Admin Advice & Support

[Flyee]

Hi, I’m creating a quick start guide to help new Nextcloud administrators get started and navigate the admin manual more easily. Please share your thoughts on:

What challenges you faced when you first started using Nextcloud as an administrator.
What information or features you wish you knew about or had access to when you started.
How I can make the guide more helpful and user-friendly for new administrators.

Your input will help me create a valuable resource for the Nextcloud administrators!

[devnull]

I think what could help would be to describe what Nextcloud is purely in terms of software. For example, Nextcloud is a LAMP software consisting of Linux, web server, database and PHP. Ok there are some variations e.g. with docker, AIO, snap, … Many consider LAMP or PHP to be rather retarded and not scalable. Somewhere I saw a video by Frank Karlitschek which shows why it is still good that large parts of Nextcloud use PHP.

In contrast to e.g. Google or Microsoft, each instance normally has its own web service and therefore name e.g. cloud.server.tld . There are thousands or millions of Nextclouds and not just one e.g. Microsoft Cloud with thousands or millions of tenants.

On this basis, however, Nextcloud is almost like Wordpress if you are a bit sakastic, except that files are managed instead of websites. There are also many Nextcloud apps that also access files or database content. Nextcloud can do practically everything except make coffee.

As it is primarily about files, there is also the WebDAV protocol for data transfer. However, as it is a web service, things such as CIFS/SMB or sftp are not available to users. The use of Nextcloud clients makes the transfer of files better or not. In my opinion, protocols such as CIFS/SMB or sftp are not achieved.

As PHP is used, config/config.php, which describes the system and contains the access data for the database, must first be loaded for each PHP call. Without config.php and the database, Nextcloud knows nothing. Modern asynchronous JavaScript optimises the exchange between web client and server in Nextcloud.

Nextcloud also offers commands such as occ, which carry out manipulations on Nextcloud and above all on the database. It might also be helpful if you know a little about the structure of Nextcloud and perhaps also understand the update mechanism a little, even if you should never actually customise it.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. Once you know all this, you can start reading the documentation …

[wwe]

hi @Flyee welcome to the community
I really appreciate your motivation and really glad you want invest time to lower entry barriers for new admins.

You will find many recurring topics looking through topics in the Support category. While everybody has different skills when start with Nextcloud and given the variety of installation methods this might be hard to identify generic issues.

In my eyes there are few “hot spots” mainly resulting from the lack of experience and basic IT knowledge when people start using Nextcloud following a random “setup your Nextcloud in 5 minutes” tutorial. Many underestimate how many moving parts are involved in a such software.

We already started creating “high level” articles like 101: Self-hosting information for beginners and few other articles tagged with 101 The idea is not to create another “complete the task” tutorial - many good resources exist already. the idea of the 101 series is to create a good starting point “jump start” for a specific topic like reverse proxy, DNS, TLS certificates etc. Each of the topics is complex itself but it requires at least basic understanding in all of the areas to successfully setup and maintain the application. I would really appreciate you pick up some of the missing topics from the above article and create a 101 article or review and improve existing ones.

feel free to send me a PM if you are unsure how to handle the forum and if struggle with the contents.

[IvanPalm]

Hi @Flyee,

It’s been a few months, but I hope you’re still motivated to put together some basic guidelines for getting started with NC administration. As a newbie, I feel such a resource is very much needed.

I’ve gone through the installation guides for AIO and learned a lot about how NC works during the installation process. However, I haven’t come across any guidelines for what to do post-installation.

My instance is up and running, and I can log in as admin. But what comes next? Should I jump straight into installing a bunch of apps and creating users for my family and friends? That doesn’t seem right. What steps are recommended immediately after installation? What should I know to better understand the logs? What configurations should I make now to prevent issues later?

For example, when I create my first user, do I first need to set up a mail server so the new user can validate their email and password? If so, how do I configure it?

I’ve seen the 101 support guide that @wwe shared, and while it’s great for getting oriented in this forum, it doesn’t provide tips or advise for getting started.

If such guidelines already exist, I’d really appreciate it if you could share them. Thanks!

