Nextcloud Low Spec Server

This is my personal setup notes to install Nextcloud and OnlyOffice Document Server together on the same server.

Vultr High Frequency Compute:

Pricing: $6 USD per month
Storage SSD: 32GB
CPU: 1
RAM: 1024 MB
Bandwith: 1 TB
Geekbench Score: 4883

Sources:

https://www.marksei.com/how-to-install-nextcloud-18-on-ubuntu/ https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/ubuntu-nginx-nextcloud/ https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/installation/example_ubuntu.html https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/installation/source_installation.html https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/18/admin_manual/configuration_server/caching_configuration.html

Update Server

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Install Required Dependencies

sudo apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-mysql php7.2-fpm
sudo apt-get install php7.2-gd php7.2-json php7.2-mysql php7.2-curl php7.2-mbstring
sudo apt-get install php7.2-intl php-imagick php7.2-xml php7.2-zip

Download Nextcloud Package:

Download and extract the nextcloud package.

wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/nextcloud-18.0.1.tar.bz2
tar -xvjf nextcloud-18.0.1.tar.bz2

Then move it to the /var/www/ directory.

sudo mv nextcloud/ /var/www/

Set Permissions To Nextcloud Directory

Check the groups the user is in:

groups

Set the user and group ownership to www-data for everything inside the nextcloud directory and the folder itself:

sudo chown www-data:www-data nextcloud/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data nextcloud/*
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data nextcloud/.htaccess
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data nextcloud/.user.ini

Then check to see if the ownership is correct:

ls -al /var/www/nextcloud/*
ls -al /var/www/nextcloud

Setup MariaDB

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create the database and user. Grant the account with the required privileges.

sudo mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE nextcloud;
CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.* TO 'user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

TLS and HTTPS

Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot

Get the cert:

sudo certbot -d cloud.example.com --manual --preferred-challenges dns certonly

Setting Up Apache

Set Apache to listent to port 8080.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

# If you just change the port or add more ports here, you will likely also
# have to change the VirtualHost statement in
# /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

Listen 8080

#<IfModule ssl_module>
#        Listen 443
#</IfModule>

#<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
#        Listen 443
#</IfModule>

# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet

Create a new Nextcloud config:

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

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:8080>
  DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud/
  ServerName cloud.example.com

  <Directory /var/www/nextcloud/>
    Require all granted
    AllowOverride All
    Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews

    <IfModule mod_dav.c>
      Dav off
    </IfModule>

    SetEnv HOME /var/www/nextcloud
    SetEnv HTTP_HOME /var/www/nextcloud
  </Directory>

  ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
  CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log common
</VirtualHost>

Enable the config and disable the default Apache config:

sudo a2ensite nextcloud
sudo a2dissite 000-default

Enable mods:

sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime

Restart Apache and enable it at startup:

sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Set the timezone:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

date.timezone = Australia/Melbourne

Disable path info:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/cli/php.ini

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Enable pass enviroment variables and limit extensions:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

security.limit_extensions = .php
...
env[HOSTNAME] = $HOSTNAME
env[PATH] = /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
env[TMP] = /tmp
env[TMPDIR] = /tmp
env[TEMP] = /tmp

Then restart the FPM:

sudo systemctl restart php7.2-fpm

And check if it is running:

netstat -tap

Then restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Setting up NGINX Reverse Proxy:

Install NGINX:

sudo apt install nginx

Unlink the default config and create reverse proxy config:

sudo unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo touch /etc/nginx/sites-available/reverse-proxy.conf
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/reverse-proxy.conf

upstream php-handler {
    server unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name cloud.example.com;
    # enforce https
    return 301 https://$server_name:443$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name cloud.example.com;

    # Use Mozilla's guidelines for SSL/TLS settings
    # https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl-config-generator/
    # NOTE: some settings below might be redundant
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.example.com/privkey.pem;

    # Add headers to serve security related headers
    # Before enabling Strict-Transport-Security headers please read into this
    # topic first.
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15768000; includeSubDomains; preload;" always;
    #
    # WARNING: Only add the preload option once you read about
    # the consequences in https://hstspreload.org/. This option
    # will add the domain to a hardcoded list that is shipped
    # in all major browsers and getting removed from this list
    # could take several months.
    add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-Download-Options "noopen" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none" always;
    add_header X-Robots-Tag "none" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

    # Mozilla
    ssl_session_timeout 1d;
    ssl_session_cache shared:MozSSL:10m;  # about 40000 sessions
    ssl_session_tickets off;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.3;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
    ssl_stapling on;
    ssl_stapling_verify on;

    # Remove X-Powered-By, which is an information leak
    fastcgi_hide_header X-Powered-By;

    # Path to the root of your installation
    root /var/www/nextcloud;

    location = /robots.txt {
        allow all;
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
    }

