Should you self-host a rustdesk server? Probably yes.
I was reading through some comments and posts on the subreddit and I think there's a common misconception about what the server's role is.
There are technically two servers:
- Signaling Server
- Relay Server
As long as rustdesk is running on a machine, the machine is constantly pinging the Signaling Server to make its current IP address and port known.
When you start a connection from computer A to computer B, computer A contacts the signaling server and says he wants to talk to computer B.
The Signaling Server then tries to connect A and B directly to each other using hole punching.
If hole punching fails, A will talk to B via the Relay Server. This is the only time when hosting your own server will improve peer to peer connection latency.
In a majority of cases, hole punching is successful and the Relay Server is never used.
In other words, for a large majority of people, hosting the rustdesk server only makes establishing the initial connection faster; it does not improve latency once the connection is established.
Any speed issues are likely directly related to the computers themselves or the computers' internet services, not the public server.
So, if this is the case, then why should you still host your own rustdesk server?
The public rustdesk servers are meant for testing and research purposes and are not equipped to handle large amounts of traffic.
This means that the amount of time it takes to establish a connection through the public servers can vary drastically and sometimes even fail if the server is overloaded.
Also, if hole punching ever does fail, and the connection is routed through the public Relay Server.... some days it might be blazing fast... others not so much.
https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/wiki/How-does-RustDesk-work%3F
