Nextcloud

Install Nextcloud on a VPS with Docker Compose, Nginx reverse proxy and SSL, your personal cloud storage

Nextcloud is a self-hosted file storage and collaboration platform. This guide covers installation via Docker Compose with an Nginx reverse proxy and automatic SSL via Certbot.

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed (see Docker guide)
A domain pointing to your server
Port 80 and 443 open on the firewall

Installation with Docker Compose

Create the directory structure

mkdir -p /opt/nextcloud
cd /opt/nextcloud

Create the `docker-compose.yml` file

services:
  nextcloud-db:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    container_name: nextcloud-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root_secure_password
      MYSQL_DATABASE: nextcloud
      MYSQL_USER: nextcloud
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: nextcloud_secure_password
    volumes:
      - nextcloud_db:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - nextcloud_net

  nextcloud:
    image: nextcloud:latest
    container_name: nextcloud
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - nextcloud-db
    environment:
      MYSQL_HOST: nextcloud-db
      MYSQL_DATABASE: nextcloud
      MYSQL_USER: nextcloud
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: nextcloud_secure_password
      NEXTCLOUD_TRUSTED_DOMAINS: cloud.yourdomain.com
      NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER: admin
      NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD: admin_secure_password
    volumes:
      - nextcloud_data:/var/www/html
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:8080:80"
    networks:
      - nextcloud_net

volumes:
  nextcloud_db:
  nextcloud_data:

networks:
  nextcloud_net:

docker compose up -d

Nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration

Install Nginx and Certbot

apt update && apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Create the Nginx configuration

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/nextcloud

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name cloud.yourdomain.com;

    # Redirect to HTTPS
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name cloud.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    # Required headers for Nextcloud
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains" always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none" always;
    add_header X-Robots-Tag "noindex, nofollow" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

    client_max_body_size 10G;
    proxy_read_timeout 600s;
    proxy_connect_timeout 600s;
    proxy_send_timeout 600s;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # WebSocket support (for Nextcloud Talk)
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}

Obtain SSL certificate and activate

# Obtain certificate
certbot --nginx -d cloud.yourdomain.com

# Enable the site
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nextcloud /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Post-Installation Configuration

Fix trusted domain warning

If you see a "trusted domain" error, edit the config:

docker exec -it nextcloud bash
nano /var/www/html/config/config.php

Add your domain to trusted_domains:

'trusted_domains' =>
array (
  0 => 'localhost',
  1 => 'cloud.yourdomain.com',
),

Configure cron (recommended)

Nextcloud requires periodic background jobs. Use the system cron instead of AJAX:

# Add crontab for www-data
crontab -u www-data -e

Add the line:

*/5 * * * * php -f /var/www/html/cron.php

Or execute it directly from the container:

# Add to host crontab
echo "*/5 * * * * docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php -f /var/www/html/cron.php" | crontab -

Then in the Nextcloud web admin → Settings → Basic Settings → set Background jobs to Cron.

Maintenance and Updates

Update Nextcloud

cd /opt/nextcloud

# Pull new image
docker compose pull

# Restart with new version
docker compose up -d

# Check update status
docker exec -u www-data -it nextcloud php /var/www/html/updater/updater.phar

Useful admin commands (occ)

# General status
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ status

# List all apps
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ app:list

# Enable/disable maintenance mode
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ maintenance:mode --on
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ maintenance:mode --off

# Database repair
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ db:add-missing-indices

# Rescan files
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ files:scan --all

Performance Optimization

Enable Redis for caching

Add Redis to docker-compose.yml:

  redis:
    image: redis:alpine
    container_name: nextcloud-redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      - nextcloud_net

Then in config.php add:

'memcache.local' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'memcache.locking' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'redis' => array(
  'host' => 'nextcloud-redis',
  'port' => 6379,
),

For large deployments (many users or files), Redis is essential to avoid performance issues. Without it Nextcloud can become slow even on powerful hardware.

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