FreeNAS Noob, Need help with NextCloud Remote Access

[EMBoots]

Hey guys, I have recently gotten NextCloud working with my NAS after having a lot of issues trying to install it, but I cannot remote access it, and I really just don't know how to set it up using my router. I've tried port-fowarding, that hasn't worked, I've tried IP Passthrough (even though I knew that wouldn't work), looked up many tutorials and just nothing has been working. So I've come to you guys on the forum. I can access my files through Nextcloud but not off the network. I know this is a very vague post but I'd be happy to answer any questions. I'm a little bit slow on this stuff because hardware is more of my thing than software.

 

[sretalla]

You will probably want to use a reverse proxy like caddy, nginX or Apache to make your Nextcloud service visible on the Internet.

With that, you will publish (usually a dynamic dns) address/url for SSL access pointing to the Proxy and then have it talk to Nextcloud for you... There are many options and tutorials just a google away...

Alternatively, you can just follow the install guide provided by @danb35 :

Scripted installation of Nextcloud 28 in iocage jail

Status: This script will run with TrueNAS CORE 13. It's possible, but untested, that it will work with FreeNAS 12. Earlier versions are not supported. There are a number of guides on the forum to install Nextcloud, but they all rely on a lot of...

www.ixsystems.com

 

[ddaenen1]

Hey guys, I have recently gotten NextCloud working with my NAS after having a lot of issues trying to install it, but I cannot remote access it, and I really just don't know how to set it up using my router. I've tried port-fowarding, that hasn't worked, I've tried IP Passthrough (even though I knew that wouldn't work), looked up many tutorials and just nothing has been working. So I've come to you guys on the forum. I can access my files through Nextcloud but not off the network. I know this is a very vague post but I'd be happy to answer any questions. I'm a little bit slow on this stuff because hardware is more of my thing than software.

So i do have some additional questions:

- How do you want to access it from the outside? Via a static IP or via a FQDN?
- What does your network topology look like (from ISP coming into the house to the FreeNAS server hosting Nextcloud will do)

There are a couple of things that are important here (without going into the whole SSL security aspects):

1. Nextcloud will be at port 80 by default.
2. You would need a static external IP address from your ISP.
3. Port forwarding can work, but which port on which IP is very much dependent on your topology.
4. Your firewall plays a key role in all of this.

I have had my share of challenges to achieve Nextcloud external access but eventually got it to work with my FQDN and got SSL up and running with ACME Letsencrypt certificates so i might be able to give you some pointers.

 

[adrianwi]

It will add another layer of complexity/security and another thing to learn/understand but I'd also strongly recommend using a reverse proxy too.

It can be done in a jail using NGINX and you'll find some guides on here to help. I like https://nginxproxymanager.com/ running in a small VM with Docker, although understanding some of what NGINX is doing can't hurt.

Good luck.