Installation on Linux
In case you prefer installing from the source tarball, you can setup Nextcloud from scratch using a classic LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP). This document provides a complete walk-through for installing Nextcloud on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server with Apache and MariaDB, using the Nextcloud .tar archive. This method is recommended to install Nextcloud.
Note
Admins of SELinux-enabled distributions such as CentOS, Fedora, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux may need to set new rules to enable installing Nextcloud. See SELinux configuration tips for a suggested configuration.
If you prefer a more automated installation of Nextcloud and there are no packages for your Linux distribution, you have the option to install the community Snap Package. This includes a full production-ready stack, will maintain your HTTPS certificates for you, and will automatically update as needed to stay secure. You can also use the Nextcloud VM scripts to install directly on a clean Ubuntu Server. It will setup everything for you and include scripts for automated installation of apps like; Collabora, OnlyOffice, Talk and so on. Please note that those two options are not officially supported by Nextcloud GmbH.
This installation guide is giving a general overview of required dependencies and their configuration. For a distribution specific setup guide have a look at the Example installation on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Example installation on CentOS 8.
Prerequisites for manual installation
The Nextcloud .tar archive contains all of the required PHP modules. This
section lists all required and optional PHP modules. Consult the PHP manual for more information on modules.
Your Linux distribution should have packages for all required modules. You can
check the presence of a module by typing php -m | grep -i <module_name>
.
If you get a result, the module is present.
Required:
PHP (7.3 or 7.4)
PHP module ctype
PHP module curl
PHP module dom
PHP module fileinfo (included with PHP)
PHP module filter (only on Mageia and FreeBSD)
PHP module GD
PHP module hash (only on FreeBSD)
PHP module JSON
PHP module libxml (Linux package libxml2 must be >=2.7.0)
PHP module mbstring
PHP module openssl
PHP module posix
PHP module session
PHP module SimpleXML
PHP module XMLReader
PHP module XMLWriter
PHP module zip
PHP module zlib
Database connectors (pick the one for your database:)
PHP module pdo_sqlite (>= 3, usually not recommended for performance reasons)
PHP module pdo_mysql (MySQL/MariaDB)
PHP module pdo_pgsql (PostgreSQL)
Recommended packages:
PHP module bz2 (recommended, required for extraction of apps)
PHP module intl (increases language translation performance and fixes sorting of non-ASCII characters)
Required for specific apps:
PHP module ldap (for LDAP integration)
PHP module smbclient (SMB/CIFS integration, see SMB/CIFS)
PHP module ftp (for FTP storage / external user authentication)
PHP module imap (for external user authentication)
PHP module bcmath (for passwordless login)
PHP module gmp (for passwordless login)
Recommended for specific apps (optional):
PHP module gmp (for SFTP storage)
PHP module exif (for image rotation in pictures app)
For enhanced server performance (optional) select one of the following memcaches:
PHP module apcu (>= 4.0.6)
PHP module memcached
PHP module redis (>= 2.2.6, required for Transactional File Locking)
See Memory caching to learn how to select and configure a memcache.
For preview generation (optional):
PHP module imagick
avconv or ffmpeg
OpenOffice or LibreOffice
For command line processing (optional):
PHP module pcntl (enables command interruption by pressing
ctrl-c
)
For command line updater (optional):
PHP module phar (upgrades Nextcloud by running
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/updater/updater.phar
)
You don’t need the WebDAV module for your Web server (i.e. Apache’s
mod_webdav
), as Nextcloud has a built-in WebDAV server of its own,
SabreDAV.
If mod_webdav
is enabled you must disable it for Nextcloud. (See
Apache Web server configuration for an example configuration.)
Apache Web server configuration
Configuring Apache requires the creation of a single configuration
file. On Debian, Ubuntu, and their derivatives, this file will be
/etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf
. On Fedora,
CentOS, RHEL, and similar systems, the configuration file will be
/etc/httpd/conf.d/nextcloud.conf
.
You can choose to install Nextcloud in a directory on an existing webserver, for example https://www.example.com/nextcloud/, or in a virtual host if you want Nextcloud to be accessible from its own subdomain such as https://cloud.example.com/.
