Build Your Own Private Cloud with NextCloud
After trying many note taking apps I decide to use Joplin which is an open source project, there are many options out there for synchronizing the notes via OneDrive, Dropbox etc, I want take full control of my data, so I tend to NextCloud, which is also supported by Joplin, this post describes how to install Nextcloud on a VPS.
Prerequisite
I will be using Droplet provided by Digital Ocean with Ubuntu 20.04 installed, first we need to create droplet, this can be done via web interface, Digital Ocean also provides a command line tool called doctl and provides very detailed reference manual.
To create a droplet instance, we need the following info:
First of all we need to install doctl and configure it:
$ brew install doctl
$ sudo snap install doctl
Configuring doctl need a access token with can be obtained from Applications
& API page in the control panel, please note that, the token string will
be displayed only once.
$ doctl auth init # When prompt, paste the token get from above
List data center locations
doctl compute region list
Slug Name Available
nyc1 New York 1 true
sfo1 San Francisco 1 false
nyc2 New York 2 false
ams2 Amsterdam 2 false
sgp1 Singapore 1 true
lon1 London 1 true
nyc3 New York 3 true
ams3 Amsterdam 3 true
fra1 Frankfurt 1 true
tor1 Toronto 1 true
sfo2 San Francisco 2 false
blr1 Bangalore 1 true
sfo3 San Francisco 3 true
List distribution image
$ doctl compute image list-distribution --public
[...]
93525508 20.04 (LTS) x64 snapshot Ubuntu ubuntu-20-04-x64 true 15
Get SSH Key
$ doctl compute ssh-key list
ID Name FingerPrint
21071951 fudongbai@gmail.com 11:31:65:89:15:12:b8:cc:88:b8:73:32:81:6d:25:7a
List plans
$ doctl compute size list
Slug Memory VCPUs Disk Price Monthly Price Hourly
s-1vcpu-1gb 1024 1 25 5.00 0.007440
s-1vcpu-1gb-amd 1024 1 25 6.00 0.008930
[...]
Create droplet
Now we have all the required information for creating a droplet, do as follows:
$ doctl compute droplet create --region tor1 --image ubuntu-20-04-x64 --size s-1vcpu-1gb --ssh-keys 11:31:65:89:15:12:b8:cc:88:b8:73:32:81:6d:25:7a vps
ID Name Public IPv4 Private IPv4 Public IPv6 Memory VCPUs Disk Region Image VPC UUID Status Tags Features Volumes
269425708 NextCloud 1024 1 25 tor1 Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS) x64 new droplet_agent
doctl can list all the created droplets, which contain the IP address that we need to do ssh login:
$ doctl compute droplet list
ID Name Public IPv4 Private IPv4 Public IPv6 Memory VCPUs Disk Region Image VPC UUID Status Tags Features Volumes
269425708 NextCloud 167.99.191.22 10.118.0.2 1024 1 25 tor1 Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS) x64 e8a7e71a-d0d7-4e8b-81ca-4a3627e0c5ba new droplet_agent,private_networking
Remove droplet
$ doctl compute droplet delete <DROPLET-ID>
Next create a user account and add to sudo group:
$ username=fudongbai
$ password=mypassword
$ adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" $username
$ echo "$username:$password" | chpasswd
$ usermod -aG sudo $username
Install NextCloud
NextCloud can be installed with snap:
$ sudo snap install nextcloud
$ username=admin
$ password=admin
$ sudo nextcloud.manual-install $username $password
Nextcloud was successfully installed
$ sudo nextcloud.occ config:system:get trusted_domains
localhost
$ ipaddr=$(ifconfig eth0 | sed -En 's/127.0.0.1//;s/.*inet (addr:)?(([0-9]*\.){3}[0-9]*).*/\2/p')
$ sudo nextcloud.occ config:system:set trusted_domains 1 --value=$ipaddr
System config value trusted_domains => 1 set to string 178.128.232.161
$ sudo nextcloud.occ config:system:get trusted_domains
localhost
178.128.232.161
$ sudo nextcloud.enable-https self-signed
Generating key and self-signed certificate... done
Restarting apache... done
Now go to https://178.128.232.161 to manage your files, or download clients for your computer, mobile phones are also supported, get it from F-Droid for Android, or App Store for iOS.
NextCloud will use port 80 by default, if the port is already used, change it to another one:
$ sudo snap set nextcloud ports.http=81
Install Apps
There are many apps out there to extend the function of NextCoud, here is a list of apps I used:
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install spreed
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install maps
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install calendar
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install deck
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install notes
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install tasks
$ sudo nextcloud.occ app:install contacts