Author: fjgraf

1. Prerequisites

In this example we assume that there is already a webserver with ssl enabled running on your server and you have configured a subdomain to be used by nextcloud in your DNS service provider. If your site is example.com, you can create a subdomain nc.example.com to access to it. If you prefer not to have a subdomain, you will have to point the nextcloud’s root folder in the configuration file of your main site.

• Server: You need a server (VPS, dedicated server, or local server) running a Linux distribution (e.g., Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian).
• Web Server: Apache should be installed and running.
• PHP: Ensure PHP is installed (Nextcloud requires PHP 7.1 or higher) and php-gd, php-curl, php-xml, php-mbstring, php-zip.
• Other optional but very useful packages, fail2ban and a front end firewall manager like ufw.

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache wget

Apache modules for enhanced security and for php integration

sudo apt install libapache2-mod-php libapache2-mod-security2

Certbot will provide the certificate for your website’s subdomain while python3-certbot-apache will facilitate the installation of the certificate in your system by integrating apache in the installation process. It will add the necessary lines where the certificates can be accessed into the nc.examle.conf file in folder sites-available and deploy the certificate, among other things

2. Install Nextcloud Server Community edition

https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip

Step 1: Unzip latest.zip to /var/www. I like to name those kind of folders as the name of the website they are holding in so you should rename it as example.com.

Step 2: Set the correct permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/nc.example.com

OPTIONAL INSTALL

Alternatively, you can download the zip file and decompress the folder named nextcloud into your /var/www folder like so:

Download the zip file to your home folder:

wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip

Decompress:

sudo unzip latest.zip -d /var/www/

Rename folder according to the settings in your web server:

mv /var/www/nextcloud /var/www/nc.example.com

Set permissions to the www-data user

Go to your ip address or domain setup for nextcloud after you had created an database user and the database itself.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nc.example.com

3. Configure Apache for Nextcloud

• Step 1: Enable necessary Apache modules:

sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime ssl

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 2: Create a new Apache configuration file for Nextcloud:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nc.example.com.conf

Add the following configuration (modify paths if necessary):

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName nc.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://nc.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

#########################################################

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
        <VirtualHost *:443>
                ServerName nc.RootDomain
                DocumentRoot /var/www/nc.example.com

# NextCloud folder directives
                <Directory /var/www/nc.example.com/>
                        Options +FollowSymlinks
                        AllowOverride All
                        Require all granted
                        Satisfy Any
                </Directory>

# Certificates
                SSLEngine on
                SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/nc.example.com/cert.pem
                SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/nc.example.com/privkey.pem

# logging
                ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nc.example.com_error.log
                CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nc.example.com_access.log combined

# Reverse Proxy Directives. End edit appropriately before uncommenting.
#               <Location />
#                       ProxyPass http://localhost:50000/
#                       ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:50000/
#                       ProxyPreserveHost On
#                       RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
#                       RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Port "443"
#               </Location>

        </VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

I’ve left some reverse proxy directives in the config file. Those are not going to be executed as long as they have the # at the beginning of the line. Remove them if you want.

Once the config file is done and you are planing to have the nextcloud website in a subdomain, get the appropriate certificate with this command:

sudo certbot certonly --webroot -w /var/www/example.com -d nc.example.com

Step 3: Enable the Nextcloud site and restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite nc.example.com

sudo systemctl restart apache2

4. If your plan is to use it for LAN only…

<VirtualHost LAN_IP_ADDRESS:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    ServerName nextcloud.example.com

    DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud

    <Directory /var/www/nextcloud>
        Options +FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All

        Require local
        # If you want to allow access from specific LAN IP ranges, use:
        # Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

5. Using MySQL/MariaDB Command Line:

The pre final step is to create a database for nextcloud. Download the appropriate packages if you dont have them already installed on your system. A secure installation of mariadb must have been already performed. I also prefer to name the database the same as the website from whic it receives the data.

1. Access MySQL/MariaDB:bash

mysql -u root -p

Create a Database:

CREATE DATABASE nc.example.com;

Replace nc.example.com with the name you want for your Nextcloud database.

Create a Database User:

CREATE USER 'nextcloud_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';

Replace nextcloud_user with the desired username and your_password with a strong password.

Grant Permissions:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nc.example.com.* TO 'nextcloud_user'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Ensure to replace nc.example.com and nextcloud_user with your actual database name and username.

6. Finalize Installation

• Step 1: Open your web browser and navigate to http://nc.example.com/
• Step 2: Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Nextcloud setup.