Step 6: Configure Nextcloud using Docker Compose

Table of Contents

• Step 6: Configure Nextcloud using Docker Compose

  • Initial Configuration

  • Using the Nextcloud Web Configuration

  • Optional Nextcloud Configuration

Previously, we configured Nextcloud without any containers. This is bad news. All of our data will be deleted if we remove the container. Also, how do we back up our GBs worth of stored media files? There is no easy way to get this data out of the container.

Task: Your task is to apply what you learned about docker-compose.

Note

Stop and remove the current Nextcloud container before continuing

Initial Configuration

Use the instructions from Nextcloud docker-compose git page.

1. Choose a base version: Apache or FPM

2. Choose strong keys from randomkeygen.com for

   • MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=

   • MYSQL_PASSWORD=

3. Use ports 20850:80

4. Configure the volumes

   1. Configure all volume data so that they reside in the project directory. Use ./

   2. You do not need to configure named volumes

   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# docker ps
   CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                     NAMES
   76cbf38e5975        nextcloud            "/entrypoint.sh apac…"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        0.0.0.0:20850->80/tcp     nextclouddocker_app_1
   2906aaa944f5        mariadb              "docker-entrypoint.s…"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        3306/tcp                  nextclouddocker_db_1
   c60b6e70e4a9        wordpress:latest     "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          0.0.0.0:20851->80/tcp     wordpressdocker_wordpress_1
   386e4587b991        mariadb              "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          3306/tcp                  wordpressdocker_db_1
   913ff74dd94c        redis                "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          6379/tcp                  wordpressdocker_redis_1
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker#
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# ls -lh
   total 12K
   drwxr-xr-x  5      999 root 4.0K Mar 30 15:14 db
   -rw-r--r--  1 root     root  657 Mar 30 15:13 docker-compose.yml
   drwxr-xr-x 15 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:55 nextcloud
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# ls -lh nextcloud/
   total 148K
   drwxr-xr-x 32 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:54 3rdparty
   drwxr-xr-x 38 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:55 apps
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data root  12K Mar 30 14:54 AUTHORS
   drwxr-xr-x  2 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:59 config
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data root 3.6K Mar 30 14:54 console.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data root  34K Mar 30 14:54 COPYING
   drwxr-xr-x 18 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:55 core
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data root 4.9K Mar 30 14:54 cron.php
   drwxr-xr-x  2 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 14:55 custom_apps
   drwxrwx---  5 www-data root 4.0K Mar 30 15:01 data
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data root  156 Mar 30 14:54 index.html
   

5. Test the connection using curl --head http://localhost:20850

6. Verify that you can access the site using the web browser (don’t log in yet)

Using the Nextcloud Web Configuration

Caution

Nextcloud will break if you enable SSL. Use without SSL for now.

1. Navigate to your Nextcloud instance: cloud.example.com

2. Enter an admin username and strong password

3. Click on Storage & database

4. Select MySQL/MariaDB

   

5. Enter the information from your docker-compose.yml file

   • Database user: Value from MYSQL_USER

   • Database password: Value from MYSQL_PASSWORD

   • Database name: Value from MYSQL_DATABASE

   • Database host: The name of the database service in docker-compose.yml.

     • The default value is db

6. Wait 2-3 minutes while your server configures Nextcloud

   

   Note

   Nginx might timeout waiting for the web service to start. Refresh the page after a minute or two.

Optional Nextcloud Configuration

Nextcloud has options to use Redis. You now know how to configure it!

Note

A recent change to Nextcloud requires that you use a password for redis. These changes are not specified on the Nextcloud docker page. They are highlighted in yellow for your reference.

1. You need to create a new Redis service in docker-compose.yml

   redis:
     image: redis:latest
     command: redis-server --requirepass somePassword
     restart: always
   

2. Add the environment variables to the app section and their values.

   environment:
     - REDIS_HOST=
     - REDIS_HOST_PASSWORD=
   

3. Verify the service is active using redis-cli -a somePassword -h IPAddress MONITOR

   • Access Nextcloud while running the cli monitor command. You will see the cached data in the terminal windows.

   • See the previous page on how to access a Redis container without a public port

   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# docker ps
   CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                       NAMES
   76cbf38e5975        nextcloud            "/entrypoint.sh apac…"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        0.0.0.0:20850->80/tcp       nextclouddocker_app_1
   2906aaa944f5        mariadb              "docker-entrypoint.s…"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        3306/tcp                    nextclouddocker_db_1
   8f5b05b6c627        redis                "docker-entrypoint.s…"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        6379/tcp                    nextclouddocker_redis_1
   c60b6e70e4a9        wordpress:latest     "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          0.0.0.0:20851->80/tcp       wordpressdocker_wordpress_1
   386e4587b991        mariadb              "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          3306/tcp                    wordpressdocker_db_1
   913ff74dd94c        redis                "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago         Up 2 hours          6379/tcp                    wordpressdocker_redis_1
   

   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# redis-cli MONITOR
   Could not connect to Redis at 127.0.0.1:6379: Connection refused
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# redis-cli -h 192.168.32.3 ping
   PONG
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# redis-cli -h 192.168.32.3 monitor
   (error) NOAUTH Authentication required.
   ^C
   root@vps298933:~/nextcloud-docker# redis-cli -h 192.168.32.3 -a 'secret'  monitor
   OK
   1605236869.679418 [0 192.168.32.4:60956] "GET" "PHPREDIS_SESSION:69d3544f291cd0a35fc0fa4ab882f603"
   1605236870.226376 [0 192.168.32.4:60956] "SETEX" "PHPREDIS_SESSION:69d3544f291cd0a35fc0fa4ab882f603" "1440" "encrypted_session_data|s:964:\"876139951389ba...729d9|2\";"
   1605236870.388935 [0 192.168.32.4:60966] "GET" "PHPREDIS_SESSION:69d3544f291cd0a35fc0fa4ab882f603"
   1605236870.424470 [0 192.168.32.4:60966] "SETEX" "PHPREDIS_SESSION:69d3544f291cd0a35fc0fa4ab882f603" "1440" "encrypted_session_data|s:964:\"eb7e91b6a4349fd3...2d2b1164|2\";"
   1605236870.447444 [0 192.168.32.4:60964] "GET" "9ece47f92230924d7cd50f9eb027646e/imagePath-81f894826c43a4eb083f0aee7745f179-settings-help.svg"
   1605236870.447700 [0 192.168.32.4:60964] "EXISTS" "9ece47f92230924d7cd50f9eb027646e/imagePath-81f894826c43a4eb083f0aee7745f179-settings-help.svg"
   1605236870.449152 [0 192.168.32.4:60964] "SET" "9ece47f92230924d7cd50f9eb027646e/imagePath-81f894826c43a4eb083f0aee7745f179-settings-help.svg" "\"\\/apps\\/settings\\/img\\/help.svg\""
   1605236870.449596 [0 192.168.32.4:60964] "GET" "9ece47f92230924d7cd50f9eb027646e/imagePath-81f894826c43a4eb083f0aee7745f179-settings-apps.svg"
   1605236870.449718 [0 192.168.32.4:60964] "EXISTS" "9ece47f92230924d7cd50f9eb027646e/imagePath-81f894826c43a4eb083f0aee7745f179-settings-apps.svg"
   .
   .
   .
   

Congratulations! You just installed Nextcloud using three containers with minimal help. You know how the knowledge and experience to install many applications that are available through Docker Compose.