Install OwnCloud on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP
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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Found a typo in the text: “To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.”
Should be Nginx of course, not Apache2 ;)
Thanks, updated
Great Job !!! thanks.
just missing rule to serve JS / CSS:
location ~ \.css {
add_header Content-Type text/css;
}
location ~ \.js {
add_header Content-Type application/x-javascript;
}
Hi, I was trying to follow your instruction.
Unfortunately, by the end of this installation, and after creating admin account, I got errors;
http://10.10.10.10/owncloud/index.php/apps/files/
404 Not Found
nginx/1.14.2
I’m new to Nginx and lost how to debug this error. Could you please help?
I used Raspberry Pi and Raspbian version is Buster: 4.19.75-v71+
Thanks in advance
This this updated tutorial
https://websiteforstudents.com/setup-owncloud-server-with-composer-on-ubuntu-16-04-18-04-and-nginx-mariadb-and-php-7-2-support/