Install Nextcloud on Proxmox – IONOS

If you want to store your personal data securely and centrally, you can't miss Nextcloud. Combined with the Proxmox virtualization platform, it allows you to create a powerful and flexible Cloud infrastructure.

What are Proxmox and Nextcloud?

Nextcloud is a Cloud solution open source which allows you to securely store and share files, calendars, contacts and much more. Proxmox is a powerful virtualization platform that allows you to efficiently manage virtual machines (VMs, virtual machines) and containers. The combination of Nextcloud and Proxmox provides a flexible and secure way to create cloud infrastructure for your personal use or business.

Install Nextcloud on Proxmox: prerequisites

Before you can install Nextcloud on Proxmox, a few basic requirements must be met. First of all, you need a Proxmox server (version 6 or higher recommended) and access to the Proxmox web interface.

For the virtual machine or container in which you want to run Nextcloud, you need at least 2 CPU cores and 2 GB of RAM. For larger user groups, at least 4 GB of RAM is recommended. You must also have sufficient disk space for the data, with the amount depending heavily on your use case.

Install Nextcloud on Proxmox step by step

There are several methods to install Nextcloud on Proxmox. Here we present one installation method among many others.

Step 1: Create a virtual machine or container

To begin, you need to create an environment for installing Nextcloud. For this you can create a container with LXC or a virtual machine.

LXC container

1. Go to “Create CT” in the Proxmox web interface.
2. Enter a container name and the desired resources.
3. Choose Debian or Ubuntu as your model (our recommendation: Ubuntu 22.04).
4. Configure network space and disk space. Allow enough memory for using Nextcloud.

Virtual machine

1. Go to “Create VM” in the Proxmox web interface.
2. Choose an ISO image of Ubuntu Server or Debian, which you will have previously downloaded.
3. Configure CPU, RAM and disk space according to your needs.
4. Install the operating system in the VM.

Step 2: Prepare the system

Once the environment is created, you can log in to the system via SSH or the Proxmox console. Before installing Nextcloud, prepare the system by updating it. To do this, start by updating it with the following terminal command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

After updating your system, you need to install Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP and other dependencies, for which you can use the following command:

sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server libapache2-mod-php php php-mysql php-curl php-xml php-mbstring php-zip unzip -y

Finally, you can now configure your MariaDB database for Nextcloud. To do this, start the database:

sudo systemctl start mariadb

You can now configure the database with the following commands. Be sure to memorize or write down the secure password you have chosen:

sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE nextcloud;
CREATE USER 'nextclouduser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'sicherespasswort';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.* TO 'nextclouduser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 3: Install Nextcloud

You can now proceed to installing Nextcloud. To do this, start by downloading the latest version:

wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.tar.bz2

Then unzip the downloaded files with the command tar and move them:

tar -xjf latest.tar.bz2
sudo mv nextcloud /var/www/

Now set the access rights and ownership of the Nextcloud files correctly so that the web server software (here Apache) can work with it without problems.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud
sudo chmod -R 750 /var/www/nextcloud

Step 4: Configure Apache

For Nextcloud to work on Proxmox, you need a properly configured Apache web server. Create a configuration file that controls how the Apache web server processes requests sent to your Nextcloud installation.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf

Then add the following content to the configuration file you have just created:

    ServerName votre-domaine.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud
    
        Require all granted
        AllowOverride All
        Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud_access.log combined

Make sure you include the correct domain under which you want to access your Nextcloud installation. Enable the required configuration and modules using the following terminal commands, then restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite nextcloud.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Configure Nextcloud

You can now configure your Nextcloud. To do this, open the address of your Nextcloud installation specified in the configuration file in a browser. Then follow the installation wizard to configure the database connection and the admin user.