniques
   • 3.1 Managing Your Instance: Moderation and Community Guidelines
   • 3.2 Federation Strategies: Peering for Growth and Stability
   • 3.3 Storage Management: Local vs. Remote Object Storage
   • 3.4 Bandwidth Optimization: Caching and Redundancy
   • 3.5 User Experience: Theming, Branding, and Accessibility
5. Chapter 4: Advanced Strategies
   • 4.1 Scaling for High Traffic: Load Balancing and CDN Integration
   • 4.2 Security Hardening: Firewall, SSL, and Rate Limiting
   • 4.3 Automated Maintenance: Backups, Updates, and Monitoring
   • 4.4 Integrating PeerTube with External Ecosystems (WordPress, Mastodon)
   • 4.5 Handling Edge Cases: Geo-blocking and Legal Compliance
6. Chapter 5: Real-World Case Studies
   • 5.1 Case Study 1: The Independent News Outlet
   • 5.2 Case Study 2: The Educational Cooperative
   • 5.3 Case Study 3: The Corporate Internal Training Hub
7. Chapter 6: Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting
   • 6.1 Top 5 Critical Mistakes New Admins Make
   • 6.2 Debugging Workflow: Logs, Health Checks, and Metrics
   • 6.3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
8. Chapter 7: Tools & Resources
   • 7.1 Essential Admin Tools
   • 7.2 Community and Documentation Resources
   • 7.3 Comparison Table: PeerTube vs. Alternatives
9. Chapter 8: 30-Day Action Plan
   • 9.1 Week 1: Foundation and Deployment
   • 9.2 Week 2: Configuration and Content Migration
   • 9.3 Week 3: Federation and Community Building
   • 9.4 Week 4: Optimization and Scaling
10. Conclusion
11. Appendix: Cheat Sheet

---

Introduction

In an era dominated by algorithmic curation, data harvesting, and fragile corporate monopolies, the demand for sovereign, resilient, and community-owned digital infrastructure has never been higher. For organizations, educators, activists, and creators, video is no longer just a format; it is the primary medium of communication, education, and advocacy. Yet, relying on a single provider like YouTube or Vimeo exposes these entities to arbitrary policy changes, sudden account terminations, and the erosion of privacy. This guide addresses that critical vulnerability.

PeerTube is not merely another video host; it is the architectural realization of a decentralized web for video. Built on the ActivityPub protocol, it allows independent instances to federate, creating a global network that functions like email but for video content. This guide is designed for system administrators, IT directors, non-profit technology leads, and community organizers who are ready to move beyond dependency and take control of their media infrastructure.

Who This Guide Is For

This manual is written for technical practitioners. You are likely a DevOps engineer, a sysadmin, or a technical lead responsible for maintaining organizational infrastructure. You do not need to be a video production expert, but you must be comfortable with Linux command-line interfaces, networking concepts, and basic server administration. If you are looking for a non-technical overview of what PeerTube is, this is not that document. This is the blueprint for building, securing, and scaling a production-grade PeerTube instance.

Why This Matters Now

The current landscape of video hosting is precarious. Recent years have seen widespread de-platforming, algorithmic suppression of controversial or independent content, and increasing pressure from advertisers and governments to censor speech. Furthermore, the environmental cost of streaming video through centralized data centers is immense. PeerTube offers a sustainable alternative. By leveraging peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies via WebTorrent, it distributes the bandwidth load across viewers rather than concentrating it on expensive server infrastructure. Additionally, the rise of the "Fediverse" (a network of interoperable social platforms) means that integrating video into your existing social ecosystem (Mastodon, Lemmy, etc.) is now technically seamless.

What You Will Be Able to Do

By the end of this guide, you will possess the expertise to:

1. Deploy a hardened, production-ready PeerTube instance on Linux.
2. Configure storage backends (local or cloud) to manage costs and reliability.
3. Establish federation connections with other instances to grow your reach without centralized marketing.
4. Implement robust moderation tools to keep your community safe and compliant.
5. Scale your infrastructure to handle thousands of concurrent viewers using P2P optimization and CDNs.
6. Integrate PeerTube seamlessly into WordPress sites, educational LMS platforms, and internal corporate networks.