[wwe]

hi @IvanPalm welcome to the community.

@IvanPalm

But what comes next?

usually the motivation comes other way round - by using some application you try to achieve some goal. This might be a wish to get rid of using big tech services or learn things. Depending on your goal the way differs. This is exactly the point why apps exist - not everybody need the same functionality and people customize their instance depending on their requirements.

If you don’t have a goal and just want to learn running your own Nextcloud, the guide provides very good recommendations:

@wwe

• Start small and gradually scale: Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to host everything at once. Don’t get a public server first, start on a local virtual machine, or use a Raspberry Pi/Old computer/…
• Time: Take your time,
• Join the Communities: Resources like this forum, subreddits r/selfhosted and r/nextcloud offer support and guidance.
• Security: Prioritize securing your server
• Backups: frequently back up your data to prevent loss. Ultimate test: restore everything just from your backup!
• Start with a purpose: Identify what you want to achieve through self-hosting (e.g., privacy, control) to stay motivated.

I would definitely recommend you learn how to use and how to operate your system. and definitely recommend some exercises before you turn into “production” - brake things and recover to verify you have proper backup in place and you know how to restore this backup.

[IvanPalm]

Hi @wwe,

Thank you for your response.

To clarify, there’s also a strong curiosity component—a genuine desire to learn—behind my decision to take the self-hosting path, but I am clear about the features I want my home server to provide and the reasons I chose to install Nextcloud. Personally, I don’t plan to experiment extensively; I intend to start with the minimal features I need and gradually add nice-to-have features/functionalities as I become more familiar with NC.

That being said, I agree that individual use cases can vary significantly among NC users, but I assume there are some common tasks shared by most of us. For instance, I’ve realized that setting up a mail server is essential for NC to send emails for password verification, notifications, and similar functions. This seems like a necessary step for anyone using NC. How can this be accomplished as a non-IT professional? I’ve reviewed the manual, and I must respectfully point out that it’s not helpful for someone new to this topic.

Additionally, I believe monitoring the logs, understanding them, and addressing issues as they arise will be crucial. What tools are available for this? Are there NC apps for this purpose or third-party tools that integrate well with NC?

As a non-IT professional, I don’t know everything required to maintain an NC server. This is precisely why I am advocating for a clear post-installation guide. Such a resource could outline the essential steps every NC admin should take to ensure the server operates securely and reliably.

Once the foundational setup and monitoring are addressed, I’d feel much more confident moving forward—installing the apps I need and troubleshooting any issues that arise, knowing the server itself is properly configured and monitored.

[wwe]

@IvanPalm

For instance, I’ve realized that setting up a mail server is essential for NC to send emails for password verification, notifications, and similar functions. This seems like a necessary step for anyone using NC. How can this be accomplished as a non-IT professional? I’ve reviewed the manual, and I must respectfully point out that it’s not helpful for someone new to this topic.

yes you need to configure an SMTP account used to send outgoing emails. This is nothing different as in your desktop mail client and honestly the official docs you refer to is pretty clear (but I agree different options mentioned there might be confusing for a beginner). read the docs and search for things you don’t understand… especially SMTP is not really part of Nextcloud - most of the parts of SMTP docs are “commodity terms” you have to go through the rabbit hole - don’t expect beginner level speech everywhere - think from the other perspective - you are experienced admin and the docs contain “useless” stuff you learned years ago - would you appreciate this?

@IvanPalm

Additionally, I believe monitoring the logs, understanding them, and addressing issues as they arise will be crucial. What tools are available for this?

my first attempt to describe this is 101: logging, which logs exist, how to acces and understand but the topic is maybe the most sophisticated in the whole IT area - bare with me if it is incomplete

@IvanPalm

As a non-IT professional, I don’t know everything required to maintain an NC server.

you have a very steep learning curve ahead carefully work through the 101: Self-hosting information for beginners and other 101 guides and gather at least basic knowledge of the topics mentioned there.

As a beginner you have different view on docs and guides than me being in IT business since 20y - you are welcome to create (start) topics showing the problems you hit and the community will try to support you on your way to professional self-hosting admin.