I’ve tried several times and failed to set up a Nextcloud server, configure it, and reliably expose it to the internet through a domain name I own. I’m not a computer expert, just a dabbler.
Anyone know where I can hire someone to set up my old Intel NUC with Nextcloud, make it secure, and make it reliably available? My domain name is in a free Cloudflare account, where I tried to use their tunnel technology to expose it without success.
My home network uses an Archer AC1700 wifi router with OpenWRT.
I want it to be a safe family hub, so I’d want all the cool features it offers: encryption, enforced HTTPS, onlyoffice or collabora, Talk, Photos with face recognition, Maps, folders to share stuff with other users, ability to transfer large files with friends, etc. The hard part for me is really just enforcing the security and exposing it reliably to the internet.
It is little off topic, but why don’t you try Snap installation of nextcloud?
All you need to do is two steps,
Step 1 → Install Ubuntu 22 LTS OS
Install Ubuntu 22 LTS → As a beginner, I may suggest using Ubuntu 22 LTS Desktop version to get the GUI for ease of use. Once installed, use terminal to run following command to install all related server components,
sudo apt install ubuntu-server
sudo apt install openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable ssh
sudo apt update && apt upgrade -y
Restart the system
If you are comfortable with CLI & want a small OS RAM footprint, then install Ubuntu Server only.
Step 2 → Install NextCloud
Just three commands will get it done for you. Open the terminal and run following,
sudo snap install nextcloud
sudo nextcloud.manual-install user pw → Replace user and pw along with your own secure stuff
sudo nextcloud.occ config:system:set trusted_domains 1 --value=192.168.1.xx → Replace the IP with your servers local LAN IP.
Done.
Snap nextcloud comes with all the necessary dependencies like, Apache, PHP, SQL and such. Further, it will handle and auto update as needed. You can now just access server via your local IP and keep on using it. You won’t need to do anything at server level.
It is that simple.
Try it and post here if you get stuck somewhere in this.
Honostly: Setup a Linux machine with ZFS - Ubuntu isperfect.
Install and setup LXD.
Import the Nextcloud AIO VM.
Spin it up under LXD.
Configure daily snapshot backup using LXD, and you are flying.
no idea about Snap but for Docker it is not trivial but doable using traefik reading docs for a while and try and error few times… you will find good documented traefik setup for docker-compose here (and collabora on top):
I don’t think you want a stranger setup your “secure” family server - without knowing what and why the stranger did… if you still want feel free to negotiate with people replied here, some of them are frequent posters in the forum which is sort of good sign…
If you are under double NAT from your ISP, then you can’t use your connection.
Since you can open the ports on the first router, but not the second one.
You might want to do some research on the ISP connection details.
Cheers.
If all other things that have been suggested here are not the one you’re looking for, just try to get a quote from @enoch85, as he’s the maintainer of a very trustworthy VM which is used several thousand times out there. He runs a little company offering support to everyone.
Is this the very same NUC you posted about a couple times in 2020? You sure that thing is ok? It seems like you had a multitude of problems with it.
Even if you get NC set up, or even if you pay someone to do it, you will have to maintain it yourself. That means regular system updates and maintenance, and done correctly. While I or many others could easily do the setup, I personally would not be willing to take on the risk that you have some problem (hardware problem, update problem, totally unrelated network problem, etc.) and then have you wanting a refund in a few months.
Now, that being said, since that time, we’ve had Nextcloud AIO come out which is super easy, and I also wrote a guide for setup with Docker. There are several fairly easy options available now, and people willing to give advice and troubleshooting.
But I think asking for a guarantee of reliable availability is going to be a stretch, due to factors beyond our control, and also that we seem to be potentially talking about a setup without port forwarding.
Just so you know, after one member gave me 1:1 support I was finally able to learn how to open a port on my OpenWRT router and set up CNAME and A domains in Cloudflare.
After that and messing around with a certain manual install for NextCloud I gained the confidence I could install the Nextcloud AIO, and it worked! I have A+ security from the NC scanner service, etc.
The only thing that doesn’t work well is Talk, but it seems from what I’ve read that it’s a bit buggy: doesn’t always connect reliably and alert people on their smartphones, etc. I rely on Signal anyways for that stuff.
Next I’ll receive help learning how to set up a good backup method and other stuff.
Sounds good. I personally really like the free Veeam backup agent for Linux. I know it’s proprietary. I use their B&R product in hypervisor clusters, and it’s excellent, so maybe I’m a little biased.
I used to have some issues with Talk not sending notifications, but lately it’s been fine. I use it for calls and screen shares with colleagues several times a week. Do you have the TURN port forwarded?