OwnCloud is an open source, self-hosted file sync and share app platform that enables private cloud services on users’ own servers and environments. OwnCloud provides similar functions like DropBox and other cloud storage services, and it’s free to download and install on your own servers without paying service providers.

This brief tutorial shows students and new users steps to install and configure OwnCloud on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 Servers with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP support to host OwnCloud in their own environments.

In order to get OwnCloud installed, you must have the LAMP or LEMP stack enabled on your Ubuntu servers. To learn how to install OwnCloud on your servers, follow the steps below:

To get started with installing OwnCloud, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Nginx

OwnCloud requires a webserver to function and the second most popular webserver in used today is Nginx. So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt install nginx

Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Step 2: Install MariaDB

OwnCloud also requires a database server to function.. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server

sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service

Step 3: Install PHP-FPM and Related Modules

OwnCloud also requires PHP to function. To install PHP and related modules run the commands below

sudo apt install php-fpm php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-soap php-apcu php-smbclient php-ldap php-redis php-gd php-xml php-intl php-json php-imagick php-mysql php-cli php-mcrypt php-ldap php-zip php-curl

Step 4: Create OwnCloud Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create OwnCloud database.

Run the commands below to logon to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called owncloud

CREATE DATABASE owncloud;

Create a database user called ownclouduser with new password

CREATE USER 'ownclouduser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON owncloud.* TO 'ownclouduser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download OwnCloud Latest Release

Next, visit OwnCloud site to download your free copy. The community edition is what you’ll want to download.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Nginx root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-10.0.3.zip
unzip owncloud-10.0.3.zip
sudo mv owncloud /var/www/html/owncloud

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for OwnCloud to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/owncloud/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/owncloud/

Step 6: Configure Nginx

Finally, configure Nginx site configuration file for OwnCloud. This file will control how users access OwnCloud content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called owncloud

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/owncloud

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/owncloud;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
        rewrite ^ /index.php$uri;
    }

    location ~ ^/(?:build|tests|config|lib|3rdparty|templates|data)/ {
        return 404;
    }
    location ~ ^/(?:\.|autotest|occ|issue|indie|db_|console) {
        return 404;
    }

    location ~ ^/(?:index|remote|public|cron|core/ajax/update|status|ocs/v[12]|updater/.+|ocs-provider/.+|core/templates/40[34])\.php(?:$|/) {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
        fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock; # Ubuntu 17.10
    #   fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock; # Ubuntu 17.04
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
        fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
        fastcgi_request_buffering off;
    }

    location ~ ^/(?:updater|ocs-provider)(?:$|/) {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
        index index.php;
    }

    location ~* \.(?:svg|gif|png|html|ttf|woff|ico|jpg|jpeg)$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php$uri$is_args$args;
        access_log off;
    }

}

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the OwnCloud Site

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/owncloud /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 8 : Restart Nginx

To load all the settings above, restart Nginx by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see OwnCloud setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com

You should then see OwnCloud setup page.. Connect to the database using the information you created and continue. Select the database server installed on your systems by clicking it as shown in the image below

Click Finish setup and you’re done.

Enjoy!

Congratulations! You have successfully installed OwnCloud on Ubuntu `17.04 | 17.10

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