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Setting up nextcloud on Ubuntu 18.04

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date: 2020-06-28 12:22:13

categories: nextcloud

firstPublishDate: 2020-06-28 12:22:13

I recently decided to use the calendar feature in nextcloud to replace Google Calendar.

In this post, I show how to:

install nextcloud (v19) on a clean Ubuntu 18.04 install. I followed nextcloud's documentation and added missing commands I had to execute to get a working setup

setup the calendar in the iPhone, MacOS and Thunderbird in Linux

backup

Installation on Ubuntu 18.04

Packages from apt

# as root
add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) universe"
apt-get install -y apache2 mariadb-server libapache2-mod-php7.2
apt-get install -y php7.2-gd php7.2-json php7.2-mysql php7.2-curl php7.2-mbstring
apt-get install -y php7.2-intl php-imagick php7.2-xml php7.2-zip
apt-get install -y unzip

In Ubuntu 20.04, install php 7.4 packages instead.

Download Nextcloud

cd /var/www/
wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/nextcloud-19.0.0.zip
unzip nextcloud-19.0.0.zip
mv nextcloud-19.0.0.zip ~/

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud/

Configure Apache

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf
# add this text:

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>

Enable site and modules:

a2ensite nextcloud.conf
a2enmod rewrite
a2enmod headers
a2enmod env
a2enmod dir
a2enmod mime
a2enmod ssl
a2ensite default-ssl

systemctl reload apache2

Configure MariaDB

vim /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf
# add in section [mysqld]:

transaction_isolation = READ-COMMITTED
binlog_format = ROW

Start MariaDB shell:

mysql -uroot -p
# Press enter at `Enter password`

Create a database user and a database:

CREATE USER 'dbusername'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'dbpassword';
CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS nextcloud CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES on nextcloud.* to 'dbusername'@'localhost';
FLUSH privileges;
quit;

Https certificate

A valid certificate is mandatory to be able to use the calendar from Apple devices.

First, setup a dns record to point to your nextcloud server, for example: `nc.example.com`. You will access nextcloud with the url: `https://nc.example.com/nextcloud/`

Install Letsencrypt certbot:

add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
apt-get install certbot python3-certbot-apache
certbot --apache

A systemd timer is already setup so the certificate is renewed regularly:

systemctl list-timers

Add your domain in nextcloud's configuration:

vim /var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php

<?php
$CONFIG = array (
  ...
  'trusted_domains' =>
  array (
    0 => 'public ip',
    1 => 'nc.example.com',
  ),
  ...

iPhone calendar

If you already have a calendar, export it in `ics` format and import it in nextcloud:

On the lower left corner, click `Settings & Import`

Click `Import Calendar`

In the iPhone:

Open the settings application.

Select `Passwords and Accounts`.

Select `Add Account`.

Select `Other as account type`.

Select `Add CalDAV account`.

For server, type the domain name of your server i.e. `https://nc.example.com/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/principals/users/username/`. You can get the link by clicking `Settings & Import` and then `Copy iOS/macOS CalDAV address`

Enter your user name and password.

Select `Next`.

MacOS calendar

Open `Calendar` menu

Select `Add Account`.

Select `Other CalDAV account`.

Select Account Type `Advanced`.

For `Server Address`, type the domain name of your server i.e. `https://nc.example.com`. You can get the link by clicking `Settings & Import` and then `Copy iOS/macOS CalDAV address`

For `Server Path`, type: `/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/principals/users/username/`

For port, type `443`

Enter your user name and password.

Select `Sign In`.

Thunderbird calendar in Linux

The CalDAV url for thunderbird is different from the url for macOS and iOS, so get the calendar address by doing this:

In nextcloud calendar, click `...` next to the calendar name

Select `Copy private link`

The url looks like: `https://nc.example.com/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/calendars/username/calendarname/`

In thunderbird:

In the calendar list, right click and select `New Calendar`

Select `On the Network`

Select Format `CalDAV`

In `Username`, enter your nextcloud username

In `Location`, enter the calendar url

Select `Next`

Enter calendar name

Choose color

Select `Next`

Select `Finish`

Backup

Backup calendar only

In Firefox:

Open `https://nc.example.com/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/calendars/username/calendarname?export`

Save ics file

From command line, for automated backup:

wget --user nextcloudUsername --password nextcloudPassword -O calendarName-`date +"%Y%m%d"`.ics https://nc.example.com/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/calendars/nextcloudUsername/calendarName?export

Create backup

vim /var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php

<?php

 "maintenance" => true,

Set `maintenance` to `false` when finished.

Folders:

rsync -Aavx nextcloud/ nextcloud-dirbkp_`date +"%Y%m%d"`/

MariaDB:

mysqldump --single-transaction -h [server] -u [username] -p[password] [db_name] > nextcloud-sqlbkp_`date +"%Y%m%d"`.bak

Restore

Folders:

rsync -Aax nextcloud-dirbkp/ nextcloud/

MariaDB:

Before restoring a backup you need to make sure to delete all existing database tables.

mysql -h [server] -u [username] -p[password] -e "DROP DATABASE nextcloud"
mysql -h [server] -u [username] -p[password] -e "CREATE DATABASE nextcloud"

mysql -h [server] -u [username] -p[password] [db_name] < nextcloud-sqlbkp.bak

Nextcloud documentation

hashtags: #nextcloud

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