Am I barking up the wrong tree?

What I’m looking for is a private Google Docs replacement that I host myself. While I am ABLE to troubleshoot complicated issues involving Apache, PHP and MySQL, that is not what I want to do. I’m looking for something that just works, doesn’t require constant repairs and reinstalls for sudden mysterious causes, clearing web cache, etc. So far, every time I installed Nextcloud through various ways (VM, Raspberry Pi, Pre-built FreeNAS), I wind up giving up within a month for various issues. I suppose I COULD just keep fixing things, but again, that’s not what I want to do. Is Nextcloud really meant for a large company with full-time Nextcloud staff, or hosting through Nextcloud? Should I be looking for something simpler?

It’s hard to answer in general. But usually, there is quite a steep learning curve in the beginning. Once you figured out a system and you managed to install everything, it should get more stable and reliable. Single upgrade can become a bit harder, e.g. in case you need to update underlying software on the system as well or if some code in apps is not ready yet. And you need to update on a regular basis, so it’s not once install and forget it solution.

However, I have no experience with this online-office stuff. I don’t like it and prefer desktop software, except for the collaborative text editor.

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Then you’re in the right place.

This isn’t going to be what you want to hear, but issues like that are almost always because of either something with the way you set it up, or your hardware.

“Just works” is a myth. Nextcloud is a huge platform with many years behind it, and running a system like this is going to require some learning and some doing.

I’ve been running the same installation at home since Nextcloud 16. It’s been through an OS upgrade and every NC version from 16 to 20.

If you want to see how I did it and maybe try it this way yourself, I wrote a guide.

I have no experience with Nextcloud on RPi and FreeNAS - and don’t think a private Google Docs equivalent should run on them - but what exactly was wrong and needed constant fixing when running Nextcloud as a VM?
What virtualization tech have you used?

as previous posters already stated - this NOT what you get when you start hosting something yourself. Nothing just works by itself. There is always stuff behind the scenes who keeps machines running. Big companies have huge crowds keep their services running - If you host something yourself you ARE this stuff. just works is nothing what you get if you choose self-hosting - you are in charge to to install, update, monitor, backup and troubleshoot.

My experience with different applications and vendors is similar to @KarlF12 description: once you fixed initial issues and understood the system is should run more or less smooth for longer periods of time.

It’s true Nextcloud pushes pretty hard with the goal to ship two major releases per year and support only current-2 releases - one must upgrade the system at least once per year (but today frequent patching is a must - see fresh Exchange vulnerability which hit hundreds of organizations within 2-3 days)

open source community and this forum always need support and trained professionals with matching skills are really welcome to join our journey for better world and more freedom in the world. If you are not willing to participate maybe paid cloud service is your way to go…

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