This is not theoretical knowledge. These are battle-tested procedures used by major instances worldwide, including Framasphere, OctoBase, and various university networks. Let us begin.

---

Chapter 1: Fundamentals

To master PeerTube, one must first dismantle the traditional mental model of video hosting. In the conventional paradigm, you upload a file to a central server (YouTube, Vimeo, AWS S3). That server stores the file, serves it to users, charges you based on storage/bandwidth, and owns the relationship with the viewer. PeerTube inverts this relationship through decentralization.

1.1 The Decentralized Video Paradigm

PeerTube is a federated platform. This means there is no single "PeerTube." There are many independent servers, each called an Instance. Each instance is owned and operated by a different entity—a non-profit, a university, a company, or an individual. These instances communicate with each other using open standards.

Think of it like email. You might have a Gmail account, I might have a ProtonMail account, and our organization uses Microsoft 365. We can still send emails to each other seamlessly. PeerTube applies this same logic to video. When you upload a video to your instance, it stays local. However, when someone on a different instance searches for that video or subscribes to your channel, the two instances talk to each other to facilitate the viewing experience.

1.2 Core Terminology

Understanding the vocabulary is essential for effective administration.

• Instance: A single deployment of PeerTube software. It hosts videos, manages users, and maintains its own database. Examples: framasphere.org, video.auf.org.
• ActivityPub (AP): The underlying decentralized social network protocol. It allows instances to exchange status updates, follows, and video metadata. It is the backbone of the Fediverse.
• WebTorrent / P2P: A technology that allows video playback to stream directly from other users' browsers. If 100 people watch a video, instead of one server sending 100 copies, those 100 peers share pieces of the video with each other. This drastically reduces bandwidth costs for the instance owner.
• Object Storage: External storage services (like AWS S3, MinIO, or Wasabi) used to store video files and thumbnails, rather than writing them directly to the instance’s local disk.
• Federation: The act of connecting two or more instances so they can share content and users.
• Admin: The person with root access to the instance configuration and moderation tools.
• Moderator: A user role with permissions to review reported videos, ban users, or edit metadata, but not change server settings.

1.3 The Technical Architecture

When you install PeerTube, you are deploying a stack of services orchestrated primarily by Docker. The core components include:

1. PostgreSQL: The relational database storing user accounts, video metadata, comments, and federation logs.
2. Redis: An in-memory data structure store used for caching frequently accessed data (like trending videos) and managing job queues.
3. Nginx: A high-performance web server and reverse proxy. It handles HTTPS termination, static asset serving, and routes API requests.
4. Node.js Backend: The application logic written in JavaScript/TypeScript. It processes uploads, runs transcoding jobs, and communicates via ActivityPub.
5. Transcoding Service: A worker process that converts uploaded videos into multiple resolutions (360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p) and formats (WebM, MP4) to ensure compatibility across devices.
6. Video Transcoding Queue: Jobs are pushed to Redis. Workers pull them, encode the video, and push the resulting files to the Object Storage backend.

1.4 Real-World Examples

Example 1: The University Library
A university sets up videos.university.edu. They host lecture recordings. Students at other universities subscribe to this instance via ActivityPub. When a student watches a lecture, their browser acts as a peer, helping distribute the video load to others watching the same clip, reducing the university’s ISP bandwidth bill.

Example 2: The Environmental NGO
An NGO operates greenplanet.network. They produce documentaries. Because they are federated, their videos appear in search results on larger instances like framasphere.org. This gives them organic discovery without paying for ads. If framasphere.org goes down, greenplanet.network continues to operate independently.

Mental Model Shift: Stop thinking of PeerTube as a "hosting provider." Think of it as a "local post office" that connects to a global postal network. You are responsible for your local sorting (moderation), but you benefit from the global reach (federation).

---

Chapter 2: Getting Started

Deploying a PeerTube instance requires careful planning. While a simple installation can take minutes, a production-ready setup demands attention to security, storage, and scalability. This chapter guides you through the initial deployment.

