Install Collabora on a server and Nextcloud on other server

Hello,

I have need help, i try to install collabora on my server.

I have a multiple installation to nextcloud, on differents server.

So, i have a server hosted by ovh. this server, for the moment, is clean, a simple lamp.
This server is only dedicated for collabora.

My questions is :
1- What are the apache configuration for this type of installation? The instance docker configuration ?
2- I need to install nginx ?

The collabora server is not in the LAN with other installation nextcloud.

Thanks in advance.
Thomas

I installed Collabora on a virtual machine (VirtualBox) using a docker image for Ubuntu server. It was a bit of a pain in the …s till I figured out what was needed, it’s up and running and has been for couple months now, so pretty stable. Once DockerCollabora is up and running you need either apache2 or nginx to revers proxy and letsencrypt to get a valid certificate.
You will also need a separate sub.domain.tld so your NC can connect to it. I don’t think being in same LAN is required.
How many users? Better test it first, I personally dont use it much, it works but don’t like interface and limited options (and my NC is on a RaspberryPi), I use LibreOffice mostly to create and edit.

Instructions/documentation

Hello OllverV

Thanks for respond.

How many users? Approx 25users, but of which maximum 15 simultaneous users.

Ok Great. I try this tomorrow.

Yeah is very limited… OnlyOffice is better, but the collaborative is really bad. And the installation is soooo much hard without docker…

My server is 4cpu and 10go ram, i think to shared the link for collabora ( or only office, why not, if i successfully installed without docker )

Be aware of Collabora limitations 10docs/20connections

@OliverV

Hi Oliver,

Sorry I’m stucked with Collabora installation, maybe similar to your architecture.
I have the Apache2 ReverseProxy on another server than the one I have Collabora, and it redirects all traffic of the collabora domain to the ip address of Collabora Server on port 9980.
Should I have to install another Apache2 also on the Collabora Server??

I don’t think because collabora should be on listening on the port 9980 by itself, so if there is another machine that is redirecting traffic to it it should work, right?

Both nextcloud and code/collabora/onlyoffice requiere to be https/ssl valid connection to interact.

So the office server needs a reverse proxy (apache/nginx/ha prox) to pass local connection (9980) as https using a valid ssl cert and domain (different from the nextcloud one).
Any domain with letsencrypt will be enough.

Cheers!

@Ark74

So I’m still a little confused. I get the certificate part – the nextcloud server (apache+nextcloud) needs a valid SSL cert and domain, but the part I’m confused about is the collabora server. I get if this is a different domain and this needs a valid certificate, however does a web server (like apache/nginx) need to be running on this server or can you start collabora independent of a webserver and have it listen for incoming connections?

@kevdog
Both.

  1. You can use the same server for collabora and nextcloud, using different domains, or
  2. You can have collabora on one server, nextcloud on another on the other side of the world.

That’s why the proxys need valid ssl certificates, so they can talk securely between them even if they are on different servers.

@Ark74

Ok so maybe its my setup
Internet—>Router—>FreeNas)—>Jail #1 (Runs Apache)—>Website (domain.com)
////////////////////////////////////////////// |----------->Nextcloud (nextcloud.domain.com)
////////////////////////////////////////////—> Jail #2 (Runs Ubuntu) VM with Apache Web Server (office.domain.com)
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Within VM I’m running docker instance

Right now the Jail #1 Apache proxies/reverse proxies any request to office.domain to Jail#2 Apache for hosts office.domain.com
I guess I’ve tested this out since I can access main website on office.domain.com

On Jail#2 Apache, I’m proxying/reverse proxy to Docker VM.
Nextcloud Collabra client is set to https://office.domain.com
The docker instance is started however with the domain setting of nextcloud.domain.com

I guess this setup is Ok?? however I’m not sure if I’m getting a certificate error right now since I don’t think the error ERR Requesting address is denied: ::ffff:172.17.0.1| wsd/LOOLWSD.cpp:1971 has anything to do with certs? I don’t know, I’m really stumped

Seems you have to much proxies going con there.
Maybe you dont want to reverse proxy, Nextcloud Apache.

CODE using docker is always in a reverse proxy, but if you add another layer of proxy, well.

That might be too much.

For me I managed to solve the issue presented above. I’ll post a link to another post in the forums where I described the solution:

In a nutshell
My setup is this
FreeNAS
Within FreeBSD jail – I run apache24 and nextcloud
Within an Ubuntu Linux VM, I installed docker and the collabora container.

I run my main webserver as domain.com, my nextcloud instance as nextcloud.domain.com and my Ubuntun Linux Machine/docker collabora known as office.domain.com. All three of these need a valid URL in order to use SSL certificates. I obtained a domain certificate from Let’s Encrypt and added the subdomains to the main certificate. My certificates are stored in one directory on my main Freenas server and this directoy is shared readonly with the FreeBSD Apache/Nextcloud jail, and via an NFS share within the Ubuntu VM. The certificate directory is also mounted within the collabora docker container.
The link posted above goes into more detail about the setup and how to modify the docker container. I can post my <Virtual Host> sections if need be.

This link really helped me to get the Apache Webserver/nextcloud server up and running: https://www.samueldowling.com/2018/12/08/install-nextcloud-on-freenas-iocage-jail-with-hardened-security/