Is Nextcloud the solution i am looking for?

blueether

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Use @danb35's script from post 4, works like a charm, the first two times I set up nextcloud I did it manually - the script is much easer
 

ddaenen1

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Well, i have got it up and running today. Didn't use the script as i like to experience the set up process as part of my learning. Seems to be working fine. Now i just need to get the external access set up but i haven't found out yet how that goes if you already own a domain and you want to use a sub-domain of that like cloud.xxxxxxxx.be for example to access the cloud from anywhere. Will need to do some more digging.
 

garm

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i haven't found out yet how that goes if you already own a domain and you want to use a sub-domain of that like cloud.xxxxxxxx.be for example to access the cloud from anywhere
What I do is to have the DNS point to my reverse proxy and then let that sort out the different servers.
 

ddaenen1

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What I do is to have the DNS point to my reverse proxy and then let that sort out the different servers.

And this is probably something i need to read up on and maybe some help as i have no experience with outside access to my servers and the security challenges paired with that.
 

adrianwi

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There’s quite a good forum thread that goes through setting up a reverse proxy jail with NGINX and Letsencrypt. Very worthwhile if you think you’ll run multiple services although probably good practice even just for one.
 

ddaenen1

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I am having a go at it. It will take some time though. It seems setting up next cloud is not a walk in the park.

So i have a bit of an update on this. Nextcloud is installed and seems to be working fine. I have installed the app on my phone and uploading goes smooth and painless. Added my daughters phone to the equation last weekend and also this is going well. I do get a long list of setup warnings in the security and setup warnings section but i am not sure what to do with that as everything seems to work. I did notice though that whilst the basic installation was pretty smooth, everything after that is a bit of a hassle. For example, if i want to address the issues listed, the links and documentation really don't help a lot as i what i specifically need to do. Also the https-set up is painful not to mention setting up access from outside the LAN. If Nextcloud wants to become the cloud app of choice, there is a lot of work to do.
 

danb35

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Also the https-set up is painful
Not if you'd used my script.
not to mention setting up access from outside the LAN
This has nothing to do with Nextcloud itself; it depends entirely on your router.
If Nextcloud wants to become the cloud app of choice, there is a lot of work to do.
It's unlikely that any of the issues you mention have anything to do with Nextcloud as such.
 

ddaenen1

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Not if you'd used my script.

This has nothing to do with Nextcloud itself; it depends entirely on your router.

It's unlikely that any of the issues you mention have anything to do with Nextcloud as such.

I appreciate your script but that doesn't help me much right now as many of these things, you decide as you go. In my view, things like https should be built in standard nowadays. I do not have any issue finding out stuff by myself. I actually like it and one of the reasons i have not used the script but the documentation to support DIY is pretty poor imho.
 

danb35

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Well, you really have three options with Nextcloud:
  • Use the plugin, and take what you get. It's by far the easiest way to initially install Nextcloud, it gets you something up and running quickly, but the configuration is suboptimal (at best), and there's no good way to change it. It's better than it was--it took them six months, but they finally merged my PR that at least gives you a usable system on installation--but I agree with you that https should be included as standard*, even if it's only using a self-signed certificate.
  • Use my script. I'm obviously biased, but I think this is the best choice for most users. It gives you an optimized installation using a modern web server that automatically handles SSL (including obtaining and renewing certificates from Let's Encrypt automatically) with a strong configuration, optimizes the database, etc., and is still a standard environment so that updates and modifications are possible.
  • Do a manual installation. There are some good guides here (@dureal99d and @samuel-emrys are two; the former was the basis for my script when I first wrote it), but yes, it's a lot more work. Installing Nextcloud itself is actually pretty simple; what's much more involved is getting all its dependencies installed and working, because Nextcloud is a pretty complicated piece of software. But if you want to roll your own, the Nextcloud docs tell you what it needs (web server options, database options, PHP requirements), and then you can run down the rabbit hole on all of those. But if you're choosing to do it the hard way, well, it's going to be hard.
None of these is going to handle the remote access piece, of course, because that can't be controlled on your FreeNAS box, and there are also multiple ways it could be done (port forwarding to the jail is the simplest, but some folks like to set up a reverse proxy elsewhere to point to various internal applications).

* A case where you might not want https as standard would be if your intended remote access solution was to place your Nextcloud installation behind a reverse proxy. In that case, the proxy would (or at least could) handle TLS termination, and leave LAN traffic unencrypted.
 

blueether

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As a user of:
  • using the plug-in (first install, not that impressed at all)
  • using a guide (second install of NextCloud, very happy with the resault and had no real issues)
  • @danb35's script (for the latest install, so easy to use - only gotcha was I was reusing the seperate datasets I had setup from the manual install and had some permission errors on existing data etc)
Either a manual install of @danb35's script seem easy if you can read and edit a few config files
 

adrianwi

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I’ve not used the script method but the plugins on FreeNAS have been a pretty bad choice ever since I started using FreeNAS in 2013. They’re very rarely up to date and were always problematic to update, or at least that was my experience.

I think there’s a lot to be said for a manual install following one of the excellent guides both here and elsewhere online and developing some FreeBSD skills along the way.

I can’t see how you can automate the SSL part entirely, as different folks will have different requirements. It should be possible to script a SSL/reverse-proxy jail, although again some understanding of what it’s doing would help with updates and adding new services.

I don’t think FreeNAS is ever going to be a simple plug and play solution that works for everyone, but with a little effort it can become and incredibly powerful solution that can do so many things beyond a NAS system.
 

danb35

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I can’t see how you can automate the SSL part entirely
Take a look at my script. It really isn't hard with Let's Encrypt, though it does require some basic configuration (domain name at a minimum, DNS credentials if you're validating that way). Or, of course, you could automatically set up a self-signed cert--that would at least put all the necessary configuration in place to do it.
 
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