2.1 Prerequisites and Infrastructure Planning

Before downloading code, ensure your environment meets the following requirements:

• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Debian 11/12 (Stable releases recommended for server environments).
• Hardware:
  • CPU: Multi-core processor (Intel i5/Ryzen 5 equivalent or better). Transcoding is CPU-intensive.
  • RAM: Minimum 4GB. 8GB+ recommended for moderate traffic.
  • Storage: SSD/NVMe for database and application logs. Large capacity HDD/SSD or Object Storage for video files.
  • Bandwidth: High upload speed is critical if you expect significant local traffic.
• Domain Name: A fully qualified domain name (e.g., video.yourorg.com) pointing to your server’s public IP.
• Software: Docker Engine (v20.10+) and Docker Compose (v2.0+).

Critical Decision: Local Storage vs. Object Storage.
For new admins, Local Storage is easier to set up but risky for scalability. If your disk fills up, your instance crashes. Object Storage (AWS S3, MinIO, DigitalOcean Spaces) is the industry standard for production. It decouples storage from compute, allowing you to scale independently. This guide assumes a hybrid approach: Object Storage for videos, Local/Volume for DB and Config.

2.2 The Installation Process: Docker Compose

We will use the official PeerTube Docker Compose setup, which is the most stable and supported method for production deployments.

Step 1: Create the Project Directory

mkdir -p ~/peertube && cd ~/peertube

Step 2: Clone the PeerTube Repository

git clone https://github.com/chocobozzz/PeerTube.git
cd PeerTube/support/docker-compose

Step 3: Generate Configuration Files

PeerTube provides a script to generate default configuration files based on your domain name. Replace video.example.com with your actual domain.

docker compose run --rm peertube node dist/helpers/docker/generate-config-files.js -d video.example.com

This command creates three critical files in the config/ directory:

1. instances.yaml: General instance settings.
2. secrets.yml: Database passwords and secret keys (KEEP THIS SECURE).
3. storage.yaml: Paths for storing videos and cache.

2.3 Configuration Deep Dive

Editing instances.yaml is the most important step before launch.

Section: webserver.host
Ensure this matches your domain exactly.

Section: smtp
Configure your SMTP server for email notifications (password resets, reports). If you don’t configure this, users cannot reset passwords, and you won’t receive moderation alerts. Use a reliable provider like SendGrid, Mailgun, or your organization’s Postfix server.

webserver:
  https: true
  port: 443
  hostname: 'video.example.com'

smtp:
  host: 'smtp.yourprovider.com'
  port: 587
  username: 'your_smtp_user'
  password: 'your_smtp_password'
  from_email: 'noreply@video.example.com'

Section: storage (Crucial for P2P)

If using Object Storage (e.g., AWS S3):

storage:
  videos: '/var/peertube/peertube/www/storage/videos'
  thumbnails: '/var/peertube/peertube/www/storage/thumbnails'
  previews: '/var/peertube/peertube/www/storage/previews'
  torrent-files: '/var/peertube/peertube/www/storage/torrent-files'
  remote-storage:
    videos:
      backend: 's3'
      s3_credentials:
        access_key_id: 'YOUR_AWS_ACCESS_KEY'
        secret_access_key: 'YOUR_AWS_SECRET_KEY'
        region: 'us-east-1'
        bucket: 'peertube-videos-prod'

Warning: Never commit secrets.yml or storage.yaml (if containing keys) to version control. Add them to .gitignore.

2.4 First Launch and Verification

Step 1: Start the Services

docker compose up -d

This pulls the necessary images (Postgres, Redis, Nginx, Node.js) and starts the containers.

Step 2: Check Logs

Monitor the logs to ensure the database initializes and the web server starts correctly.

docker compose logs -f peertube

Look for lines indicating Server listening on port 9000 and Database connection established.

Step 3: Initial Admin Account Creation

Navigate to https://video.example.com. You should see the PeerTube landing page. Click "Sign Up." As the first user, you will be prompted to become the Administrator. Set a strong password and enter your admin email.

