New post: Setting up Nextcloud

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+---
+title: "Setup nextcloud for local usage"
+date: 2024-04-24
+lang: en
+categories: [ blog, sysadmin ]
+tags: [sysadmin, guide, nextcloud]
+translationKey: "2024-04-24-setup-nextcloud"
+---
+
+I personally use syncthing to sync my files across devices, and it is enough
+for me.  My parents, however, only have one device and don't have the technical
+knowledge to set up the service.  So, I am setting up nextcloud on my LAN,
+hoping it'll work for them.
+
+This guides is written for *my* system, which runs Alpine Linux.  If you are
+familiar with Linux, though, you should be able to apply for your system,
+except for systems that has its own service configuring system, such as NixOS
+or GNU Guix perhaps.
+
+## Install the necessary packages
+
+I am already having postgresql and nginx running on my system, so I'll use them
+here as opposed to MariaDB and Apache httpd as recommended in the [official
+doc][nc-doc].
+
+[nc-doc]: https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/latest/admin_manual/installation/system_requirements.html
+
+
+```bash
+sudo apk add nextcloud nextcloud-pgsql nextcloud-initscript
+```
+
+## Configure the stuff
+
+Next, I edit the data directory (where files are stored) to my `/data/`
+partition, since the storage is bigger on there.  To do this, I edit the config
+file `/etc/nextcloud/config.php`:
+
+```php
+<?php
+$CONFIG = array (
+  'datadirectory' => '/data/nextcloud/data',
+  'logfile' => '/var/log/nextcloud/nextcloud.log',
+...
+```
+
+(I later learned that this can be configured during account setup.)
+
+I also set `trusted_domains` to include the LAN address of the server:
+
+```php
+'trusted_domains' => 
+array (
+  0 => '127.0.0.1:12345',
+  1 => '192.168.0.x:12345',
+  2 => '192.168.1.x:12345',
+),
+```
+
+I add a postgresql user for nextcloud:
+
+```sql
+CREATE USER ncloud WITH PASSWORD 'very strong password';
+ALTER ROLE ncloud CREATEDB;
+```
+
+Now, I create a nginx config for the service:
+
+```nginx
+server {
+        listen 12345;
+        root /usr/share/webapps/nextcloud;
+        index index.php index.html;
+        disable_symlinks off;
+
+        location / {
+                try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
+        }
+
+        location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
+                fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
+                if (!-f $document_root$fastcgi_script_name) {
+                        return 404;
+                }
+                fastcgi_pass unix:/run/nextcloud/fastcgi.sock;
+                        fastcgi_index index.php;
+                include fastcgi.conf;
+        }
+        # Help pass nextcloud's configuration checks after install:
+        # Per https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/22/admin_manual/issues/general_troubleshooting.html#service-discovery
+        location ^~ /.well-known/carddav { return 301 /remote.php/dav/; }
+        location ^~ /.well-known/caldav { return 301 /remote.php/dav/; }
+        location ^~ /.well-known/webfinger { return 301 /index.php/.well-known/webfinger; }
+        location ^~ /.well-known/nodeinfo { return 301 /index.php/.well-known/nodeinfo; }
+
+        client_max_body_size 100m;
+}
+```
+
+## Initialize the server
+
+After configuring the services, I runs nextcloud and restart nginx:
+
+```bash
+sudo rc-service nextcloud start
+sudo rc-service nginx stop
+sudo rc-service nginx start
+sudo rc-update add nextcloud
+```
+
+Now, I head to `http://localhost:12345` where the server is running.  It
+prompts for admin account and DB credentials.  Filling these out, and it will
+shows recommended apps to install.  I don't care about these though, I just
+need file sync, so I skip this and go to create accounts for me and my parents.
+
+## Cleaning up
+
+Since the `ncloud` user now no longer needs to create another database, it's
+good practice to remove that privilege therefrom:
+
+```sql
+ALTER ROLE ncloud NOCREATEDB;
+```