[meejah]

An expert could figure out how to get the PrivateStorage Tahoe client to use other storage servers, but yes in general it is "a managed service" and I don't think using your own storage-servers will be "a supported configuration".

[stdcli]

You can use your own server to host a gaia hub with docker compuse up: https://docs.blockstack.org/storage/overview.html , or use a one of the cloud AMIs we are rolling out here: https://docs.blockstack.org/storage/overview.html

Making user owned storage user friendly for people with non sys admin skills is a challenge, but something we are working towards.

because our gaia hubs are associated with user's ids, we are also working on automating SSL as much as possible for individual users as well. This is another technical challenge that makes it difficult for the average person to set up their own trusted environment where they control their own data.

[rakoo]

At this point you'd just go at the source and use Tahoe directly

[meejah]

Sure, yes you could do that -- I mean, PrivateStorage is just shipping you a "real actual Tahoe client". The main feature you're getting is the managed storage-servers.

So if you happened to "not completely trust" the availability of those you could also configure one of your own and configure your client(s) to use that and the PrivateStorage servers. That is, hedging against PrivateStorage going away so suddenly you can't retrieve your data.

But, I agree: if you're doing that you're likely able to run your own Tahoe grid on VPSes or similar.