Overview

• This repository is a docker compose based setup for nextcloud along with
  • Collabora (for web based document editing support)
  • Redis caching
  • Nextcloud talk
  • Apache reverse proxy
• This repository also has the scripts for docker based scripts to incrementally backup and restore the nextcloud data periodically
• This repository also has the docker compose based setup to generate self-signed certificates if required for the nextcloud, collabora and signal domains

Config files

• Create .env, db.env files in this project folder as they are required for docker compose yaml files. .env_sample and db_sample.env files can be used for reference
• Create backup_scripts/config.bat and backup_scripts/config.sh files in this project folder as they are required for the backup and restore setup. backup_scripts/config_sample.bat and backup_scripts/config_sample.sh files can be used for reference
• Create certs folder in the project folder and place the ssl certificate files (certificate file, key file, certificate chain file) of nextcloud, collabora and signal domains

SSL Certificate files

• For valid CA-issued certificates, skip the self-signed generators and instead save the valid cert/key/chain into the certs folder. Also set SKIP_CERT_VERIFY=false in .env so services require trusted certificate verification.
• If there are no SSL certifiactes present for the domains, self-signed SSLs can be generated by running omgwtfssl, omgwtfssl2, omgwtfssl3 containers. The following commands will generate self-signed certificates for nextcloud, collabora and signal domains in the certs folder

docker compose -f self_signed_certs_gen.yaml up -d --build omgwtfssl
docker compose -f self_signed_certs_gen.yaml up -d --build omgwtfssl2
docker compose -f self_signed_certs_gen.yaml up -d --build omgwtfssl3

Docker instructions

• command to run docker compose - docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build. This spins up all the nextcloud application's docker containers
• command to run a container named app inside docker compose - docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build app
• config file location in nextcloud docker container - /var/www/html/config/config.php
• access docker container as www-data user to run php occ commands - docker exec -it -u www-data app bash

Steps to run

• Ensure .env, db.env, backup_scripts/config.bat and backup_scripts/config.sh files are setup as per the requirement

• Ensure SSL certificates are present in the certs folder

• If no DNS is configured for the domain names - Add the following dns entries in hosts file (since we are not using a real public domain)

127.0.0.1 nextcloud.local
127.0.0.1 collabora.local
127.0.0.1 signal.local

hosts file in windows is located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts hosts file in debian is located at /etc/hosts

• Run the whole docker compose with docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build

  • Run collabora container (for nextcloud office online editor)

  docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build collabora

  • Run nc-talk container (for nextcloud talk high performance backend)

  docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build nc-talk

  • Run proxy container (reverse proxy for nextcloud)

  docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build proxy

  • Run app container (nextcloud)

  docker compose -f nextcloud.yaml up -d --build app

• If the post-installation scripts could not run correctly due to some reason, they can be run again using the following scripts

docker exec -u www-data -i app sh < ./nextcloud/appHooks/post-installation/00_indicate_rev_proxy_https.sh
docker exec -u www-data -i app sh < ./nextcloud/appHooks/post-installation/01_install_apps.sh

To run script from windows, use the following commands instead

docker exec -u www-data -i app sh < .\nextcloud\appHooks\post-installation\00_indicate_rev_proxy_https.sh
docker exec -u www-data -i app sh < .\nextcloud\appHooks\post-installation\01_install_apps.sh

Run cron nextcloud cron job

• run docker exec -u www-data app php /var/www/html/cron.php every 5 mins so that cron.php is run the machine running the nextcloud docker container
• Run sudo crontab -e -u www-data and add the line */5 * * * * docker exec -u www-data app php /var/www/html/cron.php

Backup

• Nextcloud files and database logical backup file are backed up using restic backup
• backup_scripts/run_backup.bat script runs backup and stores it in the restic backup vault
• All the backup and restore scripts will require a backup_scripts/config.bat or backup_scripts/config.sh file that contains the required configuration variables

Database backup

Database logical backup and restore is done in run_backup.sh using pg_dump and pg_restore postgres commands

List all backups

list_backups.sh will display restic backup IDs that are present in the backup storage

Restore latest or specific bcakup using its ID

• when restore_backup.bat is run, latest snapshot is restored
• when restore_backup.bat a1b2c3d4 is run, snapshot id a1b2c3d4 is restored

External Storage Support

Docker host's local / NAS folder

• A local folder location of the docker host can be used as an external storage location in docker
• In the .env file, mention docker host folder details as shown below using the variables ENABLE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and EXTERNAL_STORAGE_PATH

ENABLE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE=true
EXTERNAL_STORAGE_PATH=/folder/path

• If the docker host is linux, make sure the UID and GID 33 have write permissions to the folder. Because the nextcloud container's www-data user always runs with UID 33 and GID 33

# Set ownership to UID 33 and GID 33
sudo chown -R 33:33 /folder/path

# Set proper read/write permissions
sudo chmod -R 750 /folder/path

• External NAS can also be mounted as a local folder and then used as a nextcloud external storage. Backup and restore of NAS or any external storage should be handled separately

Videos

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZJ6Et6SUNyE&si=lico35g9POjSjy-3

References

• Nextlcoud occ command docs - https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/configuration_server/occ_command.html#using-the-occ-command
• Nextcloud docker setup blog - https://help.nextcloud.com/t/howto-ubuntu-docker-nextcloud-talk-collabora/76430
• Official docker nextcloud GitHub repo - https://github.com/nextcloud/docker
• Run user defined scripts in nextcloud docker image using hook scripts - https://github.com/nextcloud/docker?tab=readme-ov-file#auto-configuration-via-hook-folders
• nextcloud collabora integration guide - https://help.nextcloud.com/t/collabora-integration-guide/151879
• nextcloud talk occ commands - https://nextcloud-talk.readthedocs.io/en/latest/occ/