Nextcloud¶

License: AGPLv3

This guide is tested with Nextcloud 32.0.5 on Uberspace v8.0.65. We can't guarantee it to work with newer versions.

Nextcloud is an open-source platform for hosting your own cloud for file storage, syncing, and collaboration. It provides features like file sharing, calendar, contacts, and document editing while keeping full control over your data. It’s ideal for those who prefer privacy, customization, and independence from large commercial cloud providers.

Nextcloud was initially released in 2016 as a fork of ownCloud and is maintained by Nextcloud GmbH.

Note

For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of:

Prerequisites¶

We're using PHP in the stable version 8.4:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ uberspace tool version set php 8.4
OK: Set version of php to 8.4

You'll need your MariaDB credentials:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ my_print_defaults client
--default-character-set=utf8mb4
--user=isabell
--password=MySuperSecretPassword

Installation¶

Download¶

cd to your document root, download the latest Nextcloud release and extract it on the fly, omitting the top-level directory from the archive:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@moondust html]$ rm nocontent.html
[isabell@moondust html]$ curl https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.tar.bz2 | tar -xjf - --strip-components=1

Create the database¶

First, create a MariaDB database for your Nextcloud installation:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ mariadb --verbose --execute="CREATE DATABASE ${USER}_nextcloud"
--------------
CREATE DATABASE isabell_nextcloud
--------------

Run the installation script¶

Execute the Nextcloud maintenance script occ with the following parameters. Set these three values to your account-specific credentials before running the command:

NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER — the admin username for your first login
NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASS — the admin password
MARIADB_PASSWORD — your MariaDB password

[isabell@moondust ~]$ NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER='MyUserName'
[isabell@moondust ~]$ NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASS='MySuperSecretAdminPassword'
[isabell@moondust ~]$ MARIADB_PASSWORD='MySuperSecretMariaDBPassword'
[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ maintenance:install --admin-user="${NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER}" --admin-pass="${NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASS}" --database='mysql' --database-name="${USER}_nextcloud"  --database-user="${USER}" --database-pass="${MARIADB_PASSWORD}" --data-dir="${HOME}/nextcloud_data"
Nextcloud was successfully installed

Configuration¶

PHP settings¶

To optimize Nextcloud performance, configure the following PHP settings.

OPcache caches script bytecode in shared memory, so scripts don't need to be loaded, parsed, and compiled on every request. Create the file ~/.config/php/opcache.ini with the following content:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.enable_cli=1
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=32
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.save_comments=1
opcache.revalidate_freq=1

APCu is an in-memory key-value store for PHP. Create the file ~/.config/php/apcu.ini with the following content:

apc.enable_cli=1

Nextcloud recommends 512 MB of memory. Create the file ~/.config/php/memory_limit.ini with the following content:

memory_limit=512M

Disable output buffering by creating ~/.config/php/output_buffering.ini with the following content:

output_buffering=off

Restart PHP-FPM to apply the new configuration:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ systemctl restart --user php-fpm

Set the admin user email address¶

Set the email address of the admin user to enable sending emails and receiving administration notifications.

[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ user:setting $NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER settings email "$USER@uber.space"

Set the trusted domain¶

Add the domain you'll use to access Nextcloud as a trusted domain:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ config:system:set trusted_domains 0 --value="${USER}.uber.space"
System config value trusted_domains => 0 set to string isabell.uber.space
[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ config:system:set overwrite.cli.url --value="https://${USER}.uber.space"
System config value overwrite.cli.url set to string https://isabell.uber.space

Logs¶

Create symlinks to the log files for easier access:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ ln --symbolic ~/nextcloud_data/nextcloud.log ~/logs/nextcloud.log
[isabell@moondust ~]$ ln --symbolic ~/nextcloud_data/updater.log ~/logs/nextcloud-updater.log

You can now log in to your Nextcloud using the domain you configured. Before using it in production, continue with the sections below to enable email, optimize performance, and set up background jobs.

Configure email¶

Go to settings > Administration > Basic settings and configure the email-server.

Background jobs¶

For the server to work properly, it's important to configure background jobs correctly. Cron is the recommended setting.

Add the following cronjob to your crontab:

*/5  *  *  *  * sleep $(( 1 + RANDOM \% 60 )) ; php -f /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/cron.php > $HOME/logs/nextcloud-cron.log 2>&1

The actual cronjob is preceded by a random sleep of maximum one minute to prevent load peaks every 5 minutes due to simultaneous execution of all cronjobs. The \% is required as crontab replaces % with new-line characters.

Configure Nextcloud to rely on the configured cronjob:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ background:cron
Set mode for background jobs to 'cron'

APCu caching¶

To enable APCu memory caching, run:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ config:system:set memcache.local --value='\OC\Memcache\APCu'
System config value memcache.local set to string \OC\Memcache\APCu

URL rewriting¶

If you prefer cleaner URLs without index.php, run the following commands:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ config:system:set htaccess.RewriteBase --value='/'
System config value htaccess.RewriteBase set to string /
[isabell@moondust ~]$ php occ maintenance:update:htaccess
.htaccess has been updated

Database maintenance¶

To optimize the database configuration, run these commands:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ cd html
[isabell@moondust html]$ php occ db:add-missing-indices --no-interaction
[isabell@moondust html]$ php occ db:add-missing-columns --no-interaction
[isabell@moondust html]$ php occ db:add-missing-primary-keys --no-interaction
[isabell@moondust html]$ php occ db:convert-filecache-bigint --no-interaction

Updates¶

Check the changelog regularly or subscribe to the project’s Github release feed with your favorite feed reader to stay informed about new updates and releases.

The easiest way to update Nextcloud is to use the web updater provided in the admin section of the Web Interface. You can also update via the command line, to do so create ~/bin/nextcloud-update with the following content:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
## Updater automatically works in maintenance:mode.
## Use the Uberspace backup system for files and database if you need to roll back.
## The Nextcloud updater creates backups only to safe base and app code data and config files
## so it takes ressources you might need for your productive data.
## Deactivate NC-updater Backups with --no-backup

cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/

php updater/updater.phar -vv --no-backup --no-interaction

## database optimisations
php occ db:add-missing-primary-keys --no-interaction
php occ db:add-missing-columns --no-interaction
php occ db:add-missing-indices --no-interaction
php occ db:convert-filecache-bigint --no-interaction

php occ app:update --all
## App updates may require additional steps to be done by the `upgrade` command
php occ upgrade

Make the script executable:

[isabell@moondust ~]$ chmod +x ~/bin/nextcloud-update

To check for updates daily add another cronjob. Choose how you want to be informed about the output of the script:

via mail

append nextcloud-update.log

@daily $HOME/bin/nextcloud-update

@daily $HOME/bin/nextcloud-update >> $HOME/logs/nextcloud-update.log 2>&1