Configuring Nextcloud

Configuring Nextcloud

🇫🇷 Cette page est également disponible en français : fr-Configuring-Nextcloud

This page walks you through the initial Nextcloud configuration after deployment, including the setup wizard and key post-installation settings.

---

Prerequisites

• HTTPS is configured and your domain resolves correctly — see HTTPS-TLS-Certificate.
• All four services are running — see Post-Deployment-Verification.

---

Step 1 — Open the Setup Wizard

1. Open your browser and navigate to https://cloud.example.com.
2. The Nextcloud Setup Wizard appears on first access.

Note: If the Setup Wizard does not appear and you see a login page, Nextcloud was pre-configured during deployment. Skip to Step 3.

---

Step 2 — Complete the Setup Wizard

Fill in the following fields:

Administrator Account

Field	Value
Admin username	Choose a secure username (not admin)
Admin password	Choose a strong password (≥12 characters)

Data Folder

The default data folder is /var/nextcloud-data.
If you attached a separate data disk during deployment, change this to the mount point of that disk (e.g. /mnt/data/nextcloud).

Database Configuration

Field	Value
Database type	PostgreSQL
Database user	nextcloud (pre-configured)
Database password	See /root/nextcloud-db-password.txt or the deployment output
Database name	nextcloud
Database host	127.0.0.1:5432

Click Finish setup.

---

Alternative: Command-Line Installation

If you prefer to configure Nextcloud without the web wizard, use the occ CLI:

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:install \
  --database "pgsql" \
  --database-host "127.0.0.1:5432" \
  --database-name "nextcloud" \
  --database-user "nextcloud" \
  --database-pass "YOUR_DB_PASSWORD" \
  --admin-user "YOUR_ADMIN_USER" \
  --admin-pass "YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD" \
  --data-dir "/var/nextcloud-data"

Replace YOUR_DB_PASSWORD, YOUR_ADMIN_USER, and YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD with your actual values.

---

Step 3 — Post-Installation Settings

Set the Correct Domain

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set overwrite.cli.url \
  --value="https://cloud.example.com"

Configure Email Notifications (Optional)

1. In the Nextcloud admin interface, go to Settings > Personal info > Email.
2. Under Basic settings, configure your SMTP server.

Enable Redis for File Locking

Redis is pre-configured on this VM. Verify it is active in config.php:

sudo grep -A 10 'memcache' /var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php

Expected entries:

'memcache.local' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'memcache.locking' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',

---

Step 4 — Configure Background Jobs

Set Nextcloud to use the system cron for background tasks (recommended over the default Ajax):

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ background:cron

Verify the cron job exists:

sudo crontab -u www-data -l

Expected:

*/5 * * * * php /var/www/nextcloud/occ background:job

If the cron entry is missing, add it:

echo "*/5 * * * * php /var/www/nextcloud/occ background:job" | sudo crontab -u www-data -

---

Verify

1. Log in to Nextcloud at https://cloud.example.com with your admin credentials.
2. Go to Settings > Overview — confirm no warnings are shown (or resolve listed warnings).
3. Upload a test file to verify file storage is working.

---

Troubleshooting

"Your data directory is invalid" warning
The data directory path in config.php does not exist or has incorrect ownership. Set correct ownership: sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/nextcloud-data

"Maintenance mode is active"
Turn off maintenance mode: sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:mode --off

Setup Wizard shows database connection error
Verify PostgreSQL is running and the database credentials are correct. Check PostgreSQL with: sudo -u postgres psql -U nextcloud -d nextcloud -c "\\conninfo"

---

Next Steps

Next	Page
Explore Nextcloud features	Exploring-Nextcloud
Keep Nextcloud up to date	Updating-Nextcloud
Manage user accounts	Managing-Users