Start Here - Welcome to Max's Hub
Hello and welcome to the onboarding guide for Max's Hub. This guide will cover a lot of information that I think is important for you to know as you use my services.
Max's Hub
I want to quickly cover what exactly Max's Hub is. Put simply, it's a "fake" brand that I apply to pretty much everything I do. All of my websites are a part of Max's Hub, my Discord servers are a part of Max's hub, and pretty much everything else I do all gets put under the Max's Hub umbrella.
MaxsHub.Net
A sub-part of Max's Hub is MaxsHub.Net. This is the name I use for my hosting service, so things like game servers would fall under this name. MaxsHub.Net is also a free hosting provider for all of my friends. Yes, that means you! If you ever want your own server for something or want me to host something for you then I can and it will cost you nothing.
Websites
There are four websites you should know about and will probably use repeatedly. These are briefly explained below.
Max's Hub Help Center - help.maxshub.net
You are currently on the Max's Hub Help Center. This is a knowledge base filled with all kinds of help resources that I've created for you. You can find out how to change settings in games, how to connect to servers, how to subscribe to Steam Workshop collections, how to use plugins on Minecraft servers, and much more. I understand the frustration of stuff not working and getting stuck doing tech support instead of having fun, and that is exactly why I have created this resource for everyone. I try and make the help resources here easy to understand and follow.
Max's Hub Wiki - wiki.maxshub.net
The wiki is not accessible on the bare internet (if you try and go there you get no result). The reason for why is explained later. The wiki serves several purposes but its primary purpose is to be a central hub for all kinds of server-related information. In order to connect to most of the services I host, you will need to reference information on the wiki.
Status Page - status.maxshub.net
This is a webpage that shows live uptime information for all of my services. You can reference it to see if there's any unexpected downtime or maintenance, or to see if something has unexpectedly gone offline. And if the status page is ever down, then you know I really messed something up.
Homepage - maxshub.net
I made a simple landing page with links to the other three sites. It's nice instead of having a bunch of bookmarks and I use it all the time, so feel free to use it as well.
Connection Methods
All connections to my services are through a virtual private network (VPN) using software called ZeroTier, and this is the primary and preferred method for connecting to my services. There is another option for connecting but it has limited support.
VPN
My VPN allows for direct, peer-to-peer communication between any of my services and your device. This means there is almost no latency overhead (even less is rare circumstances), all data is encrypted, and only those I authorize can access our services. Furthermore, the VPN's firewall has been configured so that only communication between a client (one of your devices) and a server is possible, meaning other users of the VPN cannot directly see or interact with your device over the VPN.
DNS Configuration
There is a DNS server on our network that can resolve maxshub.net domains. This server can be used for easier usage of the network. For example, you can enter something like "game.maxshub.net" instead of a server's IP address. The VPN is configured to only send DNS queries to our server if part of the request contains "maxshub.net", and this check is performed client-side. This means that all of your other DNS queries will not be seen by my server. My VPN is not configured to nor has the capacity to route your internet-bound traffic through itself.
Privacy Concerns
I understand that seeing the term "VPN" may cause some concern about the privacy and security of your internet activity while connected. These concerns are mostly a result of the unfortunate misuse of the VPN term by popular "VPN providers." If you have any unanswered questions or concerns about using the VPN, please please please reach out directly to me (Max). I will be more than happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
WAN IP Whitelist
Under certain circumstances, it may not be possible to use the ZeroTier VPN client. In such cases, or if latency is of upmost importance for your needs, you can register your WAN IP (aka public IP) on our IP Whitelist. You can simultaneously be set up to use the VPN and have your IP on the whitelist.
There are two important caveats to using the IP Whitelist. The first is that you will not have access to the wiki. As previously mentioned, the wiki is a crucial tool for finding information about servers and you will need to use it, so you will need at least one device with wiki access for this purpose (you can install ZeroTier on your phone if needed). The second is that anyone with a dynamic WAN IP is not allowed to use this method. If your IP is dynamic but infrequently changes then that is perfectly fine, but if you have a cellular WAN connection, you're behind a CGNAT, or your IP changes frequently, then you will not be allowed to whitelist your address. IP ranges will not be whitelisted. If none of this made sense to you, use the VPN.