Migration from Owncloud 10.10 to Nextcloud - best way?

Hi there, I was using Owncloud since “ages” for contacts, calendar, tasks, files.

My webhoster has now deactivated PHP7 and switched to PHP8. So, my Owncloud 10.10 installation stopped working overnight - I did not have this on the radar that OC10 team does not plan to support PHP8, shame on me (but imho also shame on them).

Now I am trapped, and hope that Nextcloud can be my saviour.

I really hope that NC20/25 has the same features I used over the years (contacts, calendar, files, tasks) and the information I stored over the past many years is saved during the migration. Should that be the case? Any known issues?

I found the migration doc (https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/latest/admin_manual/maintenance/migrating_owncloud.html)

Do I get it right that:

  • I first have to migrate my OC10.10 to NC20.0.14
  • Then upgrade NC20.0.14 to NC25.latest

Do I miss anything or should this work as outlined above?
My only fear is that NC20.0.14 might not support PHP8 already. Then I would be in a dead end, unless there is a manual way to directly upgrade my OC10.10 installation to NC25.latest (assuming this supports PHP8)

Any tips/help/hint much appreciated! :slight_smile:

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Try asking your webhost for assistance. Please name who they are so others can avoid them.

Also, ask your host about switching back to php7. There might be an option to do so in your panel/cpanel/name-of-panel.

PHP 8 is supported by NC21 and later.
You must find a new provider if they refuse to support you.

My webhost is not to blame - they announced end-of-life of PHP7 early enough, so I could have checked my Owncloud incompatibility early enough.

I will now ask them to temporarily reactive PHP7, so I can upgrade to OC10.11, then migrate to NC20.0.14, then upgrade to NC25.latest.

If they can’t do it, I have to find another way to upgrade my OC10.10 database to the OC10.11 format, in order to support an instant NC25.latest migration. Any tips / pointers towards this goal (i.e. easiest way to do it) would be appreciated, because I fear it may be the most likely thing I will be needing to do. :frowning:

as long your DB and storage are “safe” and you have enough spare bandwidth and storage you always ca setup temporary VM/container/whatever, restore the data, perform neccesary upgrades and migration steps and return to your usual hosting…

It makes no sense for them to remove php 7.4 entirely, nor does it make sense for them to change PHP for you automatically. Are sure you cannot change it back? I’ve never encountered any webhost doing what you describe.
Example, on namecheap hosting I can go back to 5.6! This is what I see under Cpanel / Select PHP Version

5.6
7.0
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
8.0 (current)

@wwe yes I can access the oc10.10 database and files at any time. My last resort - but the most cumbersome - would be for me to have a local php7 and database environment, do all the upgrading/migration stuff locally, then transfer back to the webhost. But fiddling with the different configurations is error-prone, I would prefer to do it on the webhost…

@just yes, i definitely only can choose from 8.x now. Actually I do agree with my webhost. It makes no sense to keep providing end-of-life software, which PHP7.4 clearly is (https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php). EOL software always inevitably becomes a security risk. I am not mad at my webhost. If I am mad at anything, it is at OC10 team who don’t consider to move to PHP8. But most of all, mad at myself that I neglected researching the topic thoroughly. :slight_smile:

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In conclusion, I can report that I am now a very happy new NextCloud user - the migration from Owncloud worked fine:

  1. I asked my webhost to temporarily re-enable old PHP7.4
  2. I upgraded my OC10.10 installation to 10.11 in the PHP7.4 environment
  3. I switched to PHP8.1 and followed the migration instructions here to the letter
  4. Without any errors, I could login to NC25.0.3 and did not see any loss of data (files, contacts, calendar) whatsoever.

Wow!!

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