Is this the normal experiance with Nextcloud?

[Gary_Phillips]

I have no support/technical question and have seen the support category. (Be aware that direct support questions will be deleted.)

on

Which general topic do you have

- All the admins words, not mine, & I did say this wasn’t a rant…

I have a dedicated PC with Home Assistant OS intsalled as a bare metal install. I have decided to move away from MS Cloud and subscription. NextCloud seems to fit the bill with in house storage etc.

So, I installed NextCloud from the Home Assistant App Catalogue, along with Maria DB and have Nexcloud working

Thats when it turned into a horror story - I’m not asking for support in this post.

Installed Calander, Email, Contacts and NextCloud Office.

Calander setup and imported

Email - Hours spent trying to get it to connect to my MS Live account. Fails every time with IMAP not accepting my credentials - even tried the ‘App Password’ method. Gave up

Contacts - Not tried yet - email put me off.

NextCloud Office - Installed Nextcloud office and the community code server. Went into the server settings and it had two errors. One was about configuring NGINX to allow access - I’ve never installed NGINX or used it ever. Seeking help ended up in a rabbit hole of old posts and an eventual re-install of Nextcoud

Installed Only Office instead, then I went to install the OnlyOffice Community Docs server - & can’t - the version in the app catalogue won’t install on V33 Another few hours spent trying to find if a later version is available, there is But no newbie/simple instructions on how to install it. Another dead end.

I have my Photo and Music collections available in NextCloud But not Document editing and creation. So migrating from the cloud isn’t posible.

When I can get motivated again, I’ll seek out all the info required to start asking questions for support.

But, is this how things normally go for new users? Should it be this difficult?

[adelaar]

There are other options to install NC-Server for new inexperienced users available. Let me name two:

• AIO
• Snap

I haven’t used Snap or AIO myself, but—like you—I went with a so-called bare-metal installation. That does require some experience, though, and as a beginner, you’ll need time and patience. My first installation didn’t go smoothly either, even though I had already worked with OwnCloud before Nextcloud and had installed it on an RPI previously.

[tflidd]

@Gary_Phillips

MS Live account.

There were a few topics here that it was difficult with certain mail providers to set them up. But I don’t use MS/Google etc. to share my own experience.

[jtr]

@Gary_Phillips

I installed NextCloud from the Home Assistant App Catalogue,

Can you be more specific?

The only one I can track down was a random third party app that hasn’t been updated in months.

[JimmyKater]

you ask simple questions like
“Is this the normal experiance with Nextcloud?”

so the simple answer is “no”.

For everything else beyond this point (which of course would end up in support-questions) I’d like you to open a specific topic under “support”.

Thanks

[Gary_Phillips]

This is maintained and up to date.

hassio-addons/nextcloud at master · alexbelgium/hassio-addons

[Gary_Phillips]

Cheers…Obviously other user input about their experiances aren’t welcome.

[Gary_Phillips]

Thanks, I’ve searched and Google’d, seems to be an issue for sure.

[Gary_Phillips]

Thanks for replying. I’ve installed AIO and done the snap install on Ubuntu.. I also tried Proxmox VM (not LXC) . But they all seem to have the same issues with Mail & Office I’ll persevere a while longer and ask questions elsewhere. As the Home Assistant way doesn’t seem to fit in here.

[JimmyKater]

@Gary_Phillips

Obviously other user input about their experiances aren’t welcome.

ummm. tbh I dunno how you came to that conclusion… as this thread is still open.
though your question you asked in the title is more than answered.

again: we just want to keep this category clean of technical “support” stuff - and you can see yourself that’s already started to go into that direction.

again: you seem to have technical questions. so you are WELCOME to ask them under “support”.

And everyone else can still comment here with non-technical stuff as long as this thread is open.

and yes, I think I know how this would go: “NC is so bad, not maintaining everything, doing nothing, being sluggish”, etc.
We already had that several times. But hey, go ahead. There’s nothing we’re afraid of. just search for “rant” in the forum and you’ll find more of them.

Happy NC’ing
JK

[tflidd]

@Gary_Phillips

I’ll persevere a while longer and ask questions elsewhere. As the Home Assistant way doesn’t seem to fit in here.

You asked a bit of a general question if we all share the same experience. You got the answers accordingly. If you want specific help on a topic and you are stuck, you need to open a specific topic in the support area and then provide the associated information.

Nextcloud can be installed in different ways, it is used in combination with different software, so the experience can vary, plus depends a lot on the apps. E.g. mail app connection seems to depend a lot on the mail operator. For very integrated setups in Home Assistant, some NAS solution etc. the community at their proper support channels can be better suited.

And if you setup something or follow tutorials, it can be a good idea to link them.

[Gary_Phillips]

Must have escaped your notice, but I put this at the beginning…

I’m not asking for support in this post

And after…

“Is this the normal experiance with Nextcloud?”

…there were no questions in the body, with a simple…

Should it be this difficult?

…afterwards as it’s the end of the post (The only two questions in the body of the post came at the end - and neither were technical or asking for help)

And if you setup something or follow tutorials, it can be a good idea to link them

If I had been asking for help, I would have - BUT - I’m not asking for support in this post

you ask simple questions like
“Is this the normal experiance with Nextcloud?”

so the simple answer is “no”.

For everything else beyond this point (which of course would end up in support-questions) I’d like you to open a specific topic under “support”.

