content/blog/2022-03-23-nextcloud-on-ubuntu.org

  1#+date:        <2022-03-23 Wed 00:00:00>
  2#+title:       Installation and Configuration of Nextcloud on Ubuntu Server
  3#+description: Comprehensive guide for implementing Nextcloud as a self-hosted solution on an Ubuntu server, including installation steps, configuration parameters, and basic security measures.
  4#+slug:        nextcloud-on-ubuntu
  5#+filetags:    :nextcloud:ubuntu:server:
  6
  7* What is Nextcloud?
  8:PROPERTIES:
  9:CUSTOM_ID: what-is-nextcloud
 10:END:
 11[[https://nextcloud.com/][Nextcloud]] is a self-hosted solution for
 12storage, communications, editing, calendar, contacts, and more.
 13
 14This tutorial assumes that you have an Ubuntu server and a domain name
 15configured to point toward the server.
 16
 17* Install Dependencies
 18:PROPERTIES:
 19:CUSTOM_ID: install-dependencies
 20:END:
 21To start, you will need to install the packages that Nextcloud requires:
 22
 23#+begin_src sh
 24sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server libapache2-mod-php7.4
 25sudo apt install php7.4-gd php7.4-mysql php7.4-curl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-intl
 26sudo apt install php7.4-gmp php7.4-bcmath php-imagick php7.4-xml php7.4-zip
 27#+end_src
 28
 29* Set Up MySQL
 30:PROPERTIES:
 31:CUSTOM_ID: set-up-mysql
 32:END:
 33Next, you will need to log in to MySQL as the =root= user of the
 34machine.
 35
 36#+begin_src sh
 37sudo mysql -uroot -p
 38#+end_src
 39
 40Once you've logged in, you must create a new user so that Nextcloud can
 41manage the database. You will also create a =nextcloud= database and
 42assign privileges:
 43
 44#+begin_src sql
 45CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
 46CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS nextcloud CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;
 47GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.** TO 'username'@'localhost';
 48FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 49quit;
 50#+end_src
 51
 52* Download & Install Nextcloud
 53:PROPERTIES:
 54:CUSTOM_ID: download-install-nextcloud
 55:END:
 56To download Nextcloud, go the
 57[[https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server][Nextcloud
 58downloads page]], click on =Archive File= and right-click the big blue
 59button to copy the link.
 60
 61Then, go to your server and enter the following commands to download,
 62unzip, and move the files to your destination directory. This example
 63uses =example.com= as the destination, but you can put it wherever you
 64want to server your files from.
 65
 66#+begin_src sh
 67wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/nextcloud-23.0.3.zip
 68sudo apt install unzip
 69unzip nextcloud-23.0.3.zip
 70sudo cp -r nextcloud /var/www/example.com
 71#+end_src
 72
 73* Configure the Apache Web Server
 74:PROPERTIES:
 75:CUSTOM_ID: configure-the-apache-web-server
 76:END:
 77Now that the database is set up and Nextcloud is installed, you need to
 78set up the Apache configuration files to tell the server how to handle
 79requests for =example.com/nextcloud=.
 80
 81First, open the following file in the editor:
 82
 83#+begin_src sh
 84sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf
 85#+end_src
 86
 87Once the editor is open, paste the following information in. Then, save
 88and close the file.
 89
 90#+begin_src config
 91<VirtualHost *:80>
 92    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com
 93    ServerName  example.com
 94    ServerAlias www.example.com
 95    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
 96    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
 97
 98    <Directory /var/www/example.com/nextcloud/>
 99        Require all granted
100        AllowOverride All
101        Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
102        Satisfy Any
103
104        <IfModule mod_dav.c>
105            Dav off
106        </IfModule>
107    </Directory>
108</VirtualHost>
109#+end_src
110
111Once the file is saved, enable it with Apache:
112
113#+begin_src sh
114sudo a2ensite nextcloud.conf
115#+end_src
116
117Next, enable the Apache mods required by Nextcloud:
118
119#+begin_src sh
120sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime
121#+end_src
122
123Finally, restart Apache. If any errors arise, you must solve those
124before continuing.
125
126#+begin_src sh
127sudo systemctl restart apache2
128#+end_src
129
130For the app to work, you must have the correct file permissions on your
131=nextcloud= directory. Set the owner to be =www-data=:
132
133#+begin_src sh
134sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com/nextcloud/
135#+end_src
136
137* DNS
138:PROPERTIES:
139:CUSTOM_ID: dns
140:END:
141If you do not have a static IP address, you will need to update your DNS
142settings (at your DNS provider) whenever your dynamic IP address
143changes.
144
145For an example on how I do that with Cloudflare, see my other post:
146[[../updating-dynamic-dns-with-cloudflare-api/][Updating Dynamic DNS
147with Cloudflare API]]
148
149* Certbot
150:PROPERTIES:
151:CUSTOM_ID: certbot
152:END:
153If you want to serve Nextcloud from HTTPS rather than plain HTTP, use
154the following commands to issue Let's Encrypt SSL certificates:
155
156#+begin_src sh
157sudo apt install snapd
158sudo snap install core
159sudo snap refresh core
160sudo snap install --classic certbot
161sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
162sudo certbot --apache
163#+end_src
164
165* Results
166:PROPERTIES:
167:CUSTOM_ID: results
168:END:
169Voilà! You're all done and should be able to access Nextcloud from your
170domain or IP address.