To use the directory-based installation, put the following in your
nextcloud.conf
replacing the Directory and Alias filepaths
with the filepaths appropriate for your system:
Alias /nextcloud "/var/www/nextcloud/"
<Directory /var/www/nextcloud/>
Require all granted
AllowOverride All
Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
<IfModule mod_dav.c>
Dav off
</IfModule>
</Directory>
To use the virtual host installation, put the following in your
nextcloud.conf
replacing ServerName, as well as the
DocumentRoot and Directory filepaths with values appropriate
for your system:
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud/
ServerName your.server.com
<Directory /var/www/nextcloud/>
Require all granted
AllowOverride All
Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
<IfModule mod_dav.c>
Dav off
</IfModule>
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
On Debian, Ubuntu, and their derivatives, you should run the following command to enable the configuration:
a2ensite nextcloud.conf
Additional Apache configurations
For Nextcloud to work correctly, we need the module
mod_rewrite
. Enable it by running:a2enmod rewrite
Additional recommended modules are
mod_headers
,mod_env
,mod_dir
andmod_mime
:a2enmod headers a2enmod env a2enmod dir a2enmod mime
If you’re running
mod_fcgi
instead of the standardmod_php
also enable:a2enmod setenvif
You must disable any server-configured authentication for Nextcloud, as it uses Basic authentication internally for DAV services. If you have turned on authentication on a parent folder (via e.g. an
AuthType Basic
directive), you can turn off the authentication specifically for the Nextcloud entry. Following the above example configuration file, add the following line in the<Directory>
section:Satisfy Any
When using SSL, take special note of the ServerName. You should specify one in the server configuration, as well as in the CommonName field of the certificate. If you want your Nextcloud to be reachable via the internet, then set both of these to the domain you want to reach your Nextcloud server.
Now restart Apache:
service apache2 restart
If you’re running Nextcloud in a subdirectory and want to use CalDAV or CardDAV clients make sure you have configured the correct Service discovery URLs.
Pretty URLs
Pretty URLs remove the index.php
-part in all Nextcloud URLs, for example
in sharing links like https://example.org/nextcloud/index.php/s/Sv1b7krAUqmF8QQ
,
making URLs shorter and thus prettier.
mod_env
and mod_rewrite
must be installed on your webserver and the .htaccess
must be writable by the HTTP user. To enable mod_env
and mod_rewrite
, run sudo a2enmod env
and sudo a2enmod rewrite
. Then you can set in the config.php
two variables:
'overwrite.cli.url' => 'https://example.org/nextcloud',
'htaccess.RewriteBase' => '/nextcloud',
if your setup is available on https://example.org/nextcloud
or:
'overwrite.cli.url' => 'https://example.org/',
'htaccess.RewriteBase' => '/',
if it isn’t installed in a subfolder. Finally run this occ-command to update your .htaccess file:
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:update:htaccess
After each update, these changes are automatically applied to the .htaccess
-file.
Enabling SSL
Note
You can use Nextcloud over plain HTTP, but we strongly encourage you to use SSL/TLS to encrypt all of your server traffic, and to protect user’s logins and data in transit.
Apache installed under Ubuntu comes already set-up with a simple self-signed certificate. All you have to do is to enable the ssl module and the default site. Open a terminal and run:
a2enmod ssl
a2ensite default-ssl
service apache2 reload
Note
Self-signed certificates have their drawbacks - especially when you plan to make your Nextcloud server publicly accessible. You might want to consider getting a certificate signed by a commercial signing authority. Check with your domain name registrar or hosting service for good deals on commercial certificates.
Installation wizard
After restarting Apache you must complete your installation by running either
the graphical Installation Wizard, or on the command line with the occ
command. To enable this, change the ownership on your Nextcloud directories to
your HTTP user:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud/
Note
Admins of SELinux-enabled distributions may need to write new SELinux rules to complete their Nextcloud installation; see SELinux configuration tips.
To use occ
see Installing from command line.
To use the graphical Installation Wizard see Installation wizard.
SELinux configuration tips
See SELinux configuration for a suggested configuration for SELinux-enabled distributions such as Fedora and CentOS.
php.ini configuration notes
Keep in mind that changes to php.ini
may have to be configured on more than one
ini file. This can be the case, for example, for the date.timezone
setting.
php.ini - used by the Web server:
/etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
or
/etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
or ...
php.ini - used by the php-cli and so by Nextcloud CRON jobs:
/etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini
Note
Path names have to be set in respect of the installed PHP (>= 7.3 or 7.4) as applicable.
php-fpm configuration notes
System environment variables
When you are using php-fpm
, system environment variables like
PATH, TMP or others are not automatically populated in the same way as
when using php-cli
. A PHP call like getenv('PATH');
can therefore
return an empty result. So you may need to manually configure environment
variables in the appropropriate php-fpm
ini/config file.