Are you saying people can ask a question in the title, with no body text - as you’ve ignored mine - and expect answers? Rather than going through the Pro former of information normally required?

If helpful people offer help, so be it, it’s out of my control - I’m not asking for support in this post - I didn’t. Go slap their respective wrists - I’m not asking for support in this post I marely shared my experiances, no details, no asking if, &, what or whatever. I was simply trying to gauge my experiance with that of others.

But of course, the admin ignores the body text and blows it up into something it isn’t and never was intended to be…

I don’t rant, that raises my blood pressure and invites the Angina devil in…

[brianblaze]

I know this is not a rant nor is this asking for help but for your specific email issue there is a whole article about it XOAUTH2 Authentication: Mail — Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation

Everything you mention can work, if you put in the work. I don’t think any of us bare metal dudes had it perfect first try.

[kgourlay]

Since it sounds like you’re asking about other people’s experiences with installation, I’ll chime in. For me, yes, my first install experience was similar. Naturally, part of the challenge with a complex and dependency-rich product like NextCloud is sorting through all the many permutations between different install methods, different systems, different configurations, etc. From reading support tickets, it seems like 90% of users go with AIO, and maybe that’s easier. I haven’t tried it. And honestly I didn’t want to since I already have many components up and running like MariaDB, a mail server, Apache, and other services. I had no interest in duplicating all those services inside a Docker – and then having to manage all the complexity that comes from Docker.

But that’s just me. Call me old fashioned for thinking that Docker is complicated.

After struggling for weeks trying to get NC Office (or OpenOffice) working well enough to use, I gave up on it. I also gave up on NextCloud Mail, though my problems were with performance rather than authentication. But, I enjoyed the rest of NextCloud enough to keep using it regardless. It’s doing a great job for me managing contacts, files, and “Deck”. I also have found LibreSign to be a lovely app for helping manage electronic signatures on documents.

So, yeah, setup and install can be tricky, especially for new users, and especially (I assume) outside of the preferred AIO. But I still definitely think it’s worth it!

[jtr]

@Gary_Phillips

NextCloud Office - Installed Nextcloud office and the community code server. Went into the server settings and it had two errors.

The Docker image that the HA addon uses is the third party LinuxServer.io one per their README.

That image does not support the Builtin CODE if that’s what you were attempting.

On the other hand, if you were doing a full CODE install (recommended for performance and robustness and - also in this case - required), there are various steps required to configure your web server / reverse proxy. Which is fully covered in both the CODE and Nextcloud Installation / Admin documentation. It’s not as simple as just starting the image since there are various infrastructure pieces.

• https://docs.nextcloud.com/

• Making sure you're not a bot!

Alternatively use the Nextcloud AIO Docker based stack, which does all this for you: GitHub - nextcloud/all-in-one: 📦 The official Nextcloud installation method. Provides easy deployment and maintenance with most features included in this one Nextcloud instance. · GitHub

[Gary_Phillips]

Thanks for replying.

I was using the Proxmox LXC script initially - trying to stay away from Docker complications. Over the weekend I tried the NextcloudPi X86 on Proxmox. Whoo hoo, it worked, all local, no internet, Nextcloud Office fantastic… Then I spent the rest of the weekend trying to figure out why nothing was appearing in the external network folders I’d added… Samba enabled etc. But it had a warning from the offset about php lib-smbclient or something missing - so I installed it - even installed it was still missing. Two days later… gave up as there’s so much conflicting info…

Today - I’ve started to follow this guide, word for word. Absolute massive overkill for what I need, but I’ll give it a go. But it’s fallen apart after the NGINX install, I can’t access the NGINX web interface… So, it gets two days worth of time researching why and then it gets the heave ho and Microsoft can keep my fees…

PS

Just for clarification - I’m not asking for support in this post. I’ll make a support post for that

[tflidd]

There is a huge number of modules and features, the more you use, the more complicated it gets. If you start with a plain Nextcloud just with file sharing, contacts and calendar, that should be relatively stable. Then people can struggle with additional features such as office, external storage, external authentication, … because then you don’t just have to deal with the added complexity in Nextcloud, it can also depend on the external service and the configuration of it.

Sometimes it is easier to start with less, manage the related network stuff first, get your clients synced with some data and some features. Checkout how to backup everything, get familiar with the system and plan to fail at some point.

[Mark_F]

it sounds to me like you should get the paid support from Nextcloud and when all is up and running as you would like end your support subscription.

Or

you may find they are so good as to keep the subscription. Best of luck with your install.

for your info I have used the snap install on ubuntu for years - you will come across some issues with that install type too but help is only a keyboard away.

[Gary_Phillips]

Good idea, but I’m trying to save money, the old pension doesn’t go far these days.

Two days into following this and it all works great - apart from using the Nextcloud Office that has all the green tick boxes for proxy setup etc. BUT, it has an issue, Nextcloud Office won’t open any of the supplied templates and documents - it displays a proxy configuration error - Doh

It’s the same issue as here which links to here. With the solution, I believe, remove your installation and switch to the BETA channel, plus add “nextcloud-aio-apache” to the trusted Domains list…Anyway, it made no difference and still didn’t work

I can only guess anyone with a personal working instance must cherish it with all the warmth and compassion of a new born child. Protecting it, loving it and making sure no harm comes to it Carrying out upgrades must be the most stressful event

So, anyway, after over two weeks I’ve had enough and going old school for now… Some free Office clone, network storage, Photoprism, Plex and Syncthing…

Thanks to everyone who replied