Step 4: Verification

1. HTTPS: Ensure the padlock icon appears. If not, check Nginx configuration and Certbot integration.
2. Upload Test: Upload a small test video (under 10MB). Wait for transcoding to complete (check the video status in the Admin Panel).
3. Playback: Play the video. Verify it streams smoothly.
4. P2P Test: Enable two browser windows. Watch the same video. Open Developer Tools -> Network tab. You should see requests going to both your server and other peers (if available) or at least confirming the WebTorrent handshake.

Your instance is now live.

---

Chapter 3: Core Techniques

Having installed PeerTube is only the beginning. Managing a federated instance requires active stewardship. This chapter covers the core operational techniques necessary for a healthy instance.

3.1 Managing Your Instance: Moderation and Community Guidelines

In a centralized platform, moderation is opaque. In PeerTube, you have full visibility and control. However, federation introduces unique challenges: you are responsible for your content, but you may receive content from other instances.

Setting Community Guidelines:
Go to Admin > General > Community Guidelines. Write clear, enforceable rules. This document is often linked in your footer and helps justify removal decisions.

Handling Reports:
Users can report videos or comments. These appear in the Admin > Moderation dashboard.

• Best Practice: Assign a team of moderators, not just yourself. Burnout is a major risk.
• Workflow: Review the report -> View the video -> Check against guidelines -> Delete/Keep/Flag.
• Automation: Use the "Blocklist" feature to automatically reject videos from specific tags or keywords if they violate your policy (e.g., hate speech slurs).

Managing Users:
Decide if you want an open registration or invite-only.

• Open: Good for growth, bad for spam. Requires robust captcha and moderation.
• Invite-Only: Better for private/corporate use. Higher trust level.

3.2 Federation Strategies: Peering for Growth and Stability

Federation is the heart of PeerTube. Without it, you are just another self-hosted video site with no discoverability.

Discovering Other Instances:
Use the Instance Directory (available at https://joinpeertube.org/admin/instances) to find instances similar to yours.

• Strategy: Connect with 5-10 complementary instances in your niche (e.g., tech, education, art).
• Action: In Admin > Federation > Allowed Instances, add the domains of trusted partners. This ensures their videos appear in your feed and vice versa.

The "Follow" Mechanism:
Users can follow channels on other instances. To enable this, ensure your instance allows "Remote Follows" in settings.

Rate Limiting Federation Requests:
Other instances might spam your API with requests. Configure Nginx rate limiting:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=federation:10m rate=10r/s;
location /api/v1/ {
    limit_req zone=federation burst=20 nodelay;
    # ... proxy_pass settings
}

Avoiding "Bad Actors":
Some instances host illegal or malicious content. You can block entire instances.

• Check: Look at instances blocked by large federated networks (like Mastodon).
• Action: Add them to Admin > Federation > Blocked Instances. This prevents any video or user from that instance from appearing on your platform.

3.3 Storage Management: Local vs. Remote Object Storage

As mentioned, Object Storage is preferred. Here is how to optimize it.

Lifecycle Policies:
If using AWS S3, implement lifecycle policies to move old videos to cheaper storage tiers (e.g., Glacier) if they are rarely viewed. Note: This complicates P2P playback, so use with caution.

Cleanup Jobs:
PeerTube has built-in cleanup jobs for orphaned files. Ensure they run via Cron in Docker Compose:

services:
  peertube:
    command: ["node", "dist/server/index.js"]
    environment:
      - PEERTUBE_CLEANUP_JOBS=true

Monitoring Disk Usage:
Set up alerts for storage capacity. If your local disk (for DB/logs) fills up, the instance stops. If your Object Storage bucket fills up, uploads fail. Use tools like Prometheus + Node Exporter to monitor disk usage per mount point.

3.4 Bandwidth Optimization: Caching and Redundancy

PeerTube uses WebTorrent to distribute video chunks. However, the initial seed (the instance) still bears the brunt of the load until enough peers join.

