Create Your Own Self-Hosted Cloud Storage

Benefits

• Enhanced privacy and security
• Cost-effective
• Scalable
• Greater control and customization

Prerequisites

• A computer running Ubuntu or any Debian-based distribution.
• Verify if your ISP allows port forwarding [Optional]
• Own a domain [Optional]

Initial Server Setup

Update Your Linux Distribution

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt autoremove

Install Necessary Packages

sudo apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-php neovim wget mariadb-server php php-apcu php-bcmath php-bz2 php-cli php-common php-curl php-gd php-gmp php-imagick php-intl php-mbstring php-mysql php-zip php-xml unzip nmap ffmpeg

Update Your Hostname (Optional)

• Modify the file to assign an appropriate hostname or domain name to your server.

sudo nvim /etc/hostname

sudo nvim /etc/hosts

• Restart your server to apply the changes.

sudo reboot

Downloading Nextcloud

• Download the Nextcloud ZIP file.

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

MariaDB Setup

• Check the status of the mariadb service.

systemctl status mariadb

• Run the secure installation script.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

• Follow the prompts with the provided inputs:

Password prompt --> Press Enter
Switch to unix_socket_auth [Y/n] --> n
Change the root password [Y/n] --> Y
Enter your secure password:
Remove anonymous users [Y/n] --> Y
Disallow root login remotely [Y/n] --> Y
Remove test database and access to it [Y/n] --> Y
Reload privilege tables now [Y/n] --> Y

Setting Up the Nextcloud Database

• Access MariaDB.

sudo mariadb

• Create the database.

CREATE DATABASE nextcloud;

• Set up permissions.

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.* TO 'nextcloud'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

• Exit by pressing CTRL+D.

Deploy Nextcloud Files

• Enable the necessary PHP extensions.

sudo phpenmod bcmath bz2 gmp imagick intl

• Unzip the Nextcloud file.

unzip latest.zip

• Move the files to the serving location and set the appropriate permissions.

mv nextcloud your.domain.name
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data your.domain.name
sudo mv your.domain.name /var/www

• Disable the default Apache site.

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Configure Nextcloud Host

• Create an Apache config file for serving Nextcloud.

sudo nvim /etc/apache2/sites-available/your.domain.name.conf

• Insert the following content into the file, modifying your.domain.name as needed:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/var/www/your.domain.name"
    ServerName your.domain.name

    <Directory "/var/www/your.domain.name/">
        Options MultiViews FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    TransferLog /var/log/apache2/your.domain.name_access.log
    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/your.domain.name_error.log
</VirtualHost>

• Enable the site.

sudo a2ensite your.domain.name.conf

PHP Configuration

• Edit the PHP configuration file (replace 8.3 with your PHP version if different).

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/apache2/php.ini

• Locate and modify the following parameters:

memory_limit = 3G # Increase if you have more RAM
upload_max_filesize = 50G # Adjust based on your needs
max_execution_time = 3600
post_max_size = 50G # Adjust based on your needs
date.timezone = Europe/London # Adjust your timezone
opcache.enable=1
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=128
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.memory_consumption=128
opcache.save_comments=1
opcache.revalidate_freq=1

Timezones

• Enable PHP modules for Apache.

sudo a2enmod dir env headers mime rewrite ssl

• Restart Apache.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Network Configuration

To access Nextcloud securely, you should configure your network and domain before completing the installation.

Port Forwarding (For Home Servers)

• Enable port forwarding on your router for ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) to your server's IP address.
• Example configuration for a Movistar router:

1. Find your private IP using:

ifconfig -a

2. Configure port forwarding in your router settings.
3. Verify ports are open:

sudo nmap -n -PN -sT -sU -p80,443 {IP}

Configure Your Domain (Optional but Recommended)

• Purchase or obtain a domain from providers like Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.
• In your DNS settings, create an A record pointing to your public IP.

TLS Certificate (HTTPS)

• Secure your installation with a free certificate from Let's Encrypt.
• Install snapd and certbot:

sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install core && sudo snap refresh core
sudo snap install --classic certbot
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

• Obtain and install your certificates:

sudo certbot --apache

Set Up Nextcloud Web Server

• Access your Nextcloud instance via your domain (e.g., https://your.domain.name).
• Upon first access, you will see a setup page.

• Enter the following information:

Username --> Your desired username
Password --> Set a secure password
Data Folder --> Leave as default
Database user --> nextcloud
Database password --> Your database password
Database name --> nextcloud

• Install the recommended apps.

Post-Installation Optimization

Background Jobs

• Set up a cron job for the www-data user to execute background tasks.

sudo crontab -u www-data -e

• Add the following line to the file:

*/5  *  *  *  * php -f /var/www/your.domain.name/cron.php

Memory Caching

• Enable APCu for local caching by editing the config file.

sudo nvim /var/www/your.domain.name/config/config.php

• Add the following line to the configuration array:

'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\APCu',

Trusted Domains (If Needed)

• If you change your domain or IP later, edit config.php:

sudo nvim /var/www/your.domain.name/config/config.php

• Add your new domain or IP to the trusted_domains array.

Troubleshooting

• Search online forums for solutions.

Resources

• Nextcloud Documentation
• Nextcloud Community

Please submit a pull request for any errors or suggestions.