Here are some example root paths for these ini/config files:
Debian/Ubuntu/Mint |
CentOS/Red Hat/Fedora |
|
|
In both examples, the ini/config file is called www.conf
, and depending on
the distro version or customizations you have made, it may be in a subdirectory such as pool.d
.
Usually, you will find some or all of the environment variables already in the file, but commented out like this:
;env[HOSTNAME] = $HOSTNAME
;env[PATH] = /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
;env[TMP] = /tmp
;env[TMPDIR] = /tmp
;env[TEMP] = /tmp
Uncomment the appropriate existing entries. Then run printenv PATH
to
confirm your paths, for example:
$ printenv PATH
/home/user/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:
/sbin:/bin:/
If any of your system environment variables are not present in the file then you must add them.
Alternatively it is possible to use the environment variables of your system by modifying:
/etc/php/7.4/fpm/pool.d/www.conf
and uncommenting the line:
clear_env = no
When you are using shared hosting or a control panel to manage your Nextcloud VM or server, the configuration files are almost certain to be located somewhere else, for security and flexibility reasons, so check your documentation for the correct locations.
Please keep in mind that it is possible to create different settings for
php-cli
and php-fpm
, and for different domains and Web sites.
The best way to check your settings is with PHP version and information.
Maximum upload size
If you want to increase the maximum upload size, you will also have to modify
your php-fpm
configuration and increase the upload_max_filesize
and
post_max_size
values. You will need to restart php-fpm
and your HTTP
server in order for these changes to be applied.
.htaccess notes for Apache
Nextcloud comes with its own nextcloud/.htaccess
file. Because php-fpm
can’t read PHP settings in .htaccess
these settings and permissions must
be set in the nextcloud/.user.ini
file.
Other Web servers
Installing on Windows (virtual machine)
If you are using Windows, the easiest way to get Nextcloud up and running is using a virtual machine (VM). There are two options:
Enterprise/SME appliance
Nextcloud GmbH maintains a free appliance built on the Univention Corporate Server (UCS) with easy graphical setup and web-based administration. It includes user management via LDAP, can replace an existing Active Directory setup and has optional ONLYOFFICE and Collabora Online integration, with many more applications available for easy and quick install.
It can be installed on hardware or run in a virtual machine using VirtualBox, VMWare (ESX) and KVM images.
Download the the Appliance here:
Home User/SME appliance
The Nextcloud VM is maintained by T&M Hansson IT and several different versions are offered. Collabora, OnlyOffice, Full Text Search and other apps can easily be installed with the included scripts which you can choose to run during the first setup, or download them later and run it afterwards. You can find all the currently available automated app installations on GitHub.
The VM comes in different sizes and versions.
You can find all the available versions here.
For complete instructions and downloads see:
Note
You can install the VM on several different operating systems as long as you can mount OVA, VMDK, or VHD/VHDX VM in your hypervisor. If you are using KVM then you need to install the VM from the scripts on GitHub. You can follow the instructions in the README.
Installing via Snap packages
A snap is a zip file containing an application together with its dependencies, and a description of how it should safely be run on your system, especially the different ways it should talk to other software. Most importantly snaps are designed to be secure, sandboxed, containerized applications isolated from the underlying system and from other applications.
To install the Nextcloud Snap Package, run the following command in a terminal:
sudo snap install nextcloud
Note
The snapd technology is the core that powers snaps, and it offers a new way to package, distribute, update and run OS components and applications on a Linux system. See more about snaps on snapcraft.io.
Installation via web installer on a VPS or web space
When you don’t have access to the command line, for example at a web hosting or VMPS, an easy option is to use our web installer. This script can be found on our server installation page here.
The script checks the dependencies, downloads Nextcloud from the official server, unpacks it with the right permissions and the right user account. Finally, you will be redirected to the Nextcloud installer. Here a quick how-to:
Get the file from the installation page
Upload setup-nextcloud.php to your web space
Point your web browser to setup-nextcloud.php on your webspace
Follow the instructions and configure Nextcloud
Login to your newly created Nextcloud instance!
Note
that the installer uses the same Nextcloud version as available for the built in updater in Nextcloud. After a major release it can take up to a month before it becomes available through the web installer and the updater. This is done to spread the deployment of new major releases out over time.
Installation on TrueNAS
See the TrueNAS installation documentation.
Installation via install script
One of the easiest ways of installing is to use the Nextcloud VM scripts. It’s basically just two steps:
Download the latest installation script.
Run the script with:
sudo bash nextcloud_install_production.sh
A guided setup will follow and the only thing you have to do it to follow the on screen instructions, when given to you.