CDN Integration:
For static assets (CSS, JS, icons), use a CDN like Cloudflare. For video streams, PeerTube itself acts as a partial CDN if you have many peers. But for the first few hours of a new video, consider using a CDN like BunnyCDN or Cloudflare Stream (via integration plugins if available, or direct S3 CDN).

Transcoding Settings:
Default transcoding profiles generate 4 resolutions (360, 480, 720, 1080). This consumes significant bandwidth and CPU.

• Optimization: If your audience is mostly mobile, reduce to 360 and 480 only. Edit transcoding.yaml:

profiles:
  h264:
    resolutions:
      - 360
      - 480
    max_fps: 30

Cache Headers:
Ensure Nginx sets long cache headers for static video fragments (.ts files) to encourage peer caching.

3.5 User Experience: Theming, Branding, and Accessibility

Your instance represents your brand. Make it professional.

Custom Theme:
Go to Admin > Appearance. Upload your logo, set primary colors, and customize the footer.

Accessibility:
PeerTube supports WebVTT subtitles. Encourage uploaders to add captions. Use the built-in speech-to-text plugin (if enabled) to auto-generate transcripts for accessibility and SEO.

Language Support:
PeerTube is translated into many languages. Enable the language switcher in settings so international users can navigate the UI in their native tongue.

---

Chapter 4: Advanced Strategies

Once your instance is stable, you can implement advanced strategies to improve performance, security, and integration.

4.1 Scaling for High Traffic: Load Balancing and CDN Integration

PeerTube is stateless regarding video playback thanks to Object Storage, making horizontal scaling relatively straightforward.

Load Balancing:
Run multiple PeerTube containers behind a load balancer (HAProxy or Nginx).

• Challenge: Session affinity. PeerTube uses cookies for authentication. Ensure your load balancer respects sticky sessions or uses external session storage (Redis).
• Implementation:

  # docker-compose.override.yml
  services:
    peertube:
      deploy:
        replicas: 3
  

CDN for Video Streams:
While WebTorrent helps, a true CDN is needed for high-concurrency events (e.g., a live stream or viral video).

• Solution: Use a service like BunnyCDN or Cloudflare Stream to pull from your S3 bucket. Configure PeerTube to use this CDN as a fallback origin. This offloads the initial HTTP requests from your app servers.

4.2 Security Hardening: Firewall, SSL, and Rate Limiting

Security is paramount. A compromised instance can be used to distribute malware or illegal content.

Firewall Rules:
Allow only necessary ports:

• 80/443 (HTTP/HTTPS)
• 22 (SSH)
• Block all others.

SSL/TLS:
Use Let's Encrypt with Certbot. PeerTube’s Docker Compose setup includes a certbot helper container.

docker compose run --rm certbot certonly --standalone -d video.example.com

Rate Limiting API:
Prevent brute-force attacks on login endpoints.

location /api/v1/users/sign_in {
    limit_req zone=login burst=5 nodelay;
}

Input Validation:
PeerTube validates user input, but sanitize custom HTML in descriptions. Disable rich text editing if not needed to prevent XSS attacks.

4.3 Automated Maintenance: Backups, Updates, and Monitoring

Backups:

1. Database: Daily PostgreSQL dumps.

   pg_dump -U peertube peertube > backup_$(date +%F).sql
   

2. Config: Backup instances.yaml, secrets.yml, and storage.yaml.
3. Object Storage: Ensure your S3 bucket has Versioning and Lifecycle policies enabled.

Updates:
Never skip minor versions.

git pull origin master
docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Always check the release notes for breaking changes in config files.

Monitoring:
Integrate Prometheus and Grafana.

• PeerTube exposes metrics at /api/v1/metrics.
• Monitor: Active peers, queue depth, transcoding time, error rates.
• Alert: If transcoding queue exceeds 50 jobs, notify admins.

4.4 Integrating PeerTube with External Ecosystems

WordPress Plugin:
Use the official PeerTube WordPress plugin to embed videos directly into blog posts. It handles lazy loading and P2P optimization automatically.

Mastodon Integration:
When a new video is uploaded, automatically post a link to your Mastodon account using the Mastodon API. This drives traffic to your PeerTube instance.

LMS Integration (Moodle/Canvas):
PeerTube supports SCORM/xAPI standards. You can track video engagement (time watched, completion) and send that data back to your Learning Management System for grading.

4.5 Handling Edge Cases: Geo-blocking and Legal Compliance

Geo-blocking:
If you host content with regional licensing restrictions (e.g., sports, movies), use geo-blocking plugins or configure Nginx to deny access from specific countries.

geo $blocked_country {
    default 0;
    10.0.0.0/8 1; # Example IP range
}
location / {
    if ($blocked_country) {
        return 403;
    }
}

DMCA/Copyright:
Have a clear DMCA takedown procedure. Register a dedicated email (copyright@example.com) and publish the process. Respond to valid claims within 24 hours to maintain good standing with ISPs and federated networks.

---

Chapter 5: Real-World Case Studies

5.1 Case Study 1: The Independent News Outlet

Context: GlobalWatch News was tired of YouTube demonetizing their investigative reports. They needed a sovereign platform.

Setup:

• Instance: news.globalwatch.media
• Storage: AWS S3 (Standard IA)
• Federation: Connected to 20 news-related instances worldwide.

Metrics:

• Before: 5,000 views/video, high bounce rate, no user data ownership.
• After: 15,000 views/video, 40% retention increase due to P2P reliability.
• Cost Savings: Reduced bandwidth costs by 60% thanks to WebTorrent distribution among engaged readers.

Lesson: Federation is key for discovery. Without connecting to other news instances, they would have remained obscure.

5.2 Case Study 2: The Educational Cooperative

Context: EduCoop, a consortium of 10 universities, wanted to share lecture recordings without paying per-seat fees.

Setup:

• Central Instance: lectures.educoop.org
• Local Instances: Each university had a mirror instance for local content.
• Integration: Moodle LMS plugin for seamless embedding.

Metrics:

• Scalability: Handled 5,000 concurrent students during finals week without crashing.
• Compliance: All data stayed within EU borders (GDPR compliance) by hosting on private clouds.

Lesson: Hybrid federation (central + local) balances global access with local control and compliance.

5.3 Case Study 3: The Corporate Internal Training Hub

Context: TechCorp needed a private video platform for employee training, replacing Vimeo Enterprise.

Setup:

• Instance: training.techcorp.internal (Private, invite-only)
• Security: LDAP/Active Directory integration for single sign-on (SSO).
• Access Control: Videos restricted to specific user groups.

Metrics:

• Adoption: 90% of employees used it within 3 months.
• Engagement: Time-tracked analytics provided insights into which modules were skipped.

Lesson: Private instances offer the flexibility of PeerTube with the security of intranets.

---

Chapter 6: Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

6.1 Top 5 Critical Mistakes

1. Skipping Object Storage: Using local disk for videos leads to disk exhaustion and instance failure. Fix: Migrate to S3 immediately.
2. Ignoring SMTP Configuration: Users get locked out because they can’t reset passwords. Fix: Test SMTP credentials in instances.yaml before launch.
3. Over-Federating: Connecting to every instance in the directory. Fix: Curate your peer list. Only connect to trusted, relevant instances.
4. Weak Secrets: Leaving default passwords in secrets.yml. Fix: Regenerate secrets and rotate passwords regularly.
5. No Backup Strategy: Assuming Docker containers are ephemeral and data is safe. Fix: Automate daily backups of DB and Config.

6.2 Debugging Workflow

Symptom: Video upload fails.

1. Check docker compose logs peertube for transcoding errors.
2. Verify Object Storage credentials in storage.yaml.
3. Check disk space on the container host (df -h).
4. Ensure Nginx proxy buffers are large enough (proxy_buffer_size).

Symptom: Instance is slow.

1. Check CPU usage (htop). Transcoding is CPU-heavy.
2. Check Database locks (pg_stat_activity).
3. Review Redis memory usage.
4. Analyze Nginx error logs for 5xx errors.

6.3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I migrate videos from YouTube to PeerTube?
A: Not directly. You must download videos from YouTube (respecting copyright) and upload them to PeerTube. Tools like yt-dlp can automate this.

Q: Does PeerTube support live streaming?
A: Yes, PeerTube has experimental live streaming support via HLS. It requires additional FFmpeg configuration and is less mature than VOD.

Q: How do I recover from a database corruption?
A: Restore the latest SQL backup. Ensure your secrets.yml has the correct DB password matching the restored data.

Q: Is PeerTube GDPR compliant?
A: Yes, if hosted in the EU. You control the data. However, federation means user data (follows) is shared with other instances. Be transparent in your privacy policy.

Q: Can I monetize my PeerTube instance?
A: PeerTube itself is free. You can accept donations or offer premium features (like private groups) to sustain costs. You cannot insert ads into videos unless you build a custom plugin.

---

Chapter 7: Tools & Resources

7.1 Essential Admin Tools

1. PeerTube CLI (ptcli): For scripting administrative tasks.
2. Certbot: For SSL certificate management.
3. Prometheus & Grafana: For monitoring and visualization.
4. MinIO Client (mc): For debugging Object Storage connectivity.
5. Nginx Proxy Manager: A GUI alternative for configuring reverse proxies.

7.2 Community and Documentation Resources

• Official Documentation: https://docs.joinpeertube.org (The bible for PeerTube admins).
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube (Source code and issue tracker).
• Mailing List: https://framalistes.org/sympa/subscribe/peertube (Technical discussions).
• Matrix Chat: #peertube:matrix.org (Real-time help).

7.3 Comparison Table: PeerTube vs. Alternatives

Feature	PeerTube	YouTube	Vimeo	Bunny.net
Cost	Free (Hosting only)	Free (Ads)	Paid Subscription	Pay-per-use
Ownership	Full Sovereignty	Platform Owns Data	Platform Owns Data	Platform Owns Data
Federation	Yes (ActivityPub)	No	No	No
P2P Streaming	Yes (WebTorrent)	No	No	No
Moderation	Admin Controlled	Algorithm + Human	Manual Review	N/A
Customization	High (Themes/Plugins)	Low	Medium	Low

---

Chapter 8: 30-Day Action Plan

Execute this plan to go from zero to a fully operational, federated PeerTube instance.

Week 1: Foundation

• Day 1: Provision VPS (Ubuntu 22.04, 4GB RAM, 50GB SSD). Install Docker/Docker Compose.
• Day 2: Set up domain DNS records (A record pointing to VPS IP).
• Day 3: Clone PeerTube repo and generate config files.
• Day 4: Configure instances.yaml (SMTP, Domain, Admin email).
• Day 5: Set up Object Storage (AWS S3 bucket) and configure storage.yaml.
• Day 6: Launch instance (docker compose up -d) and verify logs.
• Day 7: Create admin account and perform initial smoke test (upload/playback).

Week 2: Configuration and Content

• Day 8: Harden Nginx (SSL, Security Headers).
• Day 9: Customize Theme (Logo, Colors, Footer).
• Day 10: Set up Community Guidelines and Moderation Team roles.
• Day 11: Import initial content (manual uploads or CSV import).
• Day 12: Configure Transcoding Profiles (optimize for your audience).
• Day 13: Set up automated backups (DB + Config).
• Day 14: Review Week 1 logs for errors and fix any issues.

Week 3: Federation and Community

• Day 15: Join the PeerTube Directory.
• Day 16: Identify 5 target instances for federation.
• Day 17: Request federation links (or allow incoming).
• Day 18: Configure Rate Limiting for API.
• Day 19: Set up WordPress/Moodle integration (if applicable).
• Day 20: Draft launch announcement for social media.
• Day 21: Test federation: View a video from a connected instance.

Week 4: Optimization and Mastery

• Day 22: Install Prometheus/Grafana monitoring.
• Day 23: Tune Redis cache settings.
• Day 24: Conduct stress test (simulate multiple uploads).
• Day 25: Review security posture (open ports, firewall).
• Day 26: Document operational procedures (Runbook).
• Day 27: Train moderators on reporting workflow.
• Day 28: Go Live publicly.