Installing NextCloud locally on Ubuntu server as a VM, accessing from host of VM

Bas · May 11, 2023, 4:07pm

Hi!

I have set up an ubuntu server VM and want to install nextcloud on it, did that, so now I need to configure. I want to access it from the host of the VM, as it is just for testing purposes.
The installer hints at " *Set up your domain correctly to point to your home network"
Since I don’t have a domain registered, can I do that with an IP only? And if so…how?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Additional info: I got no access to the router etc. if I need to open ports. It all has to run within this physical machine.

bb77 · May 11, 2023, 4:16pm

Which virtualization software did you use on which operating system?

Which installation method did you use to install Nextcloud inside the VM?

Bas · May 11, 2023, 9:13pm

Orcale Virtualbox.

Docker-AIO.

szaimen · May 11, 2023, 9:31pm

See all-in-one/local-instance.md at main · nextcloud/all-in-one · GitHub

Bas · May 11, 2023, 9:36pm

I struggle with this:
" * Set up your domain correctly to point to your home network"

But I am also not sure if that solution even works for me given I got no access to network configuration and seemingly need to open port 80.

szaimen · May 11, 2023, 9:40pm

There are two other possibilities mentioned if the first one is not sutiable for you.

ernolf · May 11, 2023, 10:51pm

You must setup your Virtualbox Network to attach a Bridged Adapter:

Bridged: Not usually default, puts the Guest machine on the same network as the Host Router and Host machine.

You can now use the Virtualbox console to find out which IP address the VM has been assigned by the network:

ip address show

That IP address is now exposed to your local network, including your host. Your Nextcloud server can be reached under that address. You can even ssh into it from a Windows host with MobaXterm, PuTTy or winSCP, which makes life a lot easier.

@szaimen: Does AIO make https mandatory?

I use such Virtualbox VM’s myself (but no AIO so far).
If I want/need SSL functionality I use self signed certificates and bypass the browser warnings. Perfectly adequate for testing purposes.

Bas · May 11, 2023, 10:52pm

Under the assumption #2 or #3 would work:
Which webserver is installed by AIO? On which path? I tried to look for apache but couldn’t find anything.

And the very stupid question: Do I need to register an internet domain for making these things work? I was at first under the impression I could circumvent that.

Yeah, I did all of that. It even works with cmd.

szaimen · May 11, 2023, 10:53pm

Yes it does.

This link may be useful: Initial Setup requires External domain address · nextcloud/all-in-one · Discussion #1155 · GitHub

szaimen · May 11, 2023, 11:08pm

Btw, I just forgot to mention that the AIO-VM does not support being installed behind a reverse proxy so you would need to create your own VM and follow the steps that I’ve linked above in order to install AIO in there.

Bas · May 11, 2023, 11:33pm

To clarify, I did, I installed ubuntu server and then installed the docker AIO.

bb77 · May 12, 2023, 5:49am

This! However, if you don’t have full control over your device or network, like e.g. on corporate devices and / or in a corporate network, this might not work.

if you cannot use Bridge Mode for whatever reason, please read this: Chapter 6. Virtual Networking , especially section 6.3.1 Configuring Port Forwarding with NAT seems to be relevant for your usecase:

As the virtual machine is connected to a private network internal to Oracle VM VirtualBox and invisible to the host, network services on the guest are not accessible to the host machine or to other computers on the same network. However, like a physical router, Oracle VM VirtualBox can make selected services available to the world outside the guest through port forwarding. This means that Oracle VM VirtualBox listens to certain ports on the host and resends all packets which arrive there to the guest, on the same or a different port.

Bas · July 15, 2023, 10:24pm

Hi,

sorry for the late reply. I am sorry, but my more-or-less chronical depression got the best of me, unfortunately. Please don’t quote that part, want to delete it later.

So I am still here:
“Please type in the domain into the input field below that will be used for Nextcloud in order to create a new AIO instance.”

So yeah, I am not quite sure what’s the best option out of these for me:

github.com

nextcloud/all-in-one/blob/main/local-instance.md

# Local instance
It is possible due to several reasons that you do not want or cannot open Nextcloud to the public internet. However AIO requires a valid certificate to work correctly. Below is discussed how you can achieve both: Having a valid certificate for Nextcloud and only using it locally.

## 1. The recommended way
The recommended way is the following:
1. Set up your domain correctly to point to your home network
1. Set up a reverse proxy by following the [reverse proxy documentation](./reverse-proxy.md) but only open port 80 (which is needed for the ACME challenge to work - however no real traffic will use this port).
1. Set up a local DNS-server like a pi-hole and configure it to be your local DNS-server for the whole network. Then in the Pi-hole interface, add a custom DNS-record for your domain and overwrite the A-record (and possibly the AAAA-record, too) to point to the private ip-address of your reverse proxy (see https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-can-i-access-nextcloud-locally)
1. Enter the ip-address of your local dns-server in the daemon.json file for docker so that you are sure that all docker containers use the correct local dns-server.
1. Now, entering the domain in the AIO-interface should work as expected and should allow you to continue with the setup

## 2. Use the ACME DNS-challenge
You can alternatively use the ACME DNS-challenge to get a valid certificate for Nextcloud. Here is described how to set it up: https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-to-get-nextcloud-running-using-the-acme-dns-challenge

## 3. Use Cloudflare
If you do not have any control over the network, you may think about using Cloudflare Tunnel to get a valid certificate for your Nextcloud. However it will be opened to the public internet then. See https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-to-run-nextcloud-behind-a-cloudflare-tunnel how to set this up.

## 4. Buy a certificate and use that
If none of the above ways work for you, you may simply buy a certificate from an issuer for your domain. You then download the certificate onto your server, configure AIO in [reverse proxy mode](./reverse-proxy.md) and use the certificate for your domain in your reverse proxy config.

The setup is a virtualbox connected via network bridge in VirtualBox configuration, I can reach it from my normal machine, but I need to fill out this domain field.
I also don’t have access to the router.

Eh, I feel stupid right now, I can’t remember where my webserver directory is on my server - most recent Ubuntu server LTS with nextcloud AIO. I assume the AIO DOES install a webserver - which one is it again?

Thanks - and sorry.