    # The following 2 rules are only needed for the user_webfinger app.
    # Uncomment it if you're planning to use this app.
    #rewrite ^/.well-known/host-meta /public.php?service=host-meta last;
    #rewrite ^/.well-known/host-meta.json /public.php?service=host-meta-json last;

    # The following rule is only needed for the Social app.
    # Uncomment it if you're planning to use this app.
    #rewrite ^/.well-known/webfinger /public.php?service=webfinger last;

    location = /.well-known/carddav {
      return 301 $scheme://$host:$server_port/remote.php/dav;
    }
    location = /.well-known/caldav {
      return 301 $scheme://$host:$server_port/remote.php/dav;
    }

    # set max upload size
    client_max_body_size 512M;
    fastcgi_buffers 64 4K;

    # Enable gzip but do not remove ETag headers
    gzip on;
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_comp_level 4;
    gzip_min_length 256;
    gzip_proxied expired no-cache no-store private no_last_modified no_etag auth;
    gzip_types application/atom+xml application/javascript application/json application/ld+json application/manifest+json application/rss+xml application/vnd.geo+json application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/x-font-ttf application/x-web-app-manifest+json application/xhtml+xml application/xml font/opentype image/bmp image/svg+xml image/x-icon text/cache-manifest text/css text/plain text/vcard text/vnd.rim.location.xloc text/vtt text/x-component text/x-cross-domain-policy;

    # Uncomment if your server is build with the ngx_pagespeed module
    # This module is currently not supported.
    #pagespeed off;

    location / {
        rewrite ^ /index.php;
    }

    location ~ ^\/(?:build|tests|config|lib|3rdparty|templates|data)\/ {
        deny all;
    }
    location ~ ^\/(?:\.|autotest|occ|issue|indie|db_|console) {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~ ^\/(?:index|remote|public|cron|core\/ajax\/update|status|ocs\/v[12]|updater\/.+|oc[ms]-provider\/.+)\.php(?:$|\/) {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(\/.*|)$;
        set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info;
        try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $path_info;
        fastcgi_param HTTPS on;
        # Avoid sending the security headers twice
        fastcgi_param modHeadersAvailable true;
        # Enable pretty urls
        fastcgi_param front_controller_active true;
        fastcgi_pass php-handler;
        fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
        fastcgi_request_buffering off;
    }

    location ~ ^\/(?:updater|oc[ms]-provider)(?:$|\/) {
        try_files $uri/ =404;
        index index.php;
    }

    # Adding the cache control header for js, css and map files
    # Make sure it is BELOW the PHP block
    location ~ \.(?:css|js|woff2?|svg|gif|map)$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=15778463";
        # Add headers to serve security related headers (It is intended to
        # have those duplicated to the ones above)
        # Before enabling Strict-Transport-Security headers please read into
        # this topic first.
        add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15768000; includeSubDomains; preload;" always;
        #
        # WARNING: Only add the preload option once you read about
        # the consequences in https://hstspreload.org/. This option
        # will add the domain to a hardcoded list that is shipped
        # in all major browsers and getting removed from this list
        # could take several months.
        add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always;
        add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
        add_header X-Download-Options "noopen" always;
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
        add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none" always;
        add_header X-Robots-Tag "none" always;
        add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

        # Optional: Don't log access to assets
        access_log off;
    }

    location ~ \.(?:png|html|ttf|ico|jpg|jpeg|bcmap)$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri;
        # Optional: Don't log access to other assets
        access_log off;
    }
}

Link reverse proxy to sites-enabled:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/reverse-proxy.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/reverse-proxy.conf

Test and restart NGINX;

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Check if it running:

netstat -tap

Setup Redis

Install Redis:

sudo apt install redis-server php-redis

Edit Nextcloud config to add in Redis:

sudo nano /var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php

'log_type' => 'file',
'logfile' => '/var/log/nextcloud.log',
'logfilemode' => '0640',
'loglevel' => '0',
'logdateformat' => 'F d, Y H:i:s',
'memcache.locking' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis',
'memcache.distributed' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis',
'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis',
  'redis' => [
     'host' => '127.0.0.1',
      'port' => '6379',
      'timeout' => '3',
    ],

Finishing Touches

Set the ownership of the sessions folder to www-data:

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/lib/php/sessions/

Restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Firewall

Allow the required protocols through:

sudo ufw allow 'OpenSSH'
sudo ufw allow 'HTTP'
sudo ufw allow 'HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

Check if the firewall rules and enable it:

sudo ufw status
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

Fixing Errors/Warnings

Consider placing the data directory outside /var/www/. Fix MySQL warnings:

sudo -u www-data php occ db:add-missing-indices
sudo -u www-data php nextcloud/occ db:convert-